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I think that mundane abilities are the ones that need far more thought and oversight. If you try to establish from a special ability like the bugbear stranglers a *general* case of a mundane ability that could be available to all PCs, NPCs and monsters, that's very dangerous, IMO. It's fine...

I don't think it will be inflexible at all. There will be feats or the equivalent in 4e and if you decide that Meat Shield is appropriate as a feat for PCs, then go ahead and do it. The point under contention is: *is* Meat Shield, as given in the bugbear stranger write-up, appropriate to...

I don't think there's a contradiction there, although the context may not be plain. It's quite easy to give a bugbear a special ability like Meat Shield. The monster will only show up as placed by the DM (or adventure writer) and if it proves to be troublesome, it's easy enough to simply stop...

What I am worried about in this is making options like throwing sand in the eyes, using people as human shields and grappling in general more frequent than I would like to see in a campaign. Making grapple more effective and beneficial may make it more attractive for characters to use, but do...

The sarrukh are a reptilian progenitor race in the Forgotten Realms, fleshed out in the Serpent Kingdoms supplement. Here's a wiki link: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Sarrukh They are justly infamous as an example of poor monster and game design in 3e. The sarrukh were given the...

To some extent the whole issue does remind me of the "toss sand in the enemy's eyes" issue. You let a PC blind an NPC by tossing sand in the NPCs eyes, 'cause it sounds like a cool and very cinematic trick. Thereafter, the PC insists on using the same maneuver, using the same rules established...

If this maneuver is something that clearly should be included in the core rules, what did 1e, 2e or 3e do about it? Did they all miss this vital combat option? I agree that it sounds reasonable enough, but I can imagine *a lot* of cool combat tricks. I don't think they've got room in the core...

If I were trying to decide what skills to put in the PH, I would look at the skills most commonly called upon in published adventures (both in-house and third party). I know that I very often see Knowledge (History) and similar being referenced in adventures and campaigns, because writers love...

I'm always teetering back and forth as to my feelings on social challenge mechanics. I do feel that it would be nice to be able to mechanically represent a character's social ability divorced from the player's. But I've never really found a social game system that would fit well into D&D and...

I suspect that these type of write-ups are intended to serve the same purpose as the villain classes in Iron Heroes: opponent write-ups that are distinctive and challenging in play, but less of a drain on a DM's mental resources. They will have presumably fewer abilities than a PC classed...

From what we've seen of the Pit Fiend stats, it appears that monsters, NPCs and PCs will indeed be using the same rules, in the sense that they will be represented by the same statistics that determine how they interact with the game mechanics. The Pit Fiend has ability scores, skills, AC, hit...

One problem with a campaign world like Zakhara on the world of Toril was always the gods and cosmology. They frankly never really fit together well. Realms cosmology pretty firmly has a world creation myth involving Selune, Shar and Chauntea. And has the gods overseen by Ao the Overpower and...

As long as the DM is the one generating the monsters and NPCs, I don't think there's a significant problem. A more freeform system prevents unintended consequences in the system from causing the gameworld to drift away from the intended gameworld consequences. If the DM doesn't think NPCs...

4e hasn't been released yet. Perhaps you should take what your friend claims with a grain of salt. There's an info page on this site on what's currently known about Fourth Edition. I would read through that. There will be more information released as it moves towards a mid-2008 launch.

I don't believe the virtual game table will actually execute any kind of game actions. It won't be rolling attacks, damage or keeping track of AC. I believe it is going to be more or less a tabletop and online communication tool.

I think it's also worth noting that from what we've seen in the magic item articles in 4e, the component of AC that is due to magical items is going to be drastically reduced in 4e. There appears to be precisely one, count it, one magic item whose magical bonus adds to Armor Class: the armor...

I must admit that in all of the cases you presented, the DM seems to be going out of his way to complicate his life. He, therefore, shouldn't be surprised that he's got a complicated situation. As I noted above, if the DM isn't comfortable with using tables of suggested values and...

Just curious, were you very unhappy with all of the other classes that have never been able to pick up new powers in all previous editions of D&D? Did you pity the fighter and rogues in the party where you were playing the wizard? I've always preferred playing magic-users and I would agree...

And, of course, for those NPCs and monsters that the DM wishes to have more structure and complication to their generation, the DM can always self-impose such structure. No reason that a DM couldn't use the full PC process to generate an NPC, if they feel that using looser guidelines is somehow...

Actually, tactics refers specifically to things such as the placement of troops, so the new Pit Fiend is, by definition far more tactically capable than the old. I'll also note that our 3.5e Pit Fiend can't just dispel the Dimensional Anchor whenever he feels like it. Assuming he's facing...