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You know, this isn't some finicky "realism" point, this is distance behaving as we know it in life rather than as if we were in the far realms. If people move 50% faster in some directions that others - that's a pretty damn noticable effect. And it isn't "just an abstraction" if it's the rules...

Actually, the raw modifiers have no effect on randomness at all. What matters is the gap between a high and low modifier. If a high initiative is only 5 points higher than a low one, then initiative is fairly random. If a high initiative is 20 points higher than a low one, then initiative...

Cold always involves the loss of energy. An Ice Archon may not need much energy, but it does need some. Take away every last bit and it will freeze in place - maybe still structurally intact, but with no ability to move or sustain even its elemental quasi-life. Likewise with a Fire Archon...

Static encounters, in addition to providing verisimilitude, provide something to strive for. It's a great experience to gain in strength and eventually be able to face that dragon you've been hearing tales of, or easily smack around that tribe of lizardmen you used to have to sneak past. So...

25 cold resistance seems fairly significant, although not having seen what kind of powers a 14th level character will have, I can't say accurately how much. Hopefully enough that using cold-damage powers against an Ice Archon is not a good strategy, even if your highest level powers are...

Making it a feat - I'd be on-board with that in a second, and all it'd take is a footnote saying which tier feat it was. Or if it was an inherent ability of a creature - like a Choker's Quickness: you can't have it because you aren't a Choker - that'd be fine as well. The only thing that...

And the rings thing? I find it amusing how, previous to 4E, there was some desire to give rings back the "legendary" status they previously enjoyed, rather than being interchangable with wondrous items. Now, of course, it's a terrible MMO idea.

Since quest-cards have been brought up ... Man, am I sick of people complaining about quest cards. The entire mention of quest cards was just one designer saying "writing down the ongoing quests on cards can be useful." And suddenly D&D has turned into a video-game? Because it uses cards...

On Point-Systems: Homogenization tends to happen when people hit the cap on their specialty, so the higher the cap (relative to the starting power), the less it will tend to happen. For instance, a D&D-styled Fantasy HERO campaign would involve starting out at low-power and gaining XP at a...

Being able to upgrade your armor != magic shops existing. I mean, you can hire assassins. That does not mean there are "assassin shops" with the assassins sitting on shelves. I'd imagine magic items are the same way. So you ask around town, find a dealer in such things who, for a...

Well, they could go the "Power Word, Kill" route with it: When a strike from a Vorpal Sword brings a creature below X hit points, the creature is beheaded. Balance wise, it's just dealing an extra X+10 damage under the right circumstances - the power would depend on what X was; it doesn't even...

And for anyone who need deadlier, but not deeper, pit-traps in dungeons: Spikes! Put spikes at the bottom of your pit, and the problem is solved. Extra-long barbed spikes with poison on them, for good measure. Now that's a pit trap that people will fear.

Re: Fireball not being all that hot: Now then, on to the main point - surviving a fall is not hard to explain at all. Most falls take place next to surfaces. So the falling character slows themselves down by grabbing at the surface. Not enough to stop their fall, but enough to slow down to...

Whether or not you think deadly falling fits D&D, there's a good reason not to include it without changing the whole basis of the game - falling can be induced. If you make one effect, such as falling, realistically deadly, while other effects stay the same, then falling becomes some kind of...

Because velocity scales linearly with time while distance scales geometrically, velocity will actually rise slower than distance. So for instance, if you fall 100', you hit with less than twice as much force as if you'd fallen 50'. For this reason, the 1d6/3d6/6d6/etc falling damage rule...

Sure, as long as being set on fire, dragon bites, poison gas, rolling boulders with spikes, volleys of arrows, lightning strikes, and acid are all made more deadly as well. Frankly, adventurers shouldn't be able to survive almost any of what they face on a daily basis, but somehow they do. I...

And sometimes it's useful to know what a monster's "behind the scenes" abilties are, because players can and will drag those abilities out into the spotlight. In 3E, there were tons of ways to do this, some of which, like Shapechange, no longer exist in 4E. But there's one way that's...

It's not that it shouldn't be gamist, it's that it's possible to be mostly gamist without sacrificing other elements entirely, and they don't seem to be spending much effort to do so. For instance, the Pit Fiend's lack of Fast Healing. Compared to the two auras, two ongoing damage effects...

Well that's the crux right there. If you're a fan of emergent gameplay and inventing within the system, there's nothing to "get on with". What you're doing right there, figuring out how to make the starship move - that's the fun part! Not that slaying foes and seeing the story come together...

As mentioned, falling 100' and walking away from it doesn't mean the system isn't simulationist. Simulationist: You fall 100', so you die. Because falls that long will kill you. Also Simulationist: You fall 100', take 10d6 damage, but you survived, as was expected. In this world, people who...