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Yes, the needlefang drake is strictly better than the rat swarm, which is theoretically the same level.

In practice, "big hulking monster" -> High Fort save, regardless of its actual template (usually a brute, but not always).

Greatsword + this feat: +1 AC, +1 Ref, +3/1d10 weapon. Cost: 1 feat. Bastard Sword + small shield: +1 AC, +1 Ref, +3/1d10 weapon. Cost: 1 feat, and must be proficient with a small shield. It's balanced vs the bastard sword, as long as we add a prereq that's similar in magnitude to being...

That's what the 'war wizard' build is. Actually, the changes you've already made are sufficient to render wizards overpowered; +1/2 level to damage is better than any striker ability in the game, and a roll to retain on dailies is pretty awesome too.

I don't think the 4.0 wizard is unduly weak, but it certainly isn't the 3.0 wizard. Thunderwave is mostly an 'oh :):):):)' spell; if you need to cast it, there's probably something wrong. Against kobolds, ray of frost is a pretty good spell.

Practically speaking, the details of how the PCs spend their cash has only minimal effect on power level, as long as the magic items they find are useful. Over the course of 5 levels, a group of PCs is expected to replace 15 magic items (weapon/implement, armor, amulet). Over those same 5...

If you want to decouple wealth and power, you really only have three choices: 1) Magic Items don't give power. This pretty much implies that magic items don't exist. 2) Magic Items can't be meaningfully bought and sold. If you want a magic item, you find it. 3) Magic Items can be bought and...

That may mean the DM was unnecessarily bunching them up -- until they're surrounding a party member, monsters should maintain some space between them. 20 kobold minions can be a TPK.

In my experience, if the party has decent tactics, the wizard doesn't get attacked all that much, making defensive powers marginal. Also, shield (utility-2, encounter) is often better than the staff power, and since they're both immediate interrupts, you can't use both in one round.

Pushes should not be a feature of greatsword styles; among two-handed weapons it's mostly characteristic of a staff or a polearm wielded as a staff.

Correction: either the greatsword is underpowered, or the bastard sword is overpowered. It's not like the bastard sword is actually necessary to the game -- the longsword is in fact a hand and a half sword already (that's why it has Versatile).

At low levels, orb mastery is pretty underwhelming -- a 16 Wis is worth an average of 37% increased duration on a standard monster (1.82 rd to 2.50 rd), 30% on an elite, 23% on a solo. Given that Wand of Accuracy with a 16 Dex is about a 30% increase in hit chance and works with any power, not...

Overall, this is probably a power increase -- two encounter powers are often better than one daily power, and since you can use an encounter power every encounter, you're very likely to get at least two uses out of an encounter power. However, the major problem with a power swap like this is...

A control wizard specializes in spells that create zones, impart conditions, and otherwise disrupt enemy tactics. A war wizard specializes in spells that do damage.

So, some reactions: A lot of powers are "until beginning of your next turn". This is quite unusual for powers; most powers are "until end of your next turn". Mark of Faith might interact rather oddly with multiclass feats. I'd specify radiant in individual powers, not as a class feature...

That's not what it's for. It's for the stare-off that is an integral part of many duels -- the two characters simply sit staring at one another for a while, and then something happens (usually, one of them dies). In particular, it differs from Combat Challenge because attacking the samurai can...

Or, almost all the problems can be fixed by simply eliminating the bastard sword.

Yes. At T1, the extra crit gives +0.25 damage per attack. The reduced damage dice gives -(0.025 * (hit chance +3) * (multiples of W)) damage per attack, so with 1W attacks the GS is better for hit chance > 35%, for 2W it's better for hit chance > 10%. Average, including encounter and daily...

Incorrect. At d10 it's inferior to other 2H weapons (except the falchion; it's always superior to the falchion) unless you're dealing with minions or are using attacks that deliver non-damaging conditions, which is quite commonly the case for a fighter. At d12, it's superior to all other weapons.

A shield typically cuts a fighter's damage taken by 10-20%, depending on small or large shield. To keep things in parallel, a 2H weapon should do 10-20% more damage. At T1, counting the effects of encounter and daily powers, typical damage per hit is about 1.4W + 6 -- 12.3 for a longsword, 13.6...