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I am sad if it gives a bonus to hit. It makes them essential to take, which narrows down the feat selections. I would be more happy if it added some cool effect once per encounter or somesuch.

I suggest using rogue multiclass, it has a lot of synergy as long as you use a dagger. You have a few options from racial powers to get CA, which makes for a good opening in a tough fight (cloud of darkness + sneak attack with ranged spell through the dagger). Also, rogue multiclass helps you...

Can you give an example of an environmental effect reducing damage? I suspect such things are really rare, unless you constantly adventure on different planes that have specific effects on one type of damage.

Well, obviously you don't always even have either side be surprised. Just roll for initiative. Also, it is not necessarily so that everybody gets a surprise round. More often than not, in my game the few stealthy characters who sneak ahead of the party get surprise and they get the surprise...

I'd handle it differently, because in my game the combat would initiate only when the PC's and monsters detect each other AND decide to fight (and not wait under the tarp for something to happen). If the monsters do not detect the rogue, he could peek under the tarp without them instantly...

I'd say it depends a lot on the group and what you have to work with. If your adventure allows using a lot of enemies (fits into the theme etc.) then that is probably the best way. I also add a third option: Use better monsters and/or more difficult tactical situations. Better monsters =...

Few really quick and undeveloped ideas: - Stat bonus (Cha or Con, maybe int with the A-design) damage on a miss vs. a cursed enemy. This should be pretty balanced IMO, since it does not get multiplied with the hellish rebuke or dire radiance. It is also pretty simple and should be easy to add...

Also, to add to my above post, the reason not to roll initiative so soon in this case is that your initiative rolling is a strong clue of danger that the players don't notice yet. This is not good since they assume an ambush and needless meta-gaming can happen as a result.

In my opinion, the initiative in situation 1) was rolled too soon in this case. The system assumes that combat initiates when obvious hostile actions are about to happen (at that precise point you roll for initiative). In this case, the rogue's stealthy approach to the tarp (or trap, pun...

It is just the bard class working as intended... Also, this may be a big thing only if you don't allow using the leader classes' twice per encounter heals multiple times between encounters. Most groups do allow it, if there is enough time for multiple short rests.

In other words, there is no exception to the normal rules for provoking an OA, so those rules still apply.

I actually recommend using the Obsidian skill challenge (in the resources section) to solve these situations. In that system, it is easy to include everyone, so they all get to roll. Failures do not fail the whole thing, you just need x successes from three rounds of rolls. This might better...

To avoid problems, this is how I'd rule on it: - A higher tier adversary would always have some way to eventually get past the circle, perhaps with some inconvenience. It could be raw physical power (like the Tarrasque vs. heroic magic circle), a spell or some other way. I would inform the...

I tend to drop hints. Preferably things that the party notices if they are being careful and if they try to find out stuff about the opposition in advance. There is no real cure for stupidity. I don't even think there should be. The players will learn from their mistakes and next time they...

I actually read this in a different way. Originally the DM makes an adventure for the party at 8th level. Then he runs it. Result is TPK. This may, or may not, be a mistake from the DM. It can just be poor luck on behalf of the PC's. Now, the DM runs the same adventure for the new party. New...

I'm not absolutely sure about this, but I think double weapons count as two handers. That would enable you to use both classes' abilities pretty well.

You could use the Arcane admixture feat to add the cold descriptor (and damage) to thunderwave, or add another type of energy to your chilling cloud. That helps a lot when you are fighting cold immune or resistant creatures, and it makes your thunderwave more potent against regular foes.

You could have some of the trapped areas be skill challenges instead of actual traps (as described in DMG). That way, you can have penalties for failure that go beyond damage per attack (healing surge losses are a good one).

If I ever use anti-magic, it will only really work on rituals and perhaps on a select few things, like scrying or long range teleportation. It is better to have countermeasures vs. specific things like teleportation, flight etc. that are not so class specific in all cases. You should not nerf...

In fact, it reduces the speed *to 2*. Not half, or by set amount. Any movement modes the target has are all reduced to speed of 2. It affects things that refer to the character's speed, like some shifting powers. Other powers just state how many squares (perhaps wis mod squares), and these are...