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As a DM in high school, I occasionally did that sort of thing to my players. The NPC would have very solid Plot Armor, and be some new character concept I wanted to try out . . . sometimes a whole new homebrew class I had worked on. In retrospect, it was pretty obnoxious of me.

I got 16/17 on Heroic and 17/17 on Epic. I owned, ran, and nearly memorized all of the adventures shown except Earthshaker, In Search of the Unknown, and Temple of the Frog.

That character isn't casting a spell to heal, though. That is more of the herbalist/alchemist trope, and requires gold. I do agree that the healer specialty improves things a bit.

I would love for there to be non-divine magic for healing as well. Why can't an arcane caster "magically channel positive energy" to heal someone? Isn't there a "White Wizard" trope out there? In the AD&D campaigns I ran in middle school, high school, and college, no one played a cleric ...

I loved that 2nd edition made clerics actually pick deities or spheres, and then actually use them. That meant that while most clerics had some healing, their spells were focused on their area of faith. I hated how clerics in all the other editions could pull out a huge variety of spells, which...

One big problem I see: shields aren't good enough. Another problem: light weapons are too good compared to heavy ones. Having a shield should be a serious benefit, not merely +1 to AC.

I think many races should have some variation, but less than humans. Part of the human "characteristics" is high variability, after all. For monsters, I prefer a base example, with maybe an alternate, or even just some text mentioning variants. My arctic owlbears are always based on polar...

I want a system that lies between overnight full-healing and the painfully slow natural healing of AD&D and 3e. The overall slower healing variant in the second playtest packet came close.

I used the % chance to know spells mechanic when I DMed AD&D. It was fine and all, until the magic-user blew the % know roll on a key spell, like dispel magic or fly. Then it sucked, terribly.

Of course, hit points were "true wounds" in name only. I played AD&D for 15 years, and characters could go from 1 hp back to 50 hp with a single spell or item. There was no "wound", really. Also, at 1 hp, the character suffered no penalties to move, attack, or anything. No actual "wound". I see...

I would like 5e to specifically provide several versions of character creation, that explicitly discuss the power level of the first level PC. It would only take a column of text or so. Also, I think it might come to more than just different methods of generating ability scores. Other things...

What are the rules in each version of D&D that specifically discuss making higher or lower-powered heroes, at level 1, based on the type of campaign? I recall that the 3e DMG makes mention of this when determining point-buy systems for ability scores, and there is also a discussion about making...

For me, the under-the-hood rules for deciding how many ranks of a skill an NPC gets don't even enter into verisimilitude. What matters to me is simply whether or not the NPC's abilities make sense in the scenario. Like others have said, I don't think an NPC master of some skill should...

Of course, Waid could be statted up many, many ways. For instance, in AD&D, simply assign hit dice, hit points, and stats as you see fit, and the skills are simply described. In 4e, he could be statted as a full NPC, or as a "monster". Only in 3e do the rules give a detailed treatment to...

Polymorph (all versions) because of the immense utility. Summon monsters (all version)--test for traps, delay opponents, etc Telekinesis--maintained, items can be made to orbit around the caster at amazing (and deadly) speeds Disintegrate, because, well, it's disintegrate Wall of fire--the...

Ah, thanks. Still, it brings up the question of classification. Classifying by branding is good, but what about including in both lists. If someone was looking for the H series, but had never heard of it before this list, then they might not ever find H4.

Yes, thanks for the tags info. They are useful, and I will adjust my use of the site to match them.

I think you missed the AD&D module, H4: Throne of Bloodstone, published in 1988.

I think this is a great move. The area I am happiest with is that a particular skill might cover tasks associated with different stats in different situations. Find traps might cover Dex- as often as Int-based tasks. Skills related to a profession might have a range of uses. An athletic task...

Third edition monks are VERY effective if you aren't fighting the standard "immune to all their special attacks" monsters. When monks are pitted against humanoids that are subject to grapple, disarm, and stuns, they are incredibly effective. I played a monk in 3e from levels 1-22, and he was...