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Another problem with traps is that many DMs I have seen don't allow a standard operating procedure, forcing players either to constantly repeat "we check for traps", or worse, always insist on the detail on how the traps are being looked for, jumping on any omission. This bogs the game down...

I want classes to be balanced, but a certain sort of balance. It's ok for particular classes to have specialities, but I never want classes to be useless. All or nothing drawbacks don't produce balance, they produce frustration. at best, train wrecks at worst. Anti magic fields, sneak attack...

Fairly recently I played an old-style module with lots of traps, and immediately fell back in the dungeon-crawl paranoia mode - compulsively checking everything for traps, being slow and methodical, distrusting appearances and first impressions. While I can play this way, I found out i don't...

I think another cause of this is the Conan Conundrum. Conan never gets shot to death by massed missile fire. PCs who want to emulate Conan don't enjoy his plot immunity (protection from normal missiles?) :) ). It's much easier to focus fire with missiles, but been shot by twenty bowmen and...

I prefer long campaigns and established PCs so I prefer plot immunity. I hate Rocket tag with a passion. I wonder how much this issue is coloured by the differing styles of various groups and individual players? I know players who treat PCs as disposable and always have a number of ideas for a...

I disagree with the OP. The thing is this impacts differently on different players - some have loads of PC ideas and a PC death is an opportunity to play something else, others get attached to a particular Pc for whatever reason and want to continue to play them if possible. At low level people...

I hate Save or Dies with a passion. They are the essence of unbalanced. As other people have said if a sword or arrow cant achieve a one hit kill because of hp why should a spell? As a player, Save or dies produce anticlimactic fights when the player casts them and they work, or do very little...

in 3e and earlier editions cleric was my favourite class and wizard was my second favourite class. Magic was the initial attraction, these classes becoming increasingly powerful each edition was a bonus. But every new spell increases the potential power of these classes, and the best of the...

I don't think epic should be in the core rules. However, I think that the core rules should be designed with epic in mind from the start, so it integrates well and builds on the core system. Epic also demands dials, to support power level rise in epic from linear to quadratic (for everyone) to...

This is an issue screaming for modularity and a dial. Firstly, I don't think a sense of wonder can be encoded in any rules. Sense of wonder is as subjective as it gets, what works for one person may not work for the next. Really, it has to come from the DM and the particular game being run...

My 4e game will continue, 5e won't come out for well over a year, maybe 2 years. I envisage 5e will be mechanically simple at least initially and not attractive to me for running campaigns till some of the modules to add complexity emerge for it. I will still help in playtesting, and probably...

I have always preferred tight, focused classes, which is probably one reason I preferred 4e, though classes started to smear with essentials. I think with classes an initial design choice needs to be made between a few broad classes that are very customisable or a lot of specialised classes...

I strongly prefer a default fixed array to random dice rolls for stats. Random rolls can work for disposable PCs, where stats have a constrained set of bonuses, and character generation is super quick, but I generally don't like that style of play. Ability scores don't exist in isolation, how...

I can easily foresee simple base classes, with more complex additions to the base classes or more complex versions of these classes in optional modules. The big question is how to handle balancing everything, because ideally the simple classes shouldn't be massively underpowered compared to...

I would prefer each class having one primary role. Allowing multiple roles increases complexity and makes it harder to figure out what an individual's PCs contribution to the group is. Now, allowing everyone to play whatever they want and still having a viable group is a design goal, I...

4e is my favourite edition of D&D, and I've played all but OD&D. However, it isn't perfect, no ruleset is. 1. Daily powers don't work as written in low stress situations, where there isn't a number of encounters before an extended rest can be taken. (I houseruled this to fit my preference for...

The coolest thing I saw recently was a goliath fighter piicking up a stunned carrion crawler and swinging it as an improvised missile weapon to hit a troll in the face. This was in a sewer encounter with the PCs being trapped in a tunnel between the crawler and an advancing troll. As the...

As regards marking, I often have monsters ignore the defenders and attack squishier PCs, suffering the -2 from being marked and probably the defender punishment attack as well. (This is a judgement call based on how fanatical, disciplined or cowardly the monsters are). However it often isn't...

"Realism" is subjective, and people often disagree about reality even in the real world, which has a lot more bandwidth. One reason I like 4e is specifically because it tries to provide some separation between the mechanics and subjective impressions of the game reality. I can't remember how...

I like 4e. I've played basic, AD&D, 2nd ed, 3.0 and 3.5 and 4th ed has been the best iteration so far for my needs. In particular DMing the game is so much easier. Effective encounter design rules, monsters/NPCs not using the same rules as PCs, and NPCs not needing magic items to be...