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I think what you need is a way to make the players (and/or characters) want to engage the encounter. If you just randomly lock them in with it, no other way to go, that's no fun. OTOH, the encounter only becomes interesting when the PCs actually try to deal with it directly, and are not just...

I think you're right - and unfortunately it kind of bugs me. I really like what Skill Challenges seem to have to offer, but a lot of the suggestions that seem to "click" best for me boil down to "Run something that isn't a Skill Challenge". What you've described is pretty much how I would have...

I'd start by looking at the level 12 Golden Lion. It has nearly-identical defenses, identical attack bonus, significantly more damage, and only 2 more hit points. I'd guess that the Lion is more of a Striker to the Hound's Defender, so say +1 to all level-based values (of the level 10 Hound, I...

It might make sense, but IMO it doesn't seem like it would be a lot of fun. And this just seems to me like another way of saying "don't run it as a Skill Challenge". Skill challenges seem (to me) meant to expand on what would be otherwise be a single skill check because a single skill check...

I think banning Hide armor might make sense if the purpose was to make heavy armors relatively better. This might arise, particularly, if a Rogue (frex) had taken the feat to upgrade armors and thereby eclipsed the Fighter's AC. I can totally see that situation rubbing some DMs the wrong way.

Moving in and attacking are two different "steps". When the enemy moves into a square such that it will trigger your readied action (an adjacent square in this case) then your readied action (an attack in this case) occurs immediately after that square of movement, before the enemy can attack...

kobold has a point, but IMO the encounter as written isn't fun as a Skill Challenge or not. It really needs to be jazzed up; chasing an escaping enemy across the platforms would not only make it more exciting, but give a reasonable "fail" result. As written, tho, it's pretty much just wandering...

As an aside, what 3PP settings are you referencing? I think I've been missing out on a lot of 3PP stuff with 4e because the FLGS just doesn't carry it. With 3e you had Necromancer putting good quality books out right off the bat, with 4e I've seen Wraith Recon and the Blackdirge monster book, an...

I think they're added "cool" without ramping the power level up too much. I'm seriously considering giving players (if and when I get an actual game together) one class utility and one skill utility at each appropriate level. Ramp up PC power a bit seems preferable to lowering monster HPs, and...

(I'm slow typing this, so I assume I'll be ninja'd, but... No, apparently I won't.) I'm reading that you can place the curse, but without the actual 'Warlock's Curse' class feature you don't actually deal any additional damage. You can still gain other benefits (from feats, frex) of attacking a...

Personally I would retain the limit of characters having only one secondary class. Limiting swapped powers to one of each power type isn't bad either, more than that seems like it would be better handled with a Hybrid character. The base multiclass feats are frontloaded; if you have the...

I'm looking for players for a new 4e game, in Seattle, WA. I'm located in West Seattle and use the bus. Planning on meeting on Saturdays, and using the space at Gary's Games, in Greenwood. Probably Noon or 1:00 until 5:00 or later. I'm planning an episodic campaign based loosely on the TV show...

So, if a Hard encounter is 1 or 2 levels above the PCs then the Level+3 encounter suggested in the DMG as part of a standard "level's worth" of encounters is on the Extra-Hard side... Now Level is not the only factor in an encounter's difficulty. And even an encounter's level can be subject to...

It sounds like the PCs where able to get straight from the Keep to the dungeons without any real fuss. I no longer have a copy of the module to check, and it's been about 25 years since I actually tried running it, and I probably did a lot of filling in the blanks... But my own recollection of...

You could use the Sphere from the DMG, leveled appropriately. Since many players will have heard of this trap (always been a problem, really) you could change it up by having a group of monsters enter the area as the PCs are studying the thing. Each holds a strange talisman, and as they approach...

I think that first of all, the threat of Acererak will most likely be expanded into a kind of adventure-path, with the actual dungeon only reached at the very conclusion. S1 started at the dungeon entrance because it was a tournament module (and most likely due to space constraints as well), but...

Well, if you assume that the character who is bad at social skills is good at Endurance, then it definitely does matter. Even if the fighter can't score points with Diplomacy he's helping the group every time he scores on the Endurance check. If three more characters make theirs then it counts...

Well, I'm certainly hoping that we'll see more about Skill Challenges in DMG2... When I first read of Skill Challenges I had assumed (or at least was hoping) that they would be a way to make non-combat encounters as (or nearly as) "crunchy" and mechanically tactical as combat. Now, obviously in...

Well, your recollections of S1 differ a lot from mine, but yes there where ways of ending up very, very dead after very few (if any) die-rolls. Like you say, that's not 4e's thing, so I'd expect to see things done differently. As this is described, it couldn't possibly be a direct transcription...

That was my experience as well, but not so much for mechanical reasons. My usual response to this sort of thing (ans Stalker0's response gives me some pause on this) has been to ensure that succeeding is a bonus, rather than making failure a penalty. That was the rule of thumb I used to follow...