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Good point pawsplay. I would say that depends a lot on your world. How common is divination magic? Are there local diviners who walk around all the time? Most of the games I've played in, there are only a handful of people who have foresight, and they spend their time focusing on far more...

You can do more prep before hand, and other than a few minor notes, not really require anything at all. Monsters and bad guys can be printed out before hand, or you can even email them to yourself so you can view them on your phone. I'm not sure why you would need to have the full compendium...

I have to agree with Jester. I would let the chips (or dice in this case) fall where they may.

I too have become disenfranchised with the mathematical bloat that feats that apply to a game; and realized that in the end they don't matter much. I much prefer feats that allow some kind of actionable difference. For example, a feat that would allow one to make a ranged attack anywhere during...

Good for you sticking to your guns Bleys. I too have experienced similar demoralizing events in my DMing life, as discussed in Kzach's thread. So, I applaud you for your persistence and determination to fulfill your desire (obligation?) as the DM. You should keep us posted about how it turns...

Interesting ideas, honestly I would be fine with 3-10. I especially prefer the attack / dodge / damage / damage reduction process. I think it is a better representation of how combat would actually occur. As to the wounds, that would be a good idea, but difficult to represent in an RPG system...

Ah, thank you for clarifying that. I agree that we are seeing the amount of experimentation and system reworking comparable to the final days of 3.5. Essentials reminds me to a degree of the Book of Nine Swords and other splat books that attempted to reinterpret the abilities of the system...

Forgive me Raven Crowking, I stand humbly corrected. I saw the XP awarded earlier and thought I saw a post conferring this, blast my tiny monitor at work! You are a paragon of logic and truth, as always good sir.

Yes, Mengu, this seems more like an issue with party tactics or encounter design. Especially at higher levels, even if following the monster design to the letter, a well-played party with a decent leader / controller / defender should be able to hit 5-8 encounters, one of which being difficult...

Perhaps I missed it up thread, but is there an instance where Raven Crowking explains why he believes there to be such incompatibility other than some feats and options becoming obsolete? I am playing in a mostly essentials game currently, but there are two players who are pre-essentials and we...

Not sure if this is too late Trit, but you can make skill challenges more organic and less a matrix of how many successes vs. failures. What I mean to say is approach like a realistic situation: if the party is trying to get information out of her, allow them to speak in character and roll to...

I think it is the tendency for a lot of experienced DMs to stray farther and farther from the books, at least in my first hand experience. In fact, eventually the rules for monster creation and skill DCs becomes second nature and it is easy to play without any books at all. Also, if you are...

Yes, that is absolutely correct Starfox. Although, the issue was compounded because he could fly for free and hide extremely easily. He was never really hit by anything except for magic while in Pixie form due to his size bonuses. By the way, do a barrel roll.

I think one of the most pertinent facts of this development is that most (if not all) of the developers of the more modern editions were frequent players of the previous editions. And, as AeroDM has eloquently stated, the first economy of character creation is something that is inherently...

I've run a few epic tier games, and in my experience the system has sort of grown beyond its own design. Even at paragon, depending on the type of game you wish to play, starts to become a little too wushu for many of my player's tastes. Fortunately, in my epic games, I take the time to build...

That is similar to saying that adding rules for spells, casting times, and other such descriptions are designed to remove the "role-play" for the game. What if a player wishes to play a spellcaster but has no real idea how to describe his spells or how they would manifest on the battlefield...

My first time DMing a 3.5 game, after the system had been out for a few years and my group had nearly all of the books (including many third party), I decided to play a high fantasy game with very low restrictions. I started everyone at effectively high level, 9 if I can recall, and one of my...

The easiest way is to simply describe it in terms, keeping it abstract. But, that seems like a rather cheap answer, so I will try my best: The way that I do it in my current sci-fi game with artificial gravity is one of a few ways: If it is multi-levels but still all on the same horizontal...

Very interesting! I have tried many different versions of firearms in my home 4e games, and this comes closest to what has worked best at my table in experience. One of the key aspects of archaic firearms is the fragility of their explosives. I was happy to see that they had a chance of becoming...

Certainly Tyrion is a highly skilled aristocrat, but the biggest reason he's able to persuade people is due to his family's reputation. He offers them gold if they help, or death if they harm him. To most folks that's a fairly daunting proposition, especially if the reputation of said proposer...