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Actually, it does the opposite. The regular way, if you fail the challenge you get nothing. This way, if you fail you at least get rewarded for what success you did have. Players learn that they'll get at least some reward regardless of if the challenge fails. Handing out XP at each roll's...

The core of 4E: every time a character does something that has a chance of failure they make a check. Succeed or fail, the result has consequences that drive the story. A string of thematically linked checks constitutes a skill challenge. Success or failure of a challenge has major...

Is your system still necessary after the errata to the Skill Challenge system? Did that errata make skill challenges work?

I haven't read everything else yet, but have to comment on this. Rolling and Roleing aren't mutually exclusive. As DM, I make rolls influence what the player's should be roleing. Failed that check? Great! React in character. We do the same thing in combat. You hit? You did a small amount of...

All of the skill challenge examples in the DMG can be--and probably were in previous editions--simply role-played with no dice rolling or solved with a single roll of a skill check. Where do you draw the line between skill checks and skill challenges in your games? I tend to lean towards using...

Yes, I gave full experience for the encounter even though the dragon and commander got away.

The dragon should win this fight every time. I know from experience. The climactic battle in my group's first 4e adventure had them face a 3rd-level hob commander, two 2nd-level hob soldiers, and a full strength (4th-level solo) young black dragon. The party was all 1st level, no magic items...

I just didn't want to hijack the thread into a "sandbox: good or evil" debate. I did want to pipe up and point out that not everyone likes sandbox games since there were several very-pro sandbox comments in this thread.

My biggest criticism is that it doesn't fit my mental image of a witch doctor. I think it should be more of a primal "devoted cleric-deceptive warlock" hybrid. It looks like they went "war wizard-tactical warlord" hybrid, which I would call a battle mage, more of a leader role. So, in my mind...

I hate sandboxes. I HATE sandboxes. As a player and as a DM. As a DM they are a huge amount of work. It's hard enough to run a plot-driven adventure, let alone make up something on the fly every week. As a player they are too often meandering, do nothing wastes of time, with unsatisfying...

MM p139: "Hobgoblin archers take up positions behind cover (if available) and form a tight line to gain the benefits of coordinated fire." The hob archer's listed powers are longsword, longbow, and hobgoblin resilience. I'm guessing it is supposed to be the ability that is tacked on to its...

"Coordinated Fire" is italicized in the text, which means it is refering to a power. I know what coordinated fire is, with regards to military tactics. That has nothing to do with the text in the MM that prompted my question.

MM p139: "Hobgoblin archers take up positions behind cover (if available) and form a tight line to gain the benefits of coordinated fire." What the heck is coordinated fire? The hob archer's listed powers are longsword, longbow, and hobgoblin resilience. Is it supposed to be the ability that...

I guess I'll be the first to say it: This is the new, fourth core book. For fifth edition they should pull all magic items out of the PHB and point at this book. I recommend everyone buy this (with their DMs permission, of course). I'm very, very impressed. I'm a very minimalist DM and ran...

It got a 5-star rating from me on Amazon. It's a great product and anyone who will DM 4E should pick it up with the boxed set. I last DMed 2nd Edition. That was a terrible screen. Basically two pieces of paper taped together with poor information included and worse design.

First, as a DM this is very useful. Thanks for the hard work, kerbarian. The guidelines in the DMG are generic to the system. But this kind of info will help me design adventures tuned to the characters my players are actually running. It also helps me advise players (especially new players) on...

To try out 4th, I created 4 5th-level pregens and ran my group through the recent "Heathen" adventure from Dungeon. I used the standard array of 16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10. The PCs are human cleric (devoted), halfling rogue (trickster), elf wizard (control), and dwarf fighter (great weapon). No...

If there is any serious criticism of the "Premium Dice", it is that the dice are ugly and the bag is too small to hold a writing instrument without the end sticking out. It is a little dumb that the dice come in a small, sealed, plastic bag instead of just arriving loose in the dice bag. The...

DDI, Gleemax, and MTGO are not good ideas. They're great ideas. The fact is, all have had absolutely terrible execution. It has finally gotten bad enough that WotC can't hide it in their division's financials anymore and executives at Hasbro have noticed. It has gotten bad enough that WotC...

Double post, sorry.