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This should vary vastly depending on terrain. In fact, due to that, I'd say its up to you to "stat out" the terrain before your party get to it. Remember that there's a lot of Skill Challenge type stuff you can put out there: imagine your party hiking the Grand Canyon, rim to rim, in August...

The other thing I'd think about is how often you see +'s group-wide .. For example, if the group has a Battle Standard that they're using for a +1 damage in almost every battle, factor that in .. if you more-often-than-not see plusses from other sources (e.g., zones, etc), factor those in, too...

I'd been looking at it as "A max-damage at-will should kill", so if you've got a couple characters at +10 damage, you might aim for something in the 17-22 range (depending on whether you see more 1d8+10, 1d10+10, or 2d6+10).

Thus far I've only got one type of ritual caster in my party, so I'd just left it as a generic "components" category - especially as they're in a fairly low magic world, so they can't exactly go to the local hedge witch and pick up additional - either they find it, hunt it, or whatever.

That's a much better way of phrasing it. I was totally looking for "just out of reach of a basic melee attack, barely in reach of a lucky (maximum damage) at-will."

Yep. Precisely what I do. The party killed the Shaman, and on the shaman they find 50gp worth of Ritual components, 40 gp in gold, and a ritual book including a ritual they hadn't yet learned (cost: 250gp) ... net deduction from "gold for this level", 340gp. My players love it.

Yeah, spot on. Consider the Orc Bersker's 66-to-52 advantage at level 4. Add one Second Wind for Myria, and she's at 66-to-65 .. plus whatever healing surges her companions send her way .. plus a significant advantage in AC. I'd say her "Effective Hit Points" are higher than the Orc...

Agreed, I do this too. Even if I use a RAW monster manual 1 beastie, I type it up in Monster Maker just to wrap my head around it. A lot of times, I find myself tweaking things a little bit "to suit". Also, I make sure I put down some useful "things it might do" in the powers; that way I don't...

All math aside, I think how "fun" this is is going to depend on the build of the party. For example, a friend of mine just built up a 3rd-level Warlord who dishes out about 4 saving throws per encounter: She's got the feat which lets her grant a Save along with her Inspiring Word Minor She...

Very well. Case 1: Non-helpful "PC A" = 100% chance of acting. A(n) = 1 Stunned "PC B" = 0% chance of acting in Round 1, 0.55% chance saving at end of turn N-1 and then being able to act in turn N. B(1) = 0 B(n) = B(n-1) + ((1 - B(n-1)) * 0.55) Case 2: Helpful "PC C" = 0% chance of acting in...

Wow, most of my characters have used their Background to pick up an extra skill as a class skill so that they can train it. Perception is a favorite for melee types, and my paladin decided Nature fit her character background best.

What Shazman said. The Paladin's mark is worded the same way, so a burst attack that targets the paladin does not cause the marked opponent to take damage. A burst attack that does not target the paladin is still only one attack that didn't target the paladin, so the marked opponent only...

The "1 > 0.55" argument is a straw man, guys. It has two problems. First, it fails to consider the second and subsequent rounds. Second, it considers only standard actions. To the first point, if I continue not-helping, my partner has only a 0.55 chance of acting in round two; if I'm willing to...

I'd say its not a creature if its dead .. but it doesn't have to be dead. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points or lower, you can decide if the damage was lethal or non-lethal. So, if you want, you can be the "knocks 'em unconscious and coup-de-graces later" character .. in which case...

I do figure "missing" is a key part of the game ;) but we have two things in play that are somewhat similar. First, we're using a house-ruled Fumble table for a 1 rolled on the first attack die of a power. A typical fumble reads something like "The attack misses all targets. The Effect: and...

I'm very interested to hear more on this topic, as the group I've been DM'ing will jump from 4 to 6 on our next session. Any advice you folks can give will be deeply appreciated!

Jump is actually a keyword for an action, not fluff - see Athletics, "Jump", for the full rules on it. I've always read that power as indicating that the Sorcerer makes the Athletics check automagically. And no, there's no hangtime, and no parabola calculation either.

The power is specific as to what the spirit companions' defenses are. It just requires following the keyword Conjuration to PHB2 220:

Yeah, I'm not sure what the "skill challenge" is, here. A skill challenge works well for overcoming an obstacle - Nature to make it through the dangerous forest without getting lost or running into a bad random encounter; Thievery and Stealth for breaking into an occupied mansion and stealing...

I'd agree with Herschel - I've been playing a fighter alongside a Dwarven Warden, and he's been very impressive. I find the fighter is a bit better at locking down a specific chokepoint, and dealing with a dozen minions, but in all other regards the Warden kicks some serious butt. He's a lot...