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It also looks like they got rid of the Combat Challenge / Combat Superiority distinction (to be replaced with Battle Guardian?). In my game, that always causes the most confusion. "The monster shifts away." "No he doesn't! I attack him!" "No, he still gets away, it was a shift not a move and...

Combat Length--brute vs. soldier Here's how the brute affects combat length (in rounds): Lvl Soldier Brute Diff 1 4.8 4.3 -0.5 2 6.4 5.4 -1.0 3 7.4 6.4 -1.0 4 6.5 5.4 -1.1 5 7.0 5.9 -1.1 6 8.4 7.1 -1.3 7 8.3 7.1...

Oops! Nice catch. I doubt it affects the results--in all the examples I've looked at, once Ragnarok goes down, he dies, even when he rolls multiple natural 20s to bounce back. (It's happened.) Each half-tier sees a major jump in survivability, for some reason. At level 6, it's the even-level...

Here's a sampler of brute stats so you can double-check my math: Level 9 Brute: HP: 117/117; Temp HP: 0; Surges: 1; Surge Value: 29 AC: 21; Action Points: 0 Str: 20(+5); Con: 17(+3); Dex: 17(+3); Int: 17(+3); Wis: 17(+3); Cha: 17(+3) Initiative Bonus: +7 Monster Powers: Brute...

I forgot to mention--the brute is using the new damage expressions. Since the damage expressions aren't provided, I calculated my own. Here they are: Brute Basic Attack (+25%) case owner.level when 1 then damage 1.d8+4 +2 when 2 then damage 1.d8+5 +2...

Brute results Here's a comparison of Ragnarok fighting a brute instead of a soldier. Bottom line: The two monster types are perfectly balanced against each other, which is what I would have expected. At least up through level 11, anyway. Starting in level 12, the brute seems to delivering some...

Thanks! I think it's pretty cool too. :) Brutes are easy; I could whip that up pretty quickly. The hard thing is powers, particularly interrupts/reactions and AI. Also, the sim gets slower and slower as I add more stuff, which makes it less fun to work on and decreases my motivation to expand...

Six months ago, I created a 4e combat simulator. It simulates a one-on-one slugfest between a Two-Weapon Fighter dwarf named Ragnarok and generic Soldier created using DMG guidelines. It runs thousands of combat days in a Monte Carlo simulation, cranking through about 300 turns per second, and...

Second the recommendation for EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky. It's very, very good.

Great news! I think WotBS is fabulous. I've played through #1, read #2, and skimmed #3, so these comments are based on that background: Things to keep: * The non-linear structure and copious DM notes about how to deal with various player actions. Add even more information about what something...

I'm just now wrapping up WotBS #1 with my group. I cut some of the dross (Scenes 2-6-1, 4-2, and 4-3, if you're curious), but it will end up taking eight 3-hour sessions, which will get us to level 4. During that time, we'll have had 7 fights. I cut two and they bypassed the remaining four...

Technically, yes. All monsters have one healing surge per tier. But they very rarely have a way to activate them. (I suppose they could use Second Wind, but monster healing in-combat isn't a good idea--it stretches out combat length without adding fun.) I use it to have them heal a bit if they...

It's a bit non-traditional, but the final encounter of Siege of Bordrin's Watch (SoW #2) has a very nice trap built in to it. I killed two of my players' characters with that one. There were some nicely tense moments as the monsters menaced the thief, at the controls of the trap, while the rest...

To take this one step further: it has been revealed to you that you are in fact THE ONE GOD of which all other gods are merely reflections. You embark on a massive projects of the sort quoted to grant Your followers' prayers, which are revealed to You in dreams. Example: You hear that Your...

Session 6 (Scenes 3-X, 3-3i, 3-4) No big surprises this session. It was paced very well and ended right on time. There was a nail-biting combat sequence that the players seemed to particularly enjoy. We picked up with the end of Scene 3-1 (Bad News). The players had decided to use the Capt...

I think WoTC tries to avoid rituals that affect combat mechanics. Given the geometric wealth curve, a 'resistance' ritual that's balanced at paragon tier would be essentially free at epic tier. Then you have the odd situation of the party spending two hours on rituals to buff themselves before...

I did that calculation here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/271808-wealth-per-level-guidelines.html#post5084496

This is the hardest part for me. (Although I mostly run pre-written adventures.) Have you considered mining Dungeon adventures for your encounters? Despite the flaws WoTC's in WoTC's adventures, they've put out some fantastic set-pieces. You can refluff, reskin, or completely repopulate. Seems...

I'm especially hoping that these rituals will become a standard part of items' stat blocks--they're a great way to add the flavor items currently lack, without breaking the math.

Except that you're beating on this monster at the same time, and it has a time to live of 10 rounds (let's say). So the extra point of AC is worthless, because it will be dead first either way. :p (Sorry. Re-engaging lurk mode. )