Search results

I didn't mean to suggest anything 'against' 4E. I'm an ardent 4E addict, after all. I'm just trying to explain how trying to extrapolate an intended audience for Essentials ('old new players' vs' new new players') based on the mechanics (were they conceived as 'The Return of the Old School...

For a moment there I misread this and thought you were suggesting that Mike Mearls himself was an RPGA Award. Or at the very least the Home Edition of Mike Mearls.

They can use greatswords. That I know for sure. Hope that helps.

I meant 10 or more in situational bonuses on top of the existing attack bonus. I thought that was obvious. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

That is actually the underlying subtext of my OP. I'm not trying to say that the races are more pigeonholed, but rather, players now possess the kind of broad freedom that enables the pigeonholing in the first place. I guess it's kind of a two-way proposition: imaginative players can now...

Tony's hit the nail right on the head by describing it exactly how I wanted to. Races now have more options for attribute synergizing with classes, but are now less distinct from one another (before racial feats). The way I see it, a Tiefling is fine as a rogue since they can always be smart...

I heartily endorse new printings of the monster manual, phb and dmg and I'd love to have them, but considering that I have most of the rules memorized it'd be too little too late save for the monster manual.

For me, it depends on how the players want to use the 'weird race.' I've never been comfortable with kalashtar because it seems like people don't really do anything with their fluff unless someone is running an Eberron campaign that makes explicit use of the Dreaming Dark. I get away with...

I understand that there're more than enough Essential threads right now weaving in and out of various topics, some scarcely remaining on-topic within one page, but I wanted to ask you guys what you think of the decision to create a floating attribute bonus for all races. All races will now have...

I heartily endorse Shadowrun Fourth Edition. Of course, I understand that it has elves and orks and therefore is not a complete break from fantasy. However, with subsystems for technological skills, an emphasis on a more mercenary tone as opposed to most D&D-like games that act as simulators...

It's been said many ways in many threads but they should really just replace the MM1 monsters. Just have Monster Vault versions of the classic monsters. I don't want to open the Monster Builder and see 800 different kinds of Kobold just cause they can't back down and admit they need to get rid...

I have difficulty parsing the way you've typed out this statement, but I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything about "there fantasy environment is inferior" and I most certainly didn't mean to imply that they need 'training' of any sort. The "martial clases don't need a mind," bit though, I have...

I think that's a pretty condescending generalization about kids in general. You underestimate the savvy and flexibility of the youth. I grew up as a teen in the early 90s in a Third World Asian republic where most of my peers played Magic: The Gathering and Nintendo and had no experience of "I...

Girlfriend DM has been asking me what all this fuss about Essentials is, and everytime I try to explain what everyone is talking about and what Essentials actually is, the result is a ping pong effect that creates a discussion that complicates one or the other. I think it all amounts to this...

I hope a DM I know never reads this, because I know he'd absolutely want to use this idea.

I'm fine when Barbarians in general, rush headlong into battle, so far as it is by default, supported by the player making that decision from a somewhat RP based standpoint. But if it's pretty obvious that the Barbarian is constantly running in because the player has no thoughts about how he is...

Great observations, all. Anybody have any personal favorite dungeon encounters/adventures/campaigns?

In general, I cheat in monster math. It's horrible, I know. If I can't call a monster up on my laptop, find it on a book or whatever, I just take the player's general hit point average divide it by 2-4, depending on how harsh I want to be and then find the damage expression that can best...

Three words: Marvel Super Heroes. That way grognards can complain about the good ole days of FASERIP.

It's frequently mentioned about at all my gaming tables that "dungeons are boring." For a myriad number of reasons, I disagree. Dungeons are an opportunity to present history and flavor in ways that political adventures and wilderness campaigns can't, and provide a series of meaningful choices...