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The rules are conflating "adjacent" and "reach" to arrive at "surround". Although I don't think the number 5 was arrived at by considering a grid view. I fully expect the tactical/grid play and TotM play to be inconsistent on these kind of issues. It should only be a problem for a group that...

Nothing prevents a theme being a general source of related "powers" (sorry to re-use that term in a discussion about what that means!) . Obvious examples might be a Fire Mage theme, who you'd think might be able to set things alight and make various burning death attacks. And it would be nice...

I'd really like to encourage this sort of creative play, but I find my group, who are all experienced gamers and have played in more open-ended systems such as e.g. Changeling, are encouraged by the 4E set up to "button push" their powers and skill rolls. Partly, I blame Wow, LotR and Star Wars...

Academic peer review is before publication* AFAIK. That's what a peer reviewed journal is. Stuff that's been reviewed, maybe gone through more than one pass with queries answered and mistakes corrected, and then been considered of sufficient quality to publish in the journal. Edit: Although...

IIRC, gargoyles were one of the lowest-level monsters that could TPK a party without sufficient magic weapons. To me, they pointed to an assumption of +1 weapons somewhere between 4th and 8th level. There was also a "high-level starter" table with %age chances for +1 or better armour or...

Unchaining a group from the xp system goes a long way towards supporting more open-ended goals, including full-on heroic fantasy. Many games of D&D I have been involved in, even with treasure and XP as per RAW, the group would willfully ignore mechanical rewards and get stuck into heroics...

I had to give my feedback without proper playtesting My group is still interested though, so I think there might be value for us in pulling out the playtest material in a couple of weeks to get a more informed opinion. For us, not for WotC.

In 4E I've taken to printing out around 20 "suitable" item cards (one or two from PC wishlists), shufflling them, and having one of the players pick one. I'm selecting to match the PCs, and the themes of the current encounter (e.g. filter for "Shadow" and by level in Compendium, then pick out...

I've been playing mostly 4E for ~3 years, with occasional (and enjoyable) sessions of 3.5E thrown in. I am somewhat disappointed from what I have seen of 5E next, but am not feeling let down, just a but *meh* until I've seen some more. I think the OP's comments on balance are spot on. If the...

I think that is insightful, but also based on things everyone has learned over the history of gaming. Or in other words, when it was actually happening from day one, I don't believe anyone was thinking like this. From my perspective, the original D&D mechanics were seen with a simulationist...

"Prone" gets dished out a bit much in 4E, including an annoying tactical edge case of "prone + 2 squares away" which comes up a lot. 5E could easily have 4E or 3E-like conditions which combine its "prone" with another condition at the same time. These would obviously be rarer - only for...

Actually, although it brings up spectre of more interrupts, I have yet another suggestion. Based on the premise that turn-based movement sometimes throws up oddities because 30' in some contexts is a long way for someone to move before you get to do *something* about it. As well as being able...

I think the one guy scenario is the example that lets you extend. What if the fighter was really good? A whirlwind of steel lashing out at anyone that approached - could he hold off two or even three assailants? Is there space for that kind of character in 5E (i.e. is it worth supporting it...

Against a single opponent, this in fact should be easy to achieve (where 5E rules make it hard by default, and require some DM/player fudging). I'd say any width up to ~25' should be blockable, given roughly even speeds, and a 15' starting distance. Not even 4E's generous allocation of an AoO...

If the scenario is you, the wizard (or perhaps helpless rescuee), and one bad guy, then absolutely you should be able to interpose and prevent the monster attacking your ally. In fact in that scenario with the rules as-is, I'd simply eschew turn-based movement or thinking in terms of grid...

I agree, but that's not my angle on AoOs (or whatever should replace them for simplicity). My angle is I want to be able to have my character block enemies from doing stuff, either from time-to-time, or even as a major part of his/her abilities. I want that both as a PC, and as a DM. The...

For fencing, found this: Martial Arts Fencing Action Sports Stock Footage and Film Production

A boxing ring is 20' x 20'. If you mapped this as a grid, 4 by 4, and tracked average positions of the boxers in e.g 3 seconds blocks, you'd actually see most "rounds" that the fighters were in two adjacent squares (or quite often in the same one). So, indeed if you mapped a boxing match to...

In 4E, they do not. Area attacks do, however. But as you said, it's not central to your point.

Same here. In fact for 4E, I've not bothered at all, I just use the compendium and online tools. Over the years, I have my own game world, my own plot-lines, and my own rationale for how it all fits together. It's nowhere near as complete as any D&D published book, but I'm very comfortable...