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The game designers could use different terms for different areas. We could have columns, discs, planes, lines, rays, bolts, spreads, bursts, balls, tauruses, cones, rhomboids, cubes, etc. We could have dozens, maybe hundreds of areas to learn and memorize. And all of them would match Webster's...

Good people go to nice places. Neutral people go to nice places that are different from where good people go, but very nice to the neutral person's outlook. Evil people go to scary places, but if they served their god well in life, then they tend to be put in charge of the scary place, given...

Where do you draw the line? Why doesn't the farmer have a "destiny" to be a good husband, a good father, raise children and teach them right from wrong, and live a good life? Isn't that a destiny? Well, then, he gets a raise dead too. OK, if that's too much of a stretch for the "Must have a...

You forgot: Genius Monster. This is where the monster has traps laid, or ambushes, or minions ready to pounce. It knows which adventurer is the most threatening, the easiest to kill, or the most susceptible to its special attacks, e.g. Hold (will attack) the dumb barbarian, disintegrate (Fort...

This is similar to the movie "The Kingdom" when the FBI agent and the Saudi Colonel are about to kick the door down and shoot the bad guys. The agent asks the colonel which side Allah is on (referring to the Saudi government side, or the Saudi terrorist side), and the colonel replies "We're...

It bears mentioning in more detail: If wizards (and other casters) can be disarmed of their wands (etc.), but they can still cast fireballs and flame strikes, they are hardly defenseless. Even if those spells do less damage, they are still capable of doing damage. But, deprive a fighter or...

The thing I notice about this is that it looks like a MMO monster collection. Or even a CCG card list. Don't get me wrong, I am all for having multiple versions of monsters statted out for me. Makes the chore of creating unique encounters against the same creature type much easier. I just...

So, there are only two possibilities then - either you should press on, because the stuff will come out, or you should retreat to fight the stuff outside - either way you must fight the stuff? What if you had correctly assessed that you've spent all your resources and another fight will kill...

I must be a "very terrible DM" then. Because I do, frequently, allow players to rest when they want to. Suppose I have a dungeon. It's small, maybe only 10 rooms. Some have no encounters, others have guardians, traps, whatever. The last room has the big bad boss. My players head into the...

Yep, I've done pretty much the same thing with my 3x games. And when I buy the premade dungeons that have a big dungeon to explore, I often edit that dungeon somewhat to reduce the difficulty of many of the encounters and/or provide extra resources not included, just to make it more possible...

This is well and true. Maybe the whole point is tied up in defining "critical". Maybe it's not too late for 4e to remove the term "critical hit" and replace it with "max hit"? That way, when the player rolls a 20 he says "Oooh, a 20! Max hit! I do 18 damage." That would be much better than...

Yep, that's one solution. Think it will be in the book?

Here's the problem I see. If you're so good at defending yourself that your opponent can barely hit you, then why is it that all of your opponent's hits always land in your critical locations? Example: Currently, in 3.5, if a small army of orcs (or pick your favorite mook) is attacking a group...

No outcry here. I have never played a PHB gnome. I don't recall being in a group that had a PHB gnome. However, I have played a svirfneblin once - that 2nd ed. campaign ended with him as a cleric7/assassin6. I'm currently playing a whisper gnome in a 3.5 campaign. I joined late and the group...

You forgot the Warlady, for certainly she is a lady, not a lord. Edit: Dangit, Rechan, your post at 12:47 pm was not there when I began typing my post that posted at 12:47 pm...

I've played and DMed WFRP. I love the gritty feel. I dudn't love the class progression. Felt wierd and klugy. The favorite system I described was a D&D adaptation that evolved from WFRP. It even included turning every weapon into a d6 damage (dagger = d6-3, greatsword = d6+3, everything else...

Yeah, I was taught that too. That's great, if you're sparring in a ring, competing in a UFC match, or even fighting for your life against an armed mugger in a dark alley. But, sometimes running is the best option. Sometimes the commander of the battle (talking real world warfare) sounds the...

Apparently I'm in the minority. Irrespective of the player/dm viewpoint, it's currently 96 for tough vs. 28 for fragile. I like fragile, both as a player and as a DM. In real life, getting hit with a sword or an axe is a very traumatic event. I personally like it when my game system stays...

No matter how we slice it, combat is always going to require more rules than non-combat. Well, at least in D&D, since it is a combat-heavy game. A rules system that covers how to bluff a city guard, or how to earn a free meal by dancing in a tavern, or how to negotiate with a merchant, or any...

I built a home-made spin off of 2nd Ed. D&D using a system much like this. Initiative started at 1, and incrimented by 1 until the end of combat. A quick combat might end at initiative 10 or 15, a long combat might end at initiative 100 or more. These represented seconds, so a combat ending at...