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Note that even with a running start, the Athletics DC to reach a foe 20 to 25 feet up (4 squares = 20 feet, square adjacent to him is 5 feet on its own, so 25 feet, right?) is rather high. Let's assume a strong case for the warden. Training in Athletics, a 20 or 21 Strength, and a +2 bonus to...

Heh, other than Cleric, I've played every one of those "essential" classes you list at least once (assuming PHB Wizard and Rogue for Magic-User and Thief). Almost every single character I've played is on that list, with one significant exception: Human Tactical Warlord. Started at level 5...

Every group I've played in or DMed has gone with "Yes, you can reroll after the DM has declared a hit or miss", though often the player doesn't need to know, as they're already pretty sure about the outcome (if you needed a 12 or better to hit the target last round, a 4 probably isn't going to...

Hmmm, maybe there is a peaceful way out of the end of Merrill's storyline, but I'm not sure how you'd get it. The elves weren't particularly inclined to listen to me, as we'd just walked out of a cave without their beloved leader, couldn't explain why, and were covered in blood. Which is...

I quite enjoyed DA2, and do look forward to DA3, whenever that happens. I'm also a fan, for similar reasons, of the companion armour, though I could see room for a system that combines it with the option to micromanage (for those who get a kick out of it). I tend to stick the rest of my party...

They opted to abandon Ki as a power source. I believe one of the reasons they gave was that they couldn't really find a way to make it anything other than a thinly veiled synonym for "Asian", and that all of the classes that they could come up with could fairly easily fit into an existing (or...

During a brief stretch where I tried to GM a Star Wars Saga Edition game, I made a point of having the Star Wars soundtracks on hand, in order to provide the appropriate background music. It didn't really work out for me (and neither did the attempt at GMing...). What I found was that, unless...

wlmartin If I'm playing a defender in your game, I'm going to invest exactly zero of my resources into increasing the penalty for avoiding my mark. All of those items, feats, and powers that increase the punishment are clearly largely useless in your campaign, as you're straight up telling me...

It seems to me that the reason the rules don't include a penalty is that such a penalty is neither fun nor balanced. It may be realistic (though I have seen claims by some that one can, in fact, sleep comfortably in armour), but that doesn't balance the equation. If the party is never going to...

D'oh! Yeah, I've been ruling that one wrong for who knows how long now... hopefully it's not been a factor in any PC deaths...

By RAW, unless the effect specifically says otherwise, nothing happens. Some people like to house rule some effect (like losing a surge worth of HP, or HP equal to your level), but there is no blanket official rule that covers it. Note that most effects that include the "target loses a healing...

Oh, I agree. I've never used any of the actual full builds from any of those threads. I just use the level-by-level analyses of powers to see if I've picked a lemon before I commit to actually using it. Sometimes, I'll keep the lemon (useful for lemonade... I mean flavour), but it's nice to be...

I've never made a Swordmage myself, but the Character Optimization board over on WotC's D&D forum has a handbook full of helpful suggestions.

The rules are a bit hazy there, but my initial reaction is to agree with Dice4Hire on those two. I was referring more to such things as talking, rather than using class features. For instance, if one can't do any free actions whilst doing something else, then technically one wouldn't be able...

Unless you have something specifically preventing you from making Opportunity Attacks, you can make them. The conditions Dazed, Dominated, Removed from Play, Stunned, Surprised, and Unconscious all prevent Opportunity Actions. Some monster abilities or PC abilities may also specifically...

While I agree that you can't insert a (non-free) action into the middle of another action, I think it would be perfectly reasonable (and well within DMG guidelines) to instead charge extra squares of movement for passing through a closed doorway (which would afterwards be considered open). How...

I answered both 4th Edition & Essentials, though you can count me amongst those who don't see them as separate entities. I would gladly have played some more Star Wars Saga Edition (we have several people interested in playing it, but nobody who wants to GM), and/or tried out Dragon Age (I have...

I would find your stat blocks easier to read if they followed WotC's convention of name, then number/info, rather then number/info before name. Speaking for myself, if I'm looking at a stat-block for something, such as AC, my eyes seek out the label AC then move to the right (given that most...

Because, sadly, to a certain extent the settings are competing for resources. The designers only have so much time they can spend on any one thing, the budget for freelancers only goes so far, the publishing schedule only has so many openings. There's also the matter of post-book support in...

Tony, they've said, repeatedly, that Essentials is not meant to replace or supersede the existing classes, merely add to them. I don't think any of your scenarios for older classes (particularly the Fighter) going by the wayside are terribly likely. The fighter is rather unlikely to fade away...