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I imagine that 4e minions must spend a lot of time at bars drinking and commiserating with each other about how the PCs are playing "rocket tag" with them. Hopefully they never get in bar fights. It also places a very different set of considerations on the steps one takes to prepare for...

A coin fip is the definition of perfectly balanced. In context, as you note it's a coin flip weighted by the relevant capacities of its participants. It may not be the most engaging tactical gameplay, but it's balanced alright. The balance in the system itself is discrete from any consideration...

The standard modifier is completely broken. A feeble character of sufficient level can break down a door. The same problem that existed specifically with BAB/THAC0 and saves in earlier editions now applies to everything. Remember that article about how 3e actually simulates basic things like...

To a great degree I think I actually concur with this. I think that's simple traditionalism. The original ideas that started the hobby simply can't be left behind, apparently. Perhaps a more apt philosophy would be to criticize metagaming? Clearly some player behaviors are inappropriate and...

It might have not been playtested well enough, but I think it's clear that 3e, and subsequently PF, are the products of better research and testing than any other other rpg ever made, by a ludicrous margin. Maybe the bar isn't that high, but give them some credit. They took a ton of feedback...

Well, I'm pretty confident that it'll be better than an existing edition. Up to snuff compared with the rest? Doesn't look like it.

What was D&D meant to do exactly? I don't take it as given that it was meant to create endless bookwork or enforce a particular gameplay experience on its participants. I like 3e better than all the others, but I have plenty of criticisms of 3e, and there are things I like better about 2e and...

Now that I recall, the other big area for the nonmagical fighter is ability damage. It's a possibility that 3e failed to leverage and that they've moved completely away from since then. However, the idea of using existing mechanics to represent the impact of hits rather than creating a new wound...

A pure hypothetical, though. There aren't really any such cases where one type of character is overshadowed by another on that scale. If there were, it still would probably be fine if it were justified appropriately. I don't think that's clear at all. I think a few people understand balance, and...

I try not to have requirements. Preferences, maybe, but I'm open to changing them. Again, it's a question of whether the idea is executed well more than what the idea is.

Probably, but as a matter of relative judgements, I bet it's at least clearer and more coherent than anything WotC has put out in a decade. There's something to be said for taking an idea and doing it well. My ideal D&D has its own characteristics, but there are many other approaches one could...

Um, why not both? No thanks. I'm not talking about writing a really good rpg necessarily. Just a good enough one.

Yes, I oversimplified somewhat. The point is that while 2e multiclass characters were indeed more interesting and useful, they still had their problems.

Possibly, but both of them meet that description. Exactly. Did they ask us whether said class should even exist? No. Did they ask us how we felt about the progression of attack bonuses? No. Did they ask us whether we liked the health system? No. Any sense. I think anyone who is a reasonably...

...and had to be elves.

Haagen-Dazs did have this "chocolate chocolate mint" flavor once that was fantastic. It's gone now, though.

People who like buying things that say "D&D" on the cover. That's definitely the case. They sent out all those playtest surveys, but there wasn't any opportunity within them to express any really meaningful opinions, only to confirm or deny their opinions (with a heavy slant towards confirm). I...

Whoa, I'm crying foul on that. What could possibly be better than mint chip?

Yes, this is a rather enormous problem. The Christmas Tree effect, and the sense of treating magic items as an assumed part of character abilities. It's also a problem with regards to the distribution of magic items. One of the first assumptions I made (and I think I'm not the only one) is that...

Not necessarily a problem though. After all, the action economy may be one of the things that naturally keeps the character from being radically overpowered. In some circumstances, 3.0 haste could allow very powerful combinations of attacking and spellcasting. Again, that's true, but I'd...