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I think some of this is being accomplished by not having magic weapons and armor grant anything more than a +1 bonus so as to never overshadow the effects of a high ability score or level-granted attack bonus. I'd be okay if we dropped even the +1 bonus and just focused on other magical...

Most anti-climactic (and funniest) battle I've played: Assault on a red dragon's lair in 3.5. We had it planned out to a degree that makes a WoWC guild raid look like a disorganized mess. What we failed to account for was that the dragon might actually just fly out of its cave when it...

You can add finesse weapons to the discussion of "category vs. property". I looked over the table again and I note that the dagger, quarterstaff, and shortsword are classified as finesse weapons, meaning clerics (including war clerics) can't use them. So now clerics can't use quarterstaffs...

That's Epic.

In 3.5, I house ruled that elves got automatic training with scimitars instead of longswords and could apply Weapon Finesse to falchions and glaives if proficient. It was synergistic to their inherent Dex bonus. The idea hit not from Drizzt, but from the way elven warriors were depicted in The...

I like the idea of treasure types as a balance on the item rarity by character level mechanic. Tougher monsters required tougher heroes to kill them and loot their stuff, so tougher heroes find the better items. That said, I think it should be an option - just one possible way for a DM to cut...

D'oh! My bad. That's a nice mechanic. It also creates the possibility of having to sacrifice an item in a crisis by spending the last charge to avert a tragedy. Good grist for the roleplaying mill.

D&D Miniatures (prior to the just-released Dungeon Command iteration) and 4e Fortune Cards (usable in sanctioned Encounters and Lair Assault events) have both been marketed under this model. For miniatures it was a huge gripe for fans who had no interest in the competitive skirmish game and...

... that after stating the six levels of rarity in the playtest packet, the next paragraph was NOT: "Magic items are uncovered in packs of six. Each pack contains three random common magic items, two uncommons, and one item of either rare, legendary, or artifact status. In every 100 packs, 60...

This is an area that I have no real "how to" suggestions at this time. I only have "how not to" suggestions based on dissatisfaction with prior editions. So whatever it is I really hope: 1) XP is not a resource spent in the process. 2) Expendible items like healing potions, scrolls, and...

Earlier in the thread I mentioned the detect magic spell. After following the subsequent discussion, I am actually contemplating the consequences of eliminating that spell. I'm thinking more narratively about how characters in myth and literate come upon magical items. Rarely is there a...

Syphillis? That's far too mundane for D&D! Take a page from poisons and other diseases we've seen over the editions. A harlot table in D&D should give you do things like Harpy Warts, Succubus Sores, and Lamia Itch.

It seems like the main impetus for this category was to denote weapons too big for halflings and other small creatures to wield. It's not exclusive to 2-handed weapons, as the great club, quarterstaff, and bastard sword aren't considered heavy weapons. However, they are listed as a seperate...

How about adding a rider to detect magic that says the caster can make an Intelligence or Magical Lore check to identify the item's properties? You might rule that a successful check only identifies the general properties and that "secrets" are only revealed by a certain degree of success or by...

Can war clerics wield heavy weapons? I think the entry in the class descriptor only mentions martial weapons. Or are heavy weapons also martial by default?

/slaps forehead/ I can't believe I totally overlooked Defender...

My group is a about to start a new homecooked adventure with from scratch characters. We wanted to get a little out of the box since we've been playing pregens that mimic your more archetypical characters. We wound up with a dwarf/wizard/sage/necomancer; a wood elf/rogue-thug/bounty...

This is similar to how spells are addressed in True20. They aren't leveled, but some require you know a conceptually more rudimentary spell first. They actually function more like skills with higher DCs for larger or more comlex applications. For example, one spell, "fire shaping", covers the...

I'll be surprised if we don't at some point see rogues with expertise dice, and sneak attack being just one use of them. Maybe not in the final product, but I'd be surprised if they don't put it in at least one play test to see how it flies. It's not a far leap to use them for not only sneak...

I think that speaks to the need for the fighter to have some role out of combat. Maybe it's an issue of game design, or maybe it's just incumbent on the DM to put in a good mix of non-combat hazards or barriers that require a tough guy approach - doors to be kicked in, boulders to be pushed...