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I agree in the general dissatisfaction with the skill list. I wouldn't go as far as essentially replacing skills with general background abilities, but I think each background should provide a bonus when ability checks are used in the right social context. For all the reasons suggested in the...

Where is this restriction? I believe you can use as many maneuvers as you want per round, so long as you have expertise dice available. In fact, I think the ability to use multiple maneuvers in a round is a key part of how the ability becomes more useful/powerful at higher levels. -KS

What makes CS a clever mechanic is that they provide a scaling mechanism for trading off damage vs. effects. A knockdown from a 3rd level fighter costs a d6, but a knockdown by a 10th level fighter costs a d12. This is important because it preserves the interesting choice. If both fighters...

I read the "uncontrolled power" and "power manifests as your willpower declines" to be general properties of sorcerers, not just a part of this bloodline. Instead, the article suggests that, as a sorcerer expends willpower, the dragon sorcerer gets more draconic and the fae sorcerer gets more...

I don't think there is any question as to whether the sorcerer should be narrower than the core four. Of course it should be. The issue is that it is so narrow that it doesn't cover many concepts that have traditionally been covered by sorcerer classes (i.e. any type of inherent magic that is...

As covered more fully in Is the Sorcerer Story Too Narrow for a Base Class?, this sorcerer fluff would be fine as one specific type of sorcerer, but "sorcerer magic is hard to control and overwhelms the sorcerer physically" is too narrow a concept to cover the full range of D&D sorcerers. -KS

I agree that this is the core component of the sorcerer. The problem is that the character concepts in that involve a threat to overwhelm the character's mundane being are just a narrow subset of the concepts that used to be represented by the sorcerer class. I don't want to harsh on this...

It would certainly make sense if multiple martial character received expertise dice, but were able to use them in different ways. For example, it would make sense if a rogue received expertise dice and could do double damage with them when attacking with combat advantage (instead of deadly...

I agree that prime-stat kit bashing is definitely something that the DMG should support. I've switched a number of prime stats to make characters work, and it's a very useful tool. For that matter, changing spell casting methods (all-Vancean / no-Vancean) should also be something that DMs can...

I agree. Dual weapons should let you attack multiple opponents, attack more reliably or perform certain special maneuvers. It shouldn't be a technique for increasing the average damage per round. -KS

Damn straight. Monster PCs are a fun way to kit bash the system, but monsters have to serve as NPC combat fodder first. Rules for allowing balanced (or arguably balanced) PC monsters has to be a secondary consideration. Even 3.x took years before it provided that particular functionality. -KS

Other folks have already said that different DMs will make different decisions about how much "a la carte" cherry picking will be allowed. But the other important aspect of specialties is that they restrain the designer's ability to create feats. Instead of being able to come up with a random...

Looking at today's L&L, I'm unsure about the story behind the sorcerer. Don't get me wrong... it's cool. I like the idea that there is this magic within the character that is just under control, but begins to transform the sorcerer as willpower is expended. That's badass, and a terrific...

I agree with the general idea that hit point thresholds should be (a) current hit points instead of maximum hit points and (b) limited to physical effects. Hit points is a representation of physical toughness / luck / determination, and makes far more sense for physical effects than for mental...

One of the major advantages to a "spellblade" class is that it has better synergy with both the wizard and the fighter than the two classes have with each other. So, if a fighter wants a little arcane magic, they can pick up some spellblade that gives them the type of arcane magic that is...

I like these sneak attack numbers if the designers can manage to keep rogues to getting advantage every other round. But I'm skeptical about that. Between Thug Tactics and the fighter's Knockdown ability, it seems likely that by 5th level, many rogues will be getting sneak attack way more...

The maximized dice while resting seems like a really big ability to me. Yeah, the system allows ridiculously fast healing overnight, but low level PCs are pretty limited during any given adventuring day. This feat dramatically increases the party's ability to endure damage from multiple...

Damn straight. Seriously, I don't understand the appeal of world shattering events when the rules change. So what? The rules change. It's not like all the assassins need to disappear from the world just because there is no longer an assassin class. All those same characters just continue on...

How does PF handle multiclassed spellcasters? Or, to be more specific, how is it different from how 3.5 handles multiclassed spellcasters? -KS

I think the smart money says that you get all the abilities of each class (with the exception of the stuff you get under "When you create a character whose first class is...") and - for bonuses - you get the higher of the two weapon and magic attacks. But the smarter money says that they want...