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Argh! There was a trick? We barely survived, no thanks to that damned aura. It was the first time all season I used my daily, Beacon of Hope, and boy did we need it!

Yes, but when you use more than one die, the probability of being one short depends on the DC. Consider this fact: in a d20 system, a +1 bonus to the attack roll increases the expected damage by a constant, 0.05*E[W], where E[W] is the expected damage on a hit. If you are using 3d6, the...

One way to get new status effects might be to replace existing ones that enforce hard constraints on PC actions with ones that merely provide disincentives. For example, instead of Dazed, a condition in which taking more than one action causes something bad to happen: a minion appears, an enemy...

In the OP's position, I would first try solutions that work within the existing system. Design encounters with more brutes and fewer controllers. Award magic items or boons that allow PCs to remove status effects. Sacrifice realistic or optimal monster tactics in favor of spreading the love...

It kills me that the output of the Character Builder still resembles the paper character sheet, which is more of a worksheet, instead of the compact, colorful documents used by the pregens for D&D Encounters and Game Day. The pregens do omit some information, but an interactive iPad version of...

I'm a big believer in designing skill challenges this way. At the very least, every skill challenge I run uses this approach. I wish published adventures would lay out their skill challenges by narrative action, not by skill.

Our group scrounged for a fourth player before beginning. The DM didn't adjust the encounters, but we still cruised through the adventure. It undoubtedly helped that all four of us were experienced players. (I hear this store had a large turnout for D&D Encounters, many of whom were new...

I agree, although if it were me, I would be careful to err more on the side of: "Hey [name of player, in a private message], I was trying to figure out why our combats take so long, and here's what I found: [raw data]. Let's figure out what we can do to help you figure out your turn faster!"...

I seem to have interpreted the OP differently than most of you in this thread: I thought the questions would be posed out-of-character, even though their subject matter is in-game. This interpretation seems less artificial to me: the standardized tests become a game mechanic, not a story...

I'd like to echo the call for diversity. The DMGs include some wonderful advice on identifying types of players and tailoring encounters to them. Let's identify different types of campaigns and D&D games and tailor adventures to them. Designing adventures to appeal to every campaign risks...

I rather like the 4E creation story: the gods appeared in the Astral Sea at the birth of the universe, with the primordials appearing in the Elemental Chaos. But power isn't what makes a god a god. In fact, the early primordials were more powerful, each requiring multiple gods to defeat in...

I think both parts of his statement are important: Avatar is for humans, and Avatar is a movie. D&D is a game. For me, it need not be a simulation or a theory. Its biology, like its economics, may be unrealistic, but it exists in service to the gameplay. YMMV, of course.

Agreed. I would say that terms such as Wisdom have a narrower meaning in D&D than in common speech. Honestly, I think the definitions given in the SRD are pretty consistent. So yes, Wisdom is closely related to perception, although it is broader than the D&D skill Perception, which is really an...

My take on wisdom has been heavily influenced by getting a PhD in machine learning. For me, intelligence corresponds to what computers are good at: memorization and inference. Wisdom corresponds to what computers are bad at: perception and insight. (BTW, Charisma corresponds to what computers...

As DMG2 observes, announcing a skill challenge can break immersion, but it can also help players who aren't sure what they're supposed to be doing. It advises announcing if your players could use some mechanical guidance. I definitely prefer not to announce.

I'd say the most important thing is to make sure that each character has a way to contribute. Not everyone will want to use Diplomacy or Bluff. Maybe a little girl asks one PC (maybe the only one of the PCs of her race) to rescue her cat from a tall tree, allowing athletics. The town priest...

Another vote for Eberron: a perfect marriage of heroic fantasy with modern (early 20th-century) sensibilities. Dragons but also warforged. Kings but also nations. Teleportation but also trains. Old-fashioned taverns but also international corporations. Swords but also at least one...

Ah, I sit corrected. I also see that later in the same encounter, we see a player use a power against one of the statues, although without any guidance from the DM. Nevertheless, I still hypothesize that the DM didn't encourage power use because he saw the statues as objects not creatures...

Through episode 7, we have only seen the PCs attack objects: the four statues comprising the trap. Perhaps Chris is simply being consistent with his ruling that powers that target creatures can only target creatures. We'll know more once we see them attack an actual monster. In this...

Given the reception to the current implementation of rituals, I can't see making them more difficult to perform while maintaining their current power level. I see some potential, however, in making them more difficult to obtain or perform but consequently more powerful and flavorful. Perhaps...