Search results

Of course, it's a mark of a well functioning party that the various members aren't competing against each other. However, you can see how this doesn't exactly defend the position that the mage's powers did not cheapen the rogue's abilities. The wizard's spells are overall quicker, more...

And what effect will the DM decide that Intimidate has? Surrender is only one of several options listed, including simply having the dragon take an action it might not have otherwise done, such as a defensive one. Many people seem to be treating a successful Intimidate check against a Will...

I think this is definitely an area where I would wait until problems are seen in actual table play. If it seems like combats are taking too many rounds to resolve, then it might be appropriate to look at ways to increase damage. As others have noted, this appears to be a deliberate design...

Several rituals are listed in the official excerpt on Rituals: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20080528a The most relevant to this discussion is likely the third level ritual, Detect Secret Doors. This costs 125 gp to learn, 25 gp and 10 minutes to cast. From the Rewards...

Frankly, while rituals may be less convenient, I think that arcane magic's incredibly broad definition means that Wizards will never have to worry about being useless out of combat, unless one does so with difficulty and deliberation. The scope of a Wizard's potential action is simply much...

Yeah, I'm really on the "feature, not a bug" side of this. I don't *want* rituals to become catch-all, solve it alls. I find it far more interesting and creative to use limited resources to solve a problem, rather than just pulling out a spell from your utility belt/spellbook. I think this is...

I'll probably rule that such maneuvers are very difficult to pull off reliably in combat and declare them something like Str versus Fort or Dex versus Reflex attacks with large penalties (-5 or 10 or something). This should make it possible, but unattractive as a combat tactic against...

Allowing characters to use healing surges is the basic method of healing in 4e, so I don't think we should be surprised that it pops up pretty often in powers, class abilities and magic items. Healing being a central and important power in D&D. It's like having a 3e turn ability that lets you...

Actually, aren't there rules about the number of times per day a PC can activate magical items? So you might not be able to use the Rod of Reaping an unlimited number of times per day.

I'm not really sure how often we see the comic book superhero style flight offered by the old 3rd level Fly spell in fantasy stories. There are indeed a fair number of flying ships and flying mounts and flying monsters, but how often can the heroes fly around like Green Lantern? And, of the...

I know the Monsters and More prerelease collection definitely included write-ups for Human Bandit, Human Berserker, Human Guard and Human Mage. I'm hoping that with enough examples, it will be easy to level up and simply add a few distinctive abilities for new NPCs.

From my impressions of designer statements, there will be very few (possibly no) game mechanical implications of alignment. They've stated outright that the alignment based spells have been removed, so no more Detect Chaos or Unholy Smite. The only place I've seen an effect mentioned is in...

Since alignment proponents constantly note that alignment is in no way prescriptive or limiting to any character's behavior or motivations, I don't see why people are worried that somehow this new alignment system will somehow imply that you can't have evil tyrants or good rebels anymore.

While it's not exclusive to 4e, it is an interesting problem. I've seen this issue crop up in several campaigns, sometimes where one or more PCs love the idea of administration and building up a stronghold and the others find nothing more boring. Here are some ideas: 1) Simply tell the...

The alignment system never had anything to do with giving D&D depth beyond killing things. Most role playing games do just fine without an alignment system and many of them are far less associated with killing things and taking their stuff than D&D. It's the desire of players, DMs and writers...

Oh yes, I think I remember the Footpaddin' example. Well, perhaps it will be in 4e. If it isn't, it sounds simple enough to do in any system that doesn't involve keywords in titles.

I've not sure these two ideas are related. I don't see why said player can't write "For Gondor" on his 4e sheet. And I don't recall 3e having explict statements that players can rename or reimage their powers. I think they are good ideas, but I'm not sure how 3e and 4e differ in this case...

I don't think spells take so long to cast in either 3e or 4e that you could have a leisurely conversation between the time the spell starts being cast and the spell going off. :) The system sounds very similar to the 3e system, if they are adjacent to the mage and he casts an area or ranged...

Actually, in 1e, dragons really weren't all that tough. A high level fighter with good magical equipment probably could take out a ancient huge red dragon single-handedly. Heck, he could probably make use of those dragon subdual tables and have himself a nice dedicated mount as well.

I think you could continue to extrapolate from previous levels to continue progression. Obviously, you'd either have to continue selecting from the pre-existing 1-30 level choices or come up with your own 30+ level powers, feats and class abilities. This would come eventually at *some* level...