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I don't agree. Perhaps a better way to term it is that I think 4E.E has been a significant step change in incremental character option incompatibility, combined with implicit marginalization of older options... and that I think this is a problem for the game. Not a huge problem, but something...

I did so about four pages ago and the point was conceded. The subclasses are plainly not as interoperable as builds generally are, with certain exceptions (e.g. beastmaster). Multiclass/hybrid options are only now available as a playtest, and a number of Essentials subclasses are entirely...

"The old books still exist" is a bit of a misdirection, IMO. There are plenty of pre-Essentials classes that need more attention -- not errata, but new content. However, now that Essentials is the new norm, pre-Essentials classes aren't likely to get significant new support in a new book. The...

This thread has moved on from my posts, but I wanted to make a quick note -- the psionic power point classes still follow the encounter power structure. Power points are directly analogous to (and are balanced against) encounter powers. That's actually the route I would have preferred to see...

Because WotC didn't say that the beastmaster would be "the baseline experience for the game going forward." They didn't marginalize pre-beastmaster Ranger builds in favour of supporting the beastmaster (until community outcry arguably forced them to relent). They didn't shuffle pre-beastmaster...

I'm pretty sure the argument was that the back of the book states that it's for use with HotFL, HotFK, and RC. I'm with Dice4Hire on that one -- if you aren't the sort of D&D player who follows what WotC says online, how would you know that HoS is compatible with PHB1-3? * I think the big...

I should read the text of Gloaming Cut -- it might be a good fit for my (Rogue|Warlock)/Assassin, a tiefling named Gloom who I built to play sort of like Nightcrawler. I've got cunning sneak + shadow walk, and I've been picking up teleport powers. I've got Shadow Step as an encounter teleport...

As mneme noted, you can't make a stealth check to hide as part of the action in which you lost the hidden status. There are a few powers that explicitly break this rule and allow you to make a stealth check to become hidden after the attack, but unless Gloaming Cut is one of them (and IIRC...

Hidden = silent and invisible. Cunning sneak + shadow walk is definitely a legitimate combo, it's just tricky to get. Another way to get it is to be a combination of Rogue, Warlock, and Assassin. Rogue hybrid for cunning sneak, plus Warlock or Assassin hybrid, followed by multiclassing into the...

Oh, I know Eldritch Strike doesn't work with sneak attack, but I've got Sly Flourish for that. I just want an MBA between now and when I can pick up the Pact Weapon. I can't retrain into it, because all of my feats are spoken for: Hybrid Talent (Cunning Sneak), Acolyte of the Veil (multiclass...

Yeah, my Rogue|Warlock hybrid/multiclass Assassin used it quite often enable Stealth checks to get combat advantage right before spending an action point. Now he has Cunning Sneak + Shadow Walk, though, so he can make a Stealth check to hide anytime he moves 3+ squares. Next level I'm probably...

The only Essentials books I own are Heroes of Shadow, the Rules Compendium, and the Monster Vault. If I was running a game and someone wanted to play an Essentials class, I'd certainly allow it, but I'm not likely to play an Essentials character in anything other than a one-shot or short...

I find the best way to get off-class skills is to take a background that makes it a class skill. That doesn't work too well for changing skills once the game starts, but I've found it quite useful.

I originally subscribed for the Compendium. The glossary is incredibly useful, and even though I now have a physical Rules Compendium, I rarely reference it when I'm the DM. The online Compendium is even better than a searchable PDF. It also means I rarely buy player splatbooks that are mostly...

WotC hasn't updated it.

You might want to check out Nevermeet Press' Portrait of a Villain: The Desire. She's a strong heroic capstone villain focused on charm/domination effects. It's been a while since I read the stat block, but you can leave the fluff (which is actually quite good, but you don't need it) and steal...

Battleragers make pretty good secondary strikers. I've got a warforged battlerager who started with Str 18/Con 18, and took feats to let him add his Con mod to damage on his opportunity attacks and Combat Challenge attacks, in addition to taking various powers that have Str mod + Con mod in the...

This isn't incompatible with the view that character death should be rare. If your RAW play extends to things like recommended encounter balance, then characters won't die all that often, since your encounters will generally push them to the brink of death -- not over it, at least until you get...

The front page review covers that pretty well. :)

I see the logic, but I don't think it's a great solution. I think the logic is that the Knight and Slayer (for example) are unique from other Fighter builds and from one another. The pre-Essentials Fighter builds are more similar to one another than to the Essentials Fighters. Therefore there...