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I like the idea of alignments in general, but I think it's way too overused in D&D. It's a very useful tool for classic high fantasy campaigns where the conflict between forces of good and evil (and/or law and chaos, if you prefer that) is a major factor, but outside of that it's mostly a...

Funny thing is, a wizard can turtle up and still actually be able to do something. Once you've thrown up your defenses, you can then proceed to start laying down whatever offensive spells suit your fancy. Most magic-based defenses work by miss chance or just plain-out "you can't hit me", so...

Nope, it's fairly well-attested in a variety of sources. Google it. Though upon further investigation, it seems I was a bit mistaken by the description on Wikipedia -- the side spikes apparently aren't anywhere near as long as on a ranseur, so it's really more like a regular old spear.

Bohemian earspoon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Essentially, it's a funny name for a particular variant of the ranseur. Nope. Pretty much the best you can manage with core-only is Combat Reflexes + reach. Honestly, I find that 3.x plays much, much better with the addition of plenty of...

A fair goal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the idea isn't without merit, just that it does add a little bit of extra bookkeeping compared to the usual method of giving out XP at the end of the session according to very broad and general guidelines. Even if that bookkeeping is pretty minor...

Are you sure you don't mean 5 9th level Druids? A 5th level druid can't prepare Awaken (a 5th-level spell).

I don't have any problems with that, my point was simply that in most games XP is handled in chunks at the end of the session by default, and generally isn't directly based on the number of individual encounters/scenes in the session. Of course groups can always do things differently than the...

I was really speaking more generally -- D&D's pretty much the only game I've looked at that does XP on a per-monster or per-encounter basis; most use a much looser per-session method. D&D of course comes down to group preference, though personally I've never played in a group that didn't save XP...

Not a UMD check, but you do need a caster level check if the scroll is of higher CL than you. And aboyd is right in this case -- to cast a scroll of a 3rd-level spell as a 4th-level sorcerer, anything other than a 1 will work. Just got the wrong name for the check, that's all.

I'm not so sure that immediate-action spells like Nerveskitter and Wings of Cover can really be used from scrolls. Be sure to ask your DM on that one. Grease, Glitterdust, and Knock are definitely good scroll options, though. However, bear in mind that the saving throw for Glitterdust will be...

Yes, the stats of an animated object are always based on size. Assuming you can make the Will save required by the Awaken spell, yes. Which would be a pretty tall order for a Colossal creature -- DC 42. Whether you can animate a clonal aspen colony as a single enormous creature would probably...

I still want to know why you're so stuck on the finding of traps in the first place. As I've pointed out repeatedly in this thread, just because a trap is found doesn't mean its purpose is fulfilled. Heck, just because you find it doesn't mean you necessarily even know what it does. Ok, so your...

Curses! Your insults are so aggravating, I can't focus properly! Furthermore, your comrades are laughing at me, and their lifted spirits are helping them to better resist my attacks! Hint, hint -- The save bonus from Mocking Blows should totally be a morale bonus. Just sayin'.

I never really liked the "marking" thing in 4e. I see its point from a gamist perspective of giving the fighter a way to protect allies, but from both the simulationist and narrativist end it's rather flimsy. I like the "mocking" aspect you're working with here, so that's something you could...

Given that XP is generally handled at the end of the session rather than in bits and pieces throughout, I would say your idea is definitely worse in that regard. However, it looks like you're definitely giving it the requisite amount of thought, so if it turns out to work fine, go for it!

In theory this is a great idea, but in practice I suspect it would bog down play with excessive bookkeeping and/or lead to problems with forgetting to mark down the increases you get every time you use the skill. In a CRPG it would work great (and in fact a similar method is used in such games...

Robilar's Gambit from PH2 is pretty much the gold standard for AoO builds -- you take a penalty to AC, but your enemies provoke AoOs from you for every attack they make against you. IIRC there's a similar feat accessible at an earlier level in CW. I believe it's called Karmic Strike, and the...

That sort of reasoning would actually work just fine if you usually roll search, spot, listen, etc. secretly, since then you're already operating under the assumption that the players won't necessarily know how well they've done. Personally, since I like things to be as realistic as possible...

The thing is, you DO fail. Repeatedly. But because there's no penalty for failure in these cases, you just keep trying and trying again until you succeed. Taking 20 isn't contrary to the core mechanic; it's a natural extension of it.

For you as DM, maybe. But the whole point for the players in taking the super-cautious approach is that they want to avoid any nasty surprises.