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I must admit that this made me somewhat uncomfortable as well, especially the Dwarves=Semites. In the end, though, I figured my players were mature enough to handle it, especially given that the racial assignments are all from the point of view of the Romans. So, when I am saying that the...

When I mapped D&D races to human cultures, I wanted to capture the racism of ancient Rome in a way that was less offensive to modern sensibilities. For example, the Germans are all orcs rather than being a mix of races. For the most part, the classically "evil" D&D races are considered bad by...

Thanks for your kind words. Even if this were of commercial quality, it takes a lot more work to really publish something. I don't want to over-commit. Hopefully at this rate I can keep things up.

I am now running a monthly 4E campaign. As a way of inspiring myself to write up detailed game notes, I've decided to post the adventures I am running in these forums. There is also a detailed campaign background that I thought was worth sharing. I am hoping to post a new adventure each month...

I'd specify an action requirement, either a Free Action or maybe a Minor Action. Otherwise, technically unconscious characters can use the feat. Also, I agree that is should only be for AC and Reflex, not Will and Fortitude.

If they somehow end up with more than one point, yes. You have to be careful with a rule like this, though, otherwise they will just horde their points until the final fight (which tends to be the toughest). I don't do 3.5-style +1d6 bonuses. The action point can be used either to take an...

Here is an example sheet I am using in my games for my players. I break down powers by action type: standard, move, minor. I use symbols to indicate the frequency of use: closed circles for at-will, open circles for encounter powers, squares for dailies. The back side of the sheet is for...

It hasn't been a problem for me. I want the players to use lots of action points. One per encounter seems about right to me. 4E seems balanced so that you have roughly a 50% chance to hit with any given attack. That means your "big" attacks (dailies and encounter powers) are wasted about half...

I've been using custom character sheets with power lists and boxes to mark off powers as they are used (circles for encounter powers, squares for dailies). The powers lists have all the attack numbers and damage pre-computed, with summaries of special effects. It's all done with spreadsheets...

I've been letting player characters (and monsters) use the Action Points for a re-roll as well as extra actions. That seems to reduce the whiff factor by a big margin. I originally set up a more elaborate system with hero points, destiny points, etc. that did different things, but in decided...

In my games, I count skill challenges as an encounter, but only for the party members that participate. So, if a party member opts out of a challenge, they are effectively giving up half an action point. I make this clear to my players as a way of rewarding full participation in skill...

The Arcane Initiate II seems underpowered compared to the rest. Maybe you should allow using the wizard at-will twice per encounter instead.

Diversion is one of the standard options for the Bluff skill. It isn't a power.

4E is (so far) my favorite edition of D&D. That said, I've dabble with pretty much every edition of D&D so far, and eventually got tired of each. My expectation is after a year or so I will get tired of 4E and move on to other games.

I've used action points for re-rolls in several sessions now and haven't found it to be particularly unbalancing. Remember to use it for your Elites and Solos as well, though. It also sucks when you Big Bad whiffs on his major attack and ends up looking like a wuss. Regarding concerns that it...

Has anyone checked out the Crashing and Ramming rules in the Adventurer's Vault, p. 16 yet? If you double-move a wagon, (speed 4 with a pair of horses), you inflict 8d10 damage on anyone you run into at the end of that move. With a team of 4 horses, you can do 12d10 damage. A "weapon" that does...

I would decide first whether you want wiki-points to be better or worse than action points. An auto-hit is considerably better than an action point. If you want them to be worse than an action point, a +2 bonus is probably about right.

I want to include them in combat because I want to increase the overall hit-frequency, especially with the better attacks. See my posts above. I am planning on de-emphasizing both gold and XP as reward mechanisms. Everyone will always get the same about of XP (either a half-level or a level...

This is my intent. Notice that the monsters get points too. The cool points and monster points are intended to effectively give everyone +2 to hit to everything. As the game currently stands, I think misses are simply to frequent. I prefer a system where people are hitting about 2/3 of the time...

Cool Points, Destiny Points and Monster Points These rules introduce more beneficial points beyond just action points: cool points, destiny points and monster points. These rules also change the way action points behave. There are two motivations for these changes. 1) To give more options for...