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Speculatively speaking, reconciliation of Oronthonianism and Uedism is a challenge to the status of the Adversary, as it opens up Oronthonianism to a vast degree of freedom under a flexible yet positive view of morality. Whether the Adversary would see such a challenge as a positive or negative...

Agreed. IMO skill challenges will ultimately succeed or fail for a group of players based on whether it inspires them to do some creative problem solving while roleplaying their characters. Towards that end, the players should come to understand that the DM is likely to give them the benefit...

Actually I believe your conclusion is built on a foundation of jello. I do not think any edition of the D&D rules thought through flying with any degree of care. 4e is no exception. In fact, the designers reducing access to flying effects might reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to avoid...

I have a simple piece of advice: If in doubt, play a Striker. You may have more trouble finishing off some encounters than a (theoretically) more optimized party, but at least you are likely to have fun. And being Striker heavy means enemies will be dying along the way. If you cannot grok why...

The name "Controller" might be misleading. A less misleading but perhaps too strange sounding label would "Shaper", as in one who shapes the battlefield and pace of combat.

I think that is the takeaway. Look at Diceboxisfull's party. If they did not work together that would surely be a boring party to play.

I diagnose this as a matter of Sex Appeal of the suite of abilities. That is the same problem as the 1e/2e/3e Cleric. There was never any actual balance problem -- Clerics were, if anything, more consistently effective overall than the other classes. Let's face it, we play for fun. And for...

It would be unbalanced exactly how? What valuable ability does little gem make obsolete? Weird, yes. Unbalanced? I do not see it.

Such non-buff defensive tactics have been a niche tactic in all versions of D&D, and Dispel Magic typically had a 50% or more chance of failing even under optimal conditions. I am doubtful this line of reasoning will prove persuasive -- the traditionalists will prefer this style of suckage...

I think there are two things going on: (1) The homogenization is real, and done on purpose in order to raise general ease of play. (2) The scale has been spread out. As for #1: This is better for some people and not so great for others. Generally speaking it is far easier to add in...

No, no, no! You should really track this in proper and precise Cartesian coordinates. Movement would be (0.707, 0.707), (1.412, 1.412), (2.121, 2.121), etc. Now your question never comes up. Only the slovenly make silly approximations like you suggest!!! :p In all seriousness, there main...

That would be the main downside. Movement around obstacles in large room become a bit bizarre. Rather than using obstacles painted along the gridlines, I would suggest drawing them along diagonals. Diagonal obstacles will behave closer to what you would intuitively expect.

I prefer hexes or 1.5 diagonals. Personal taste. But I certainly do believe that 1:1 grid is better for most people most of the time. Size matters. The more confined the space, the more convenient 1:1 is and the less the distortion matters. When you are fighting in a 10' corridor, using 1:1...

Ye-essss. But if we appeal to the real world, it would be obvious that it is bizarre for all people to hock all valuables for pennies all the time. Or for very wealthy people to have such as an unbreakable habit.

That is an orthogonal argument. There is fine tradition of sticking with one particular sword for an entire career. It is quite impossible with vanilla 4e. As this is a fantasy world based on mythological traditions, it could easily be the exact opposite as what you suggest.

Interesting. Surely the other members of the party have the means to tempt an attack or two, if this becomes problematic.

So assuming (1) reasonable maximizing in the most obvious ways, and (2) completely ignoring tactical synergies and powerful dailies, we fall behind 3 little notches in total shared between our primary and secondary modes of attack. At a rough glance, that looks very well balanced. I certainly...

In a universe where many abilities can unerringly differentiate between friend and foe ("ally" and "enemy"), I do not see anything unnatural about resolving some abilities based on intent. If fact, the very concept of Ally and Enemy implies that judgments about intent weighed carefully within...

If you want an enemy that falls in a single hit, the DM should make it a Minion. It is usually not worth the effort to clog up the battlemat with many very weak foes that are so unlikely to be effective against the PCs.

An experienced gamemaster gave me this useful pearl of wisdom: "Learn when not to pick up the dice." The level 11 party meets level 11 Cave Slime -- that is a memorable encounter for which the DC rule of thumb is useful. Level 11 parties do meet level 3 Cave Slime, but that is not something...