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I would certainly agree that versatility has the potential to be powerful. However, I also suspect that versatility also gives you many sub-optimal choices. I strongly suspect WotC was very conservative with multiclassing, since it's a very broad rule that allows the combination of powers from...

I apologize for being "that guy", but it may interest you to know two facts about resist variable. First, by RAW it can't be used against poison. Second, even if you do allow a monster to resist poison in this fashion, it can't use its variable resistance against two damage types...

Actually, page 9 of the PHB lists four items needed to play: (1) Player's Handbook, (2) Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual for the DM, (3) dice, and (4) character sheet (directs reader to back of the PHB or dndinsider.com). Then it says, "you might find some of the following items and...

For better or worse, it looks like WotC is adding archetypes via books like Martial Power, which added dual-wielding fighters and animal-companion rangers. I wonder if they could introduce something in between a class-specific build and a feat, like a dual-wielding build for any martial class...

Oh, I would certainly agree that 3E feats and 4E feats are very different. I only meant to suggest that the purpose of 4E feats is a subset of the purpose of 3E feats in the very general sense that feats in both versions modify existing capabilities, but some 3E feats also add additional...

I would like to echo those who observed that 4E powers occupy part of the niche that 3E feats filled. I'll take this perspective one step farther and say that it's probably best to compare 3E feats to 4E (feats+powers). Compared 3E feats only to 4E feats is analogous to comparing the 3E saving...

One of the most important ways you determine how a game plays out as the DM is by controlling the pacing. You determine what events in the story receive "screen time" and which ones you abstract away. My advice is not to let yourself get bogged down in "playing out" all the events that you...

This solution seems a good fit for the particular situation that the OP described. In this case, the PCs don't want to disarm opponents as a regular tactic; they just want to disarm this particular opponent in this particular encounter. A skill challenge, in which the PCs must achieve some...

Hmm, so what does the Implement keyword in Centered Flurry of Blows signify? It's true that this power phrases the damage in an unusual way, but I suspect that the monk still gets to add her enhancement bonus to damage.

I like the fact that different classes have different mechanics. It helps add contrast among the classes, especially for those who think that the power framework has made all classes look the same. I also agree with those who like the increased complexity of these later, more exotic classes.

I am not an expert in this industry, but some cursory research reveals that Bioware developed the Baldur's Gate games and that Black Isle / Interplay published them (and developed Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale). For example, this article "Black Isle Studios: We are not Bioware" quotes...

In case you haven't heard, today Amazon announced a new Kindle with a 9.7" screen. It can display PDFs in grayscale. To be honest, I don't know much about these Kindle things, so maybe you can tell me. Will this be good for reading the DDI magazines in bed? For navigating notes at the game...

What D&D could steal from Persona I've been watching my wife play through Persona 4, so I can vouch for it as an awesome RPG with several innovations worthy of attention. Some of these elements seem too large a step away from the current game, such as portraying the PCs as mostly mundane...

Cosmic: inexorable force, black holes, Galactus (in the Marvel Universe "the physical, metamorphosed embodiment of a cosmos," and its "most awesome living entity"). Strength. Storm: weather, butterflies causing hurricanes, chaos, Ororo Munroe ("Storm" of the X-Men, grew up in Cairo as a thief...

I must have missed the thread discussing these expertise feats. If you allow all your PCs to have expertise in their chosen weapon/implement as well as to improvised attacks, why not just decrease the AC of all the monsters instead? Is it just to discourage PCs from switching liberally among...

My guess is they're releasing the adventure written specifically for the last Penny Arcade podcast series. Personally, I'm eager for the summer of Eberron to begin!

I'm a relatively new DM who got into D&D largely because of one marvelous gaming group now scattered across the country. I miss that group dearly and would love to build upon the good times we shared. But I still would rather WotC work on these campaign tools, even as yet nebulously defined...

If it's true that you can buy a case of eight boosters all with the same visible figure, shouldn't Auggie be able to avoid buying more of the visible figures that don't sell? If so, then the reduction in randomness shouldn't increase prices any further than the inherent price increase...

To be fair, the Compendium lists Vicious Vines as an at-will power. Then again, it also specifies that the basic attack does "186+4 damage." I think the Compendium entries should all have a "report an error" link.

i would try both starting your PCs at a higher level and then removing monsters from encounters to fit your encounter budget. For a while I ran KotS for three 3rd-level PCs (without modifying the encounters), and it worked pretty well. For only two 3rd-level PCs, you would need to scale a...