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The problem is that you only have two dimensions to work with: the number of dice and the number of sides on each dice. I can see that multiclassing might offer you more, weaker dice, but the range of dice is pretty limited. Instead you can bake the dice rolling into the points spend, coupled...

This article explains why so many of the creatures we've seen have had ridiculous musculature. How many creatures in nature have such hideously visible muscles? I'm all for the red dragon being pictured in a brutal moment of rage, but it doesn't have to look so steroid-induced.

So will dice from one class be usable for another class' powers? I can see that sometimes having something to roll is useful, but that sort of thing can be baked into a power or spell. Each stamina point you spend as a fighter does, say, 1d6 damage + 1 per Fighter level - rewarding both...

You could do all these things with points instead of dice - I have yet to see a specific advantage of dice.

I always thought it was a bit silly that the Bard would be playing the lute in the middle of a fight, and even singing at the party would be difficult to hear meaningfully. No, instead the Bard's music should be used before and after fights - during short and long rests. If you have a Bard in...

There are many times I wish this editing box stretched across the width of the page.. As you say, I won't take you up on this. I've read posts (almost exclusively by yourself and pemerton) in various threads on these matters. I say this sincerely, but your explanations come across very...

Manbearcat I'll pick up on points 3 and 5, as the others are just unresolvable. Condition tracks are great: indeed if there needs to be a formal skill challenge mechanic, condition tracks are better at this. For point 3, I don't find what you describe horrific, I just don't understand how you...

I think that simplifying skills to just having or not having advantage is a bit much, both in being too crude and too powerful. Would you want to be in the party where nobody has training in spot? Having said that, I do think that +3 is too large a bonus, I would certainly trim it down to +2...

pemerton Skill Challenges as presented in 4E, and I don't just mean the poor mathematics, are only suitable for players familiar with narrative roleplaying games. I have seen countless times with new players an inability to get their head around cause and effect, and the fact that a skill...

I would like to see Intelligence play a role for all characters, much as the other ability scores can be very defining. First of all, I hope that illusions will be disbelieved through Intelligence saving throws - much like the old immunity to illusions from 1-2E. As for skills, the news that...

I've run Trail of Cthulhu with a couple of groups, with mixed reactions. Mechanics like stability/sanity, pillars, drives and the simplified weapon combat I could get behind. However, one of the main difficulties I had as a GM was trying to maintain a sense of mystery with the skill system. The...

I'm sure many people here are aware that the videogame XCom: Enemy Unknown was released last week and looks to be doing rather well with both critics and fans. It's a remake of the 1994 Microprose classic (also known as UFO Defense), and in efforts to streamline the gameplay they have obviously...

I'd like to see some sort of broad weapon specialisation. To say that a character is equally good with all weapons, be they swords, axes or hammers, is a rather unrealistic state of affairs to me. The mistake made previously was to have highly specific specialisation and to make the cost high -...

The bugbear's and goblin's armours don't make any sense, why wouldn't you protect your chest and back? Either they wear barbaric clothing, or normal clothing with sensible armour coverage; barbaric armour coverage isn't very effective.

I think they should differentiate weapon types by giving each a little special associated with it. Swords are for parrying, axes are for heavy damage, hammers are for dazing opponents. These things could activate on a critical hit, or be intrinsic abilities. My clash is in the skills system. I...

Simply make some item properties really obvious, specifically those that are always 'on'. You'll know when you have a +1 sword or a ring that stops you falling to your death, but you might not know about the flame burst power (activated on command word once a day) or that the ring actually lets...

Manbearcat It's not explicitly described, but perhaps it works like this: normally you need to make a stealth or move silently roll to move over noisy ground unnoticed; with the boots on you never need roll. I'm with you that they should really behave the same as the cloak though, I'm sure it...

For attunement, I think there are two considerations: 1) If the party finds a magical item, you either want them to spend a very long time or a very short time to be able to use it - in between risks that they decide to rest for the day so that they can attune, cast a ritual, whatever it takes...

Have barely looked through anything, but I would rather the Belt of Giant Strength used an even number Strength score (so then each giant gets his own belt) and to prevent them being must-have items, the effect had better be limited in some way. So either for five minutes once a day, or for a...

I much prefer the use of points (stamina points, power points, whatever) to a dice pool, even though I know it's just aesthetic to some extent. Dice seem clumsy to me. I'm in favour of unified mechanics wherever possible, but only for things that should be united. Physical combat stunts...