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Do you actually think that you'll be able to capture even a fraction of the devices and tools possibly available to a Pit Fiend in a standard combat block? That's for the DM to devise for a particular encounter. Do we really want to give *every* Pit Fiend in existence a list of devices and...

Actually, I believe I read somewhere that Ice Devils (gelugons) will have their origin a bit rearranged, such that they were demons that were accepted into the service of one of the Arch-devils (I think Mephistopheles). Back on your primary point, I do agree that many daemons don't fit all...

Monsters and NPCs will have precisely as many non-combat and flavor related skills as the DM wishes to assign them. The combat blocks in combat encounters give those characteristics that will be useful for a DM consulting them in a presumed combat encounter. Likewise, in a social encounter...

So, you knew that there was a official claim that there would be support for social encounters, but you felt your claim that the 4e DM would be nothing more than a combat adjudicator was justified because social encounter rules *might* have been removed since they were announced? The rest of...

I find it remarkable then, that having seen so little of the system that you feel free to engage in broadside, insulting claims that monster customization will be not be supported, that non-combat NPCs will have no tools for creation and that the DM's role will be reduced to that of a combat...

The original poster said nothing of the sort. This is an extremely tendentious view that I do not believe is any more supported than all of the previous, identical claims during the roll out of 3e. Again, you are completely ignoring those announcements that contradict this view, such that...

First, I would like to note that the CR system is notorious for doing a poor job of all of this. Often because of exactly what you are touting as unpredictability in opponent statistics actually often led to poorly designed enemies that were eggshells with hammers or tanks without effective...

Interesting, although I dislike the claim that none but the Lords of the Nine stand above the pit fiends in the Hells. I am really hoping that they allow for the expansion of the diabolic hierarchy, allowing for a far greater "sandbox" for DMs to create their own noble devils.

Again, a system that allows the *DM* to better predict the outcomes of encounters definitely increases the DMs narrative power. If the DM cannot well predict the outcome of his encounters, this obviously leads to a potential loss of narrative control. The DM is the one that creates and chooses...

I disagree with this claim. With one exception, every one of your examples of how 4e will turn narrative power over to the players are trivial in comparison to their actual role: to strengthen worldbuilding and in some cases, even turn the narrative power over to the DM. Making monsters more...

I very much dislike the D&D alignment system, but that doesn't have much to do with an interest in "shades of grey" settings. I stopped using alignment back before 2e, but the vast majority of my D&D campaigns are very much about heroes stopping the forces of evil. I don't encourage mercenary...

Yes, but by allowing other classes beyond rogue to act as a trap remover, you have clearly made the system *more* flexible, not less. What this has to do with DM control over the game is unclear.

In what way is it more specific than the current system? It gives ranges of suggested numbers, but does not restrict you in the way that the monster or NPC rules for creation in 3e does. Let's see all the ways I can think off the top of my head that the old rules restricted you that the new...

I believe that the proposed rules for making opponents (both monsters and NPCs) without having to follow some kind of PC-like generation process completely swamps all of the issues you've raised in favor of DM control. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing threads after the...

I should note that I have seen a reference to Law and Chaos in 4e, in reference to paladins. There was a note that paladins are often aligned with Law or Good, but paladins aligned with Chaos or Evil are also possible. There was also a blog message from a designer saying that what being...

Ah, but what happens when those hot women gamers are playing ugly, smelly men?

I really don't think that even the ring rules are either random or arbitrary. The intent appears clear: they wish to define rings as powerful items with power that cannot be harnessed by just anyone and they also wish to control the frequency of use of rings by characters at the various tiers...

Whether I keep this or house-rule this will depend on how rings are implemented. If there are no "minor rings" and ring is now a class of magic items that are powerful by default, then perhaps I might work to make the tier based exclusions make sense. I may also use a compromise: people can...

I don't think that really fits these changes. None of them really thrill me, but I can clearly see the reasons for each change. Even the oddest bit with the level dependent rings, I can see what some of the advantages might be in terms of showcasing the special nature of magical rings or...

That's right. And in 3e, an 11th level wizard can cast 6th level spells, while a 10th level wizard cannot. I'm not sure I've seen any 4e resurrection rules yet beyond the fact that the Heroic tier of play it is likely to not be an option without DM fiat.