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I think the PC should deal with the consequences of his or her choice. Keep in mind that in D&D, character growth is exponential. Therefore, the relative magnitude of shortfalls decays exponentially over time. At level 11, a five-PC party finds 18000gp in treasure per the DMG. By level 16, a...

I noticed this inconsistency too, and I wish the spine colors followed a coherent scheme. But I'm not losing any sleep over it.

I would say that the take-home message of the data so far is that, among the respondents, 32% don't use modules, 19% always use modules, and 49% use modules sometimes. This is more or less what I would expect.

My elven predator druid didn't have any problems with the adventure. With Splug's Cringe ability, you can fire two AOE attacks each round to clear out minions. Against standard monsters, Splug can flank effectively with a druid in beast form. I'm looking forward to running this adventure for...

I like to hear discussions about game design and advice about ways to help your game, whether it's as a DM preparing adventures and running sessions smoothly or as a player fleshing out her character and learning about new classes and builds. I dislike podcasts that spend the first ten minutes...

You can let your friend play a charismatic liar without letting him mind-control the other PCs. Give him NPCs to deceive and overcome. But the party is off limits, unless another player is interested in playing with the idea. Let his fun be an asset to the group instead of coming at the group's...

The key question is what are the players' goals? If they return to the castle to find the wizard or to find out more about him, leave them a clue or a weakness to find, but show them later that they've given the wizard a big head start. If they just want to find treasure, then you need to...

I also adore these Paragon Paths. They both inspire me to consider class combinations I might not have considered and help flesh out the mechanics of these combinations beyond what is possible with just the multiclass or hybrid rules. The Thay Infiltrator PP in the last article in the series...

Let's consider an analogy from adventure design. At one extreme, you can create a dungeon comprising a linear sequence of rooms. At the other extreme, you can draw a hex grid over a map, note an encounter for each, and let the players wander freely. A middle ground is the dungeon that...

I agree with you, although I don't think anyone's suggesting that the DMG should indicate what condition to inflict as a function of what action the player narrates. What could be useful is guidelines indicating how "powerful" dazes are compared to pushes, to help the DM decide what a...

Yes, the new DMG describes monster decks on pages 194-195. That second page ends with a section on playing without a DM.

I would say it's for the same reason that some orcs are minions and others are elites.

I believe Aeofel has always been an eladrin, but the other PCs think of him as an elf, much to Al's chagrin. In the latest podcast, he does refer to elves as his hillbilly brethren or somesuch.

You might be interested to know that the d20 Radio Network just started a new fluff-oriented D&D podcast called City of Doors. So far, it's very 4E-centric. For example, one early podcast brainstormed possible villainous followers of the PC gods from the POL setting (in an effort to add depth...

Consider the Open Design podcast, brought to you by Wolfgang Baur and which features regular features by Skip Williams and Monte Cook. It's very DM-oriented, but not explicitly specific to any edition or even to D&D. I would say that a preponderance of the content is OGL, however. In case it...

I would recommend Radio Free Hommlet to 4E players largely interested in discussion of WotC crunch, from a somewhat power-gaming perspective. They have recently added some system-neutral segments on world-building, though.

This. I only ran half a dozen game sessions (in a failed campaign) before 4E, and I found the advice in the new DMG invaluable. Nevertheless, like others, I don't use any of the books at the game table (except occasionally the PHB for skill check DCs I should just add to the DM screen or learn...

A lawful good tyranny would resemble a D&D table where the power gamer tells all the other players how to play their characters. "Okay, you must play a striker, since that's what the Group needs. In fact, we need you to play an avenger of Tempus wielding an executioner's axe. Remember that...

It sounds to me like the magazines are trying to offer alternative perspectives on these gods. IIRC, the Bane article emphasized that plenty of non-villainous, non-evil characters worshipped Bane or at least sometimes offered prayers to him. Here, we see that not every follower of Bahamut is...

This. The skill challenge mechanics simply lack the tactical depth of the combat mechanics. Honestly, this situation is probably for the best. Any attempt completely to codify mechanics for the broad range of situations currently covered by skill challenges would be seen as replacing...