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First, we don't know what is actually written. The note about balancing the eladrin's 2nd-level spell ability implies that there was more detail about tradeoffs before this excerpt. And ECL involved a whole lot of winging it, and often wasn't that helpful in balancing things. That's not really...

That's weird. I've just been planning a sea-based campaign, and the night before this thread was started, hit upon the idea for the starting adventure: PCs defend a settlement from pirates in a ship that became separated from its fleet, after which they have a ship they can use to leave their...

Before the PHB came out, and warlock features were just rumors and hints, I was thinking that the warlock with a gen familiar would be the best fit for a sha'ir. After seeing the warlock, I changed my mind. For one, the gen is an integral part of the sha'ir theme, but a warlock doesn't get a...

Good find! That's a substantial change to the encounter-building rules.

Actually, what the spell scroll used to say was: This was interpreted by most to mean that anyone could cast the spell with a successful Arcana check. The addition of "Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible." to the current version makes it clear that you need it on your spell list to make...

Don't start that up again!

Could I interest you in a vorpal folding boat, flame tongue?

With respect to the DM's wish to ban use of the character's warlock class ability on the fly, on this we agree. It sounded sloppy and potentially vindictive.

Can you elaborate? How would one not deal with class/rules/story elements? How did the DM in this case not deal with class/rules/story elements? I posit that DMs imposing such conditions deal with class/rules/story elements by treating the impacts to particular characters as acceptable in the...

Sure, and the very first line of the condensed, simplified definition describes clever as "intelligent and able to learn things quickly". And the first part of that definition? "Mentally quick and original; bright". I said: And there we have it, as demonstrated by Merriam-Webster and...

I've run (and played in) games where characters started with no equipment, or had everything taken from them; so have plenty of other people. Many others have run games in which healing/resting rules were tweaked for one reason or another (usually to make healing more difficult, I'd wager). Does...

You left out the part that comes before this: You realize Collins is published in Scotland, and was created by an English (as in England) editor, right? Here's a different one:

Wait, what? The definition of "clever" as "intelligent" is literally the very first definition given of the word in a standard American English dictionary.

How many short rests would you expect to get in a day? A short rest is an hour of relatively uninterrupted time.

This. Warlocks are balanced with few slots to use for spells, given all the other tools in their toolbox: cantrips, invocations, blade or familiar, etc. Playing 4e-style, with essentially free short rests, would significantly increase the warlock's capability. Spells are meant to provide a dash...

I don't think the OP said the DM was doing anything specifically to warlocks, including altering spell slots. It sounds as if the DM wants to run a grittier, more desperate game, which is appropriate for Ravenloft. That it affects the warlock (and I don't personally think it does to the extent...

Agreed. There are many great illustrations in the MM -- actually, I like the aboleth illustration all right, it's just that it looks like some aboleth creation rather than an actual aboleth.

A big part of the problem with Wick's article is his (re-)definition of the term "roleplaying". If a game has some method in its rules whereby one can create a customized in-game character, a role, to play, then it's a roleplaying game. (Cue several examples of RPGs where creating customized...

Agreed. If I'm pretending to be someone I'm not, thinking through imaginary situations under circumstances I will never experience, how am I not playing a role, whether or not I'm speaking in character, or making suboptimal decisions for character reasons, or whatever else encompasses...

I don't know, I've known a lot of D&D players/characters who were more interested in gold and authority than in noble deeds. Including most of the players I DMed in this adventure. I guess this is where I'm missing the problem. Where is the mystery? The identity of the murderer isn't in...