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No rolling for stats as core. In fact, no randomness in character generation at all as core. No random HP rolls, for example. Some sacred cows are better off as hamburger. I want to make the character I want to play. Not the one the dice told me to play. No separate XP progression, either...

No, I don't want D&D by committee. I'm not even sure I'm completely on board with the wide open playtest idea. You'll get a hodgepodge or rules and ideas that I think no one will be satisfied with. I think Paizo's open playtest really held it back from transcending 3e and becoming a better...

We already had a thread on things people didn't like about 4e. We seem to be rehashing the same topics over and over in this forum. No offense to you. :) That said, sure a skeleton has vital bits. Trying to stab someone in the kidneys is no different than trying to nail the joints between the...

So going back to my token idea, you could do something like "When a Rogue has combat advantage, "grit" tokens expended to boost damage do +2 per token expended instead of +1" or something like that. Or when a Rogue has combat advantage they gain X bonus grit tokens for that round that can be...

As a 4e fan, I have your analysis intriguing and insightful, Celebrim. I agree with you that the rules should be written in such a way that most classes can try most combat maneuvers. Otherwise, like you say, it effectively becomes a "spell" that only a few people can do. But I don't like the...

A single orc with a sword does d8 damage without accounting for a strength mod or anything else. That's a CR 1 challenge, I'm pretty sure. But its been a while since I played 3e. I avoid 3e monster math and the CR system like the plague. It's totally broken. I have introduced newbies to the...

No more wizards with 4 HP, please. It just doesn't work. Assuming the average monster attack at level 1 does 1d8 damage. On average thats 4.5 points of damage. If a PC should be able to survive approximately 5 hits from a typical monster before they drop (which I think is a reasonable design...

Epic should be core and should be part of the game. Otherwise it never gets supported. 3e Epic was a lame add-on that never worked quite right. 4e epic sort of worked, but it was mostly heroic tier style skirmishes with bigger numbers. Instead of fighting 4 orcs, you fight 4 demons. Thats not...

Let me amend my previous post. Yes, if you are highly optimized and focus fire and hit, then yes you could drop one or two creatures a round, so I guess I could see 2 rounds, but I have to think it would be rare.

I play with a bunch of 4e powergamers, but I find 1 or 2 rounds hard to believe. Assuming you are using errata and are facing challenges of your level, ending a standard encounter of the party's level in 1 or 2 rounds is flat out impossible. I could possibly see 3 rounds if they are completely...

4e addressed the medusa issue. If she hits you I think you start out paralyzed as you slowly turn to stone. If you fail two saves you turn to stone, otherwise you manage to shake it off. For everything else, I think players should be able shake off most other effects. There are a few things...

To understand why 4e HPs are higher, you have to understand that the design goal of 4e is that a standard PC can survive at least 5 hits from a standard monster of their level before going down. This is a design goal I agree with. Also having more HP makes it easier to add damage variability...

The 4e model is ideal for me. But I could see them borrow from M&M 3e where your Fort, Ref, and Will can act as both a save AND a defense (just add 10) depending on the situation and the effect used against you. But I never again want to play a D&D game where I fail a save and essentially sit...

I agree with you, but that doesn't mean there aren't lessons you can learn from video games. Things like multi-stage boss battles, quest structure, terrain effects, etc. Still, I could see a lot of those elements being moved to the "miniature" rules add-on that Mearls mentioned, which I expect...

The 4e action system is perfect. Standard/Move/Minor for me all the way. I even like the interrupts and reactions. I've never felt like they slow things down in combat. Remember you only get one immediate action per turn. The number one thing that slows down combat in 4e is players who wait...

Not counting core books, because those are a given. Here are my favorite books from all the editions: BECMI Rules Cyclopedia (still holds a place of honor on my shelf) 1e AD&D Unearthed Arcana Oriental Adventures 2e AD&D Tome of Magic Dark Sun (ALL) Planescape (ALL) Complete Book of Elves...

We only play for 3 to 4 hours, so I can't go too crazy, but I would like hooks to expand the story further in case the one shot is popular and my group wants a sequel the next time the regular game is cancelled.

So, I'm DMing an adventure tomorrow night as a one shot while our regular game is on hold. I will have 4 players. It may be level 1, but it may be higher. They are talking about wanting to play higher level PCs. Anyway, trying to come up with ideas. I'd ideally like 3 standard encounters, or...

Interesting thoughts. I actually have an idea on how WotC could make a 5e that is 90% compatible with existing 4e material, and 90% compatible with 1e/2e right out of the box. 3e is a little trickier because its math doesn't scale as nicely, but it would still be around 75% compatible with my...

For those curious, we beat the UDD and our group was supposed to go into the UDD Hall of Fame on WotC's site, but then they discontinued the UDD events at Cons. So that was kind of a bummer. Still, we all got free WotC swag for winning. :)