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  1. Estlor

    D&D 4E My 4e House Rules - Yours?

    The Character Builder is not a rules source. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium is a rules source. MME says on page 51 in the second paragraph below the "Tomes" header of the implement chapter: "Wizards are automatically proficient with using tomes as implements." Wizards = Proficient with...
  2. Estlor

    D&D 4E My 4e House Rules - Yours?

    You don't need to houserule for this. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium (the first source published that included Tomes after the existence of wizard subclasses) explicitly states all wizards are proficient with Tomes. Some (misguided) people insist this doesn't actually give the other...
  3. Estlor

    Any news out of PAX East?

    Is anyone who participated in the PAX East playtest willing or able to divulge when the NDA they signed expires? IIRC, the DDXP NDAs are set to expire in May. It would be interesting to see if the time frame is still the same, as that would be telling in regard to an expected open playtest...
  4. Estlor

    D&D 5E (2014) D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"

    Respectfully disagree, and here's why. 4th Edition flipped the application of spells from a passive, "DM rolls to see if the monster resists," to an active, "Player rolls to see if the spell hits." Logistically, nothing changes. You cast fireball. Someone rolls a die. If a bad result comes...
  5. Estlor

    D&D 5E (2014) D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"

    I working off the 4e model which assumes you make attack rolls for spells, making implements necessary (otherwise you'll wiff with every spell much past mid-heroic). If we're using the auto-hit but chance to save model of earlier editions, yeah, implements disappear (unless you want to allow...
  6. Estlor

    D&D 5E (2014) D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"

    Which opens an area of confusion because we already have "Ability Scores." Which (naturally) would have no relation to these other abilities. For the past two editions, D&D has desperately been trying to get away from the idea of using all sorts of verbiage and resolutions that all do the same...
  7. Estlor

    April 3rd, Rule of 3

    Going back a couple pages for a moment: I read this as Healing Surge = Way to keep people who don't want to think about tactics alive. I disagree. Healing Surges are a resource just like anything else in the game (powers in 4e, spells in earlier editions, potions, scrolls, etc). They are a...
  8. Estlor

    D&D 5E (2014) D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"

    Well, let's make this constructive then. What would be an appropriate fantasy-genre name for something that includes arcane spells, divine prayers, martial exploits, psionic disciplines, primal evocations, and shadow hexes?
  9. Estlor

    D&D 5E (2014) D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"

    I LOLed a little when I read the assertion that 4e's over-abundance of keywords was a turn-off. Someone should finger their way through a 3e Monster Manual (any manual) if they want to see excessive keywords and jargon in play. Now, I'm not knocking 3e by saying this, because I (at the time)...
  10. Estlor

    April 3rd, Rule of 3

    I don't really understand why there's such a displeasure/disconnect with the Healing Surge as a game mechanism. Really, it serves to perfectly viable, inherently "D&D" ends. First, just as hit points are an abstraction of your ability to absorb, dodge, shrug off, or simply withstand physical...
  11. Estlor

    Make Race Matter

    I'm conceptually in favor of race being a more significant part of the character, where the fact you wrote "Elf" on your sheet means a lot more than getting to re-roll an attack 1/encounter and shifting on difficult terrain. However, what seems to happen is ability scores are used as a proxy to...
  12. Estlor

    Broken NDAs or Elaborate Trolls?

    Well, you can take Trevor's silence one of two ways. Either it means that info was legit... or it means knowledge of it never spread far enough for WotC to deem it worthy of a response. Honestly, the important thing to keep in mind is, if true, this is just a description of ONE particular...
  13. Estlor

    Morrus on... Races

    I'm a fan of making races count so a dwarf feels different than a human or an elf or a halfling. I'm not in favor of that being tied to ability scores, which it often seems it strongly is. I like 4e's attempt, but I think the underlying math of the system makes the bonuses too valuable...
  14. Estlor

    Tiefling and half-orc should not be in the PHB

    I've always been a fan of this 7 race dynamic: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Dragonborn, and Goliath. You're not going to get D&D without the first five. Even if you've never played one of those and you don't know someone who has, there's just something... wrong... about those races not...
  15. Estlor

    Broken NDAs or Elaborate Trolls?

    Maybe try asking the question a different way. Why shouldn't the wizard crit on a 20 when Team Monster decides, "Cheese it, I'm going to provoke an OA because it's just the wizard"? One of the 4e adventure stories my group STILL talks about is when the wizard crit-kicked the big bad to death...
  16. Estlor

    Broken NDAs or Elaborate Trolls?

    Oh man, could you imagine the nerd rage? IT. WOULD. BE. GLORIOUS.
  17. Estlor

    Confirming crits, good idea, bad idea, or worst idea ever

    I'm not a fan of rolling to confirm crits. I prefer the simplicity of 4e where 20 = auto-hit, if it hits anyway it's a crit. That said, they're a little more palatable under the model of the confirmation roll only being for the BONUS damage. The fact that a nat. 20 still gets you an auto-hit...
  18. Estlor

    Broken NDAs or Elaborate Trolls?

    Definitely something to keep in mind here is the context of the information. They were playing Keep on the Borderlands. Perhaps the 2/1/1 rest limitation was a function not of adventuring day limits, but of the adventure they were running. Also, as this is an early playtest, and one that was...
  19. Estlor

    Broken NDAs or Elaborate Trolls?

    D&D Next Leaks from DDXP I've been sitting on this a little bit because I wasn't sure what EN World's policy on places that violate the NDA was, but seeing as the (eventually proven to be) false leak thread over on GiantITP's forum wasn't shut down right away, I'll share. I found an archived...
  20. Estlor

    D&D 4E Your 4e Bucket List

    Autumn and Winter Sentinels. Warpriests for the other domains. Knight and Slayer class abilities for the remaining weapon types. Conjuration and Transmutation Mages. Errata for Kulkor Arms Master's horribly broken 16th level ability. Yeah, that'd do it.
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