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KM is vastly overstating the stated design intent (but this is an old post, yes?). The idea behind things being core is not a requirement that all games use them, that's not even possible as a requirement, but that the books are intended to work together, balance is intended to remain...

The trick is to divorce the concept from the terminology for the mechanics of another edition. An old character, as a concept, isn't defined by his class title, but by his abilities. If you look to see what your character could do before, there is a very good chance that you can convert him to...

CODzillas were so overpowered they were able to get eight balanced classes out of them. Maybe for your Dark Sun game you could Voltron four primal characters into one Druid Super Hero. :)

No. Not at all. Just like a movie is a series of scenes, RPG gameplay is a series of encounters.

I don't think any of them have been a flop so far. But I had to vote for the Draconomicon mostly because Open Grave was a better monster book.

I'm with the guy surprised that 13% of those polled think it was a good act. V makes a deal for his soul with epically powerful archfiends for power. This makes him an unambiguously evil character at this point. He is evil, the actions that follow are evil by default, but moving on, we have -...

Like killing, then raising it from the dead so it can be destroyed with the knowledge that every single living relative is dying with it? Yeah, I'm sure we can think of something... :) It's hard to get past that the spell itself is clearly [Evil] and casting [Evil] spells is evil, period.

Of course it was evil. He indiscriminately killed a great number of beings without regard to their own guilt or innocence. If you want to argue that all black dragons are evil, that's fine (despite the note about always), but half-dragons and other dragonspawn are not, so some of the progeny...

On the subject of roleplaying xp awards, I stumbled upon an idea that really helped me group a few years ago. My 3e group went through one major change where we lost a couple of players (my wife had given RPGs a 5 year try, but just never really got into it, and another player had quit gaming)...

Dailies just aren't that big in comparison to encounters and item dailies and the like. You use up your dailies, you've only lost a small percentage of your overall power. Healing surges are just the natural stopping point because it represents your ability to recover all your resources except...

Wizards are my favorite class (well, tied with fighters, 3e was mixed emotions for me, wizards rocked, fighters sucked). I know them quite well and have played wizards extensively throughout the 3e years. A party and a wizard certainly don't need a fighter. It's nice to have a hit point soak...

1. Wizards, at this level, don't need fighters to protect them. Fly, dimension door, summon dire bears, stoneskin and company... 2. Concentration checks to cast defensively are auto successes (or near enough) by mid levels.

I'll add another voice to the throng here. Dailies have next to nothing to do with resting. Healing surges, which last quite a while unless the party just takes an insane beating in a single fight, are the thing that most often determines the need to rest. Heck, later mechanics and magic...

This has been my experience as well.

Interesting question. And this is something I like about roles. You have options, that continue to expand, as to how to fill out a role in a group if you take that approach in character creation. Right now, I would say: Defender: Warden. Fighters are my favorite class but I've played them...

First, I understand you are not attacking 4e. You made a statement, I disagree with it. It's as simple as that. Now, though, you are backtracking away from that statement, saying you are just looking objectively at the rules. If you want to compare D&D (any edition) to WoD, yes, WoD supports...

What's with the resume? I've played RPGs for over 30 years myself (never really into wargames). So what? Higher percentage? Evidence? You keeping that evidence close to the vest? What higher percentage? Compare the presentation of 4e, which begins in the PHB with a section about...

I think it would be a bit strange to leave aside other editions in an attempt to compare options in 4e to options in other editions. As for the experiment, I see everything on the sheet as options for noncombat and RP. Name, alignment, deity, DDI has boxes for background, description, campaign...

No, I don't agree with that at all. I think it does more to prompt non-combat than any edition except, probably, 2e. Older editions didn't even have rules to facilitate roleplaying. Exploration rules were a bit more crunchy in 1e maybe, but I like them streamlined. They are still there...

It's a ridiculous argument. Every edition of D&D has severely limited your creation options if you want to approach it in the manner this guy argues - that it must be able to do everything or it is a hindrance. In some of the editions he holds in such high esteem (he owns all 4 boxes!), if you...