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Cross-posting from an email I sent to a friend: Oh jeez, Vicious Mockery. How great is it to be able to hurt enemies by insulting them? Almost as good as taking Psychic Lock at Paragon, and teaming up with your Wizard buddy with Illusory Ambush/Psychic Lock and a Paladin with Enfeebling Smite...

I'm going to ask my DM for a familiar at some point. She'll just be a snarky animal who lives in my pocket and acts as a counterpoint to my own personality. (Think daemons from His Dark Materials.) I'll be able to spend a minor action to make her bring me something within 5 squares. What else...

One area I don't think they went far enough on is Alignment. Sure, it's a better system than 3e's simply for the lack of the idiotic (and idiot-empowering) Chaotic Neutral. But still, way too many people use it as a personality short-circuit. People are people. Calling them good or evil is...

I played through Bordrin's Watch. I don't really remember, who were the Farstriders? Unless they were very important, I think the Council either wouldn't or would just raise one to get information. Raise Dead is expensive.

Well, that's why everyone in the party should play wizards with Celerity. Or at least wizards or druids wildshaped to Legendary Eagles. And rods of quicken aren't that expensive. But yeah, good catch about the wall of force. I could have sworn I saw something that let you do that, though. Maybe...

You're kidding, right? Cloudkill used to be a fantastic BBEG killer, because it did automatic Con damage. Stick the BBEG in a forcecage or a Wall of Force shaped like a box, and sit back and watch them die. To be fair, there were upteen-thousand ways to one-shot BBEGs with spells in 3.5, but...

As a side note, where's the Elemental Shaman from?

Heh, I've done something similar (had my weasel familiar attack me nonlethally so I'd be unconscious but stable). It's an artifact of the 3e -10 HP thing, where you need to hit that tiny sweet spot to avoid dying. Bad idea to let the enemy do it, much more precise to do it yourself. Withdrawing...

Well sure, the fighter didn't have to think about his Will save-- it was so low already that it wouldn't do any good to improve it! Ever heard the joke where, for a fighter, it's the Won't Save? Now, there still is a difference in the defenses between classes. Rogues still have crazy Reflex...

1. Psionics: Good or Bad? Psi is like balanced magic. It's really cool, and I like it. I pretty much liked all the 3e "experiments", like the truenamer, psi, ToB, etc. 2. Tome of Battle: The antichrist or best thing that ever happened? Brilliant. Doesn't balance non-magic and magic, but the...

The problem here is that people like to shine in combat. They like to do cool things and play a significant role. It's not cool to make them sit huge portions of the game on the sideline (hours in my 3.5 games) because they picked the wrong class months ago. Every class should be able to...

I agree with the Catch-all Setting thing. Eberron is the gold standard for me here, where everything is used in a way that supports the pulp action-movie theme. My own pet peeves are the Always Chaotic Evil Races. The idea is just idiotic, and it's still the dominant D&D paradigm. It should...

Isn't this just 3.5 where the martial people play Bo9S characters (like the smart ones were anyway)? Except for at-wills, I guess. I think Pathfinder gives spellcasters at-will powers, you might see how you like that. The classes are supposed to be balanced with the Bo9S-types, though I have no...

I gotta say, the monster design in general is perhaps my favorite change of 4e. It's so quick and simple, it's beautiful. Pick a role and level, some cool powers, and you're done. Everything else is just flavor (a weak defense, varying HP, resistances and vulnerabilities). Solos seem to be too...

Alright, we know where we stand. That's cool, I respect your opinion. It's not really about optimization for me, I just think that retraining is a ton easier for people new to the game, and a lot more lenient if they make bad choices. It hurts my immersion a bit, but that's a sacrifice I'm...

Fair enough. I don't really think the game would be broken if all skills were class skills for all classes. It just never really bothered me. Both addition and subtraction are basic arithmetic. I don't really see a difference where character building is concerned. And neither seem like a...

Not a fan of any other D&D edition, I guess? It makes some sense to me that certain classes will be naturally inclined to be better or worse at some things. But the retraining only happens at level-up. So it's just another part of the improvement leap, which you're ok with for some reason. (Why...

Retraining is awesome. I don't worry about the justification in-world-- we're talking about a game that has effing levels here. Where beating enough kobolds with a stick turns you into a demigod. Who the heck cares about the logistics of retraining? But yeah. I hardly ever used Ray of Frost...

I miss Baleful Polymorph. Of course, it would be basically the same as a Stun, and would have to be (save ends). But still, I want to turn bad guys into bunnies, dammit! Heh, maybe a permanent ritual? Wall of Force was covered in the Dragon Rituals article. Called Arcane Barrier there.

Yeah... and then I take Icy Terrain and Color Spray for my encounters. So I'm not the best warmage I could be. On the other hand, I still hit a lot, and those are great debuffs. Especially when I mini-nova and use both of them with an AP. And Scorching Burst is always fun...