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I recently started using a laptop and have found it to be an immense help. I prepare my adventure notes in HTML and crossreference as much as I have time for with links to the SRD. I write up full statblocks for everything non-generic using the same HTML template I have used for a while anyways...

I use Rich's diplomacy rules, but only for levels less than 10 so far so I've never had to deal with this edge case in game. To fix it I've been thinking of making a minor tweak and using the either the opponent's Will save bonus or 1/2 level + wisdom bonus instead of the straight level+wisdom...

Hide and move silently have consequences for failure and no immediate feedback for success so they're not eligible for take 20. If someone takes extra time and care to hide themselves really well they should get a circumstance bonus to their Hide roll, not a take 20.

This is what I go by. It's a little silly, but it works.

Take 10 attempts take as long as the action normally takes. It represents unexceptional but undistracted effort to do something you would expect to always do successfully without mitigating circumstances. Non heroic stuff with a low enough DC to fall in that range for untrained people includes...

I may have inadvertently presented it that way, but I have gamist interests at heart. If you flatten the first level skills too much then the skill guy doesn't get to meaningfully differentiate himself from the rest of the group. If a character is only 5-10% better at something than everyone...

The whole point of x4 skills and the level +3 cap is to allow 1st level characters to be competent at their core skills compared to an untrained person. Even then the difference between zero ranks and four ranks is only 20%. A person who is "good" at what they do should have at _least_ this much...

I still haven't quite worked out what normal gnomish folk are like in my campaign, but I do have a major cabal of gnomish wizards who specialize in demon summoning and nasty destructive ray spells (Enervation, Disintegrate). The more powerful ones use Permanency to make themselves perpetually...

The problem I see with a lot of the discussion about skill modifiers and DC's is that people are only taking into account very narrowly defined situations. The common example given so far is Open Lock, where the highest DC lock in the PH is 40. So if your lock opening specialist has a +30 total...

I am of the opinion that all these things taken as a whole are indeed a problem. My personal biggest gripe is with the "too flexible" and "too hard to counter" portions of that and I think the free energy substitution is the biggest offender, Get rid of those two problems and "too good" and...

I've been thinking lately that the feel of the higher level game might be changed for the better without screwing up balance just by shifting a number of spells and effects up a level. If you shift every planar ally/binding, travel and raise dead spell up one spell level then you delay its entry...

While I'd tend to put myself in the camp that says DR X/magic is not well thought out, I have seen it matter in play. There are some lower CR opponents with DR - say Mephits for example at CR 3. So it's something low level parties have to account for and spend resources on. At mid levels it can...

I think a Balance DC of 25 is way too high for carefully crossing a scree slope. Note that the table for base Balance DC's has this note: So a DC of 25 is only appropriate for someone behaving recklessly. In my opinion Balance isn't even the right skill to apply for this obstacle. Someone...

It comes up pretty often in my game, but not quite every session. There are no characters specifically built for grappling. It just seems to make sense a lot of the time for monsters and PC's alike, even those without grappling related feats or special abilities. Some examples that come to mind...

A collection of possible reasons why some of us enjoy this: The ones left alive have a greater appreciation of their good fortune. Danger is *real*. Failure is possible. Players do not get the feeling that their success is inevitable, therefore their actions and decisions matter. Death is...

I'm in the middle of a bit of a dry spell - with one big caveat. The PC's have been fighting a lot of wights the last couple of weeks and two characters have each permanantly lost a level. So that's kinda nasty. Hopefully I'll put one down for good this Sunday in the climactic battle. Wish me luck!

I do the same thing.

This is what makes me somewhat reluctant to tie it into a story arc. The Tomb just seems better if the players are potentially undone by hubris and greed. Hmmm... oh well, I've got a couple of months to decide.

I would agree if it was something I paid for, but I don't really have a problem with it when it's free.

Naturally... heh. The way they worked in Libris Mortis is kinda sneaky though. The module doesn't list the GP value of the items, nor does it directly include CR's for the monsters (though you can easily infer some from the area EL's). So if I don't buy that book then I'll have to do a little...