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The 4e rules support the bloodied condition being known about, as all condtions are public information, and both players and monsters can act on this information. In my gameworld "bloodied" means the creature concerned is visibly beaten up and starting to suffer from it - depending on the...

Depends on your definition. In previous editions spellcasters had lots of ways to effectively reshape reality via their magic. Case in point, there was a 1e Illusionist spell called "Alter Reality". Was 1e D&D Discworld? Non-spellcasters had much less ability to instantly affect their...

I think that for some 4e elements to be portrayed as "realistic" (coherent, with versimilitude etc) e.g. warlord's ins, piring word, the old "Come and Get It" power, certain constraints are placed on description of the gameworld. However these constraints are an emergent phenomenon, a...

On the meta-level, unless carefully prepared this encounter is primed to give the players the wrong message - "Don't jump ahead in the story or you will bite more than you can chew and be punished for it". I've seen players get very conservative and timid after surprise TPKs and close calls...

The typical party does need strikers - unless monster hp are adjusted combat tends to grind without strikers. Strikers are the simplest characters to play (some strikers are more complex than others, true). I recommend to my new players to start with a striker, or a defender perhaps. Strikers...

I answered Other, as there are issues other than just magical or non-magical healing to consider. If a party's healer is a warlord, it is incumbent on the referee not to fight the system and be careful not to describe massively crippling wounds on the PCs. Doing so makes suspending disbelief re...

The 4e FR module Scepter Tower of Spellgard is a 2-4th level module set in a ruined town. Technically it's a different town to Neverwinter, but they are both large walled towns in ruins. The adventure has lots of maps that could be used for the Neverwinter campaign. I'm still looking at the...

I have mixed feelings. The 4e magic item rules are in part a reaction to the old magic items of 1e and 2e which swung wildly from awful (cursed items that could eg kill the wearer) to useless to wildly overpowered. The latter category could in the worst cases make innate abilies from class, race...

I liked the fact that the dagger was a great weapon for many rogues. Rapiers are long and hard to hide, so not IMO an automatic weapon for a rogue, the cost of a feat to get one seems reasonable to me. Alternatively, it could be a class option between a sneaky cloak & dagger rogue, and a dashing...

I would advise care with the above suggestion, especially with solos and elites. I find monsters can need customisation to suit a particular group. There is no guarantee that the group will have a lot of attacks targetting a particular defense, so a weak point may be effectively useless, and...

In 4e monsters are treated differently to PCs. The same monster could have different stats based on it's power relative to the PCs and it's function to the encounter, though it doesn't have to. A monster like an ogre could transit from a solo at low level to an elite, then a standard monster...

As to what theme to emphasise, it comes down to your tastes and those of your group. The theme chosen has consequences for the campaign, and it's good not be be blindsided by them. One of the themes of Eberron is ambiguity - the power groups don't have simple good guys and bad guys, and...

Do find out what your group are interested in. Eberron has a bunch of themes available and not all of them can be emphasised at the same time e.g. over the top pulp adventure doesn't gel well at the same time as gritty noir, or non-pulp horror, and all these are offered by Eberron, amongst other...

I think nowadays the average player has a lot more experience than in days of yore and is a lot less willing to accept poor behavior on the part of a DM. This is completely separate from problem players, who IMO are at the same ratio of the total player base they always have been. DMing tools...

I think campaigns become more individual as they move between tiers. Heroic tier is the one most people have lots of experience of - most campaigns start and end in this tier IMO. The essence of getting players to feel the difference between tiers is in their interactions with NPCs and the...

4e deliberately slowed down the pace of combat compared to previous editions by reducing the relative rate of dealing and receiving damage, and removing Save or Die spells. They reduced swinginess by reducing the effect of criticals. These design choices risk grind when the players are learning...

This doesn't appeal to me, but for zero level PCs in 4e it would be possible to have minion PCs, statted up like monsters. You could either go with "down is not dead" and work out some sort of table for death or injury, or just go with "one hit and you are out" and have a stack of replacement...

The lowest level teleportation ritual is the Level 8 Linked Portal ritual in the PHB. The target of the ritual needs to be a permanent teleportation circle known to the caster - ritualists automatically learn the sigils of two teleportation circles on learning the ritual, and can find or...

A mounted warrior campaign is possible, and would definitely call for more elaborate mounted combat rules, including a representation of the lance. These haven't been much produced due to the focus on dungeon crawling in previous rules. The upcoming Dragon article on jousting should hopefully...

I think one reason why the lance isn't statted yet is that in all editions I saw most PCs who specialised in mounted combat disappointed as they were forced to park their horse outside the dungeon or building the adventure was in, or cry over the ashes of the latest in a long line of deceased...