Search results

Luke Crane (Burning Wheel) new game : Torchbearer, A dungeon crawl roleplaying game and love letter to Basic D&D. The book production is funded on Kickstarter : http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/burningwheel/torchbearer

I'm writing this in the rules forum, because tactics in D&D emerge largely from the rules themselves (even if 4E has cleaned itself of many of his ancestor’s futile simulatinonist artefacts). The 4th chapter of the DMG does a basic job, but for a DM like me that has neither military background...

Hi, I was surprised to found no mention of disguise under the Bluff skill, the only thing left is the "disguise self" utility power. I guess Bluff with "using mundane props" modifiers could work.

This thread is neither about the merit/flaws of RPG theory nor about its definitions. If you don't want to talk about RPG theory in 4E, just ignore this thread. I argued in a previous thread that 4E is “abashed”, i.e. 4E is incoherent regarding the promoted creative agendas (G and S) but that a...

Like some designers' comments hinted to it, D&D is still a confused gamist/simulationist RPG. In opposition to 3.x, where some of the mechanical parts were confusing on the entailed playstyle, in 4E the confusion comes from the fact that the mechanics is yelling G and the fluff text of both PHB...

In a long blog post, Rodney Thompson confirm to us that the designers intent on D&D 4E is still to deliver a game that support a twisted gamist/simulationist playstyle. Why? Because he says that players should be rewarded both for : 1) Using the best strategy 2) Acting in character, or...

How you deal with : Move Silently + Fly ... + Swim ... + Burrow ... + Climb

Hi, in my next campaign, I plan to add to the combat rules the "Climb aboard" benefit from the Giantbane tactical feat from CW. I'm curious to hear what you think about it, but more about which feats you consider should be added directly to skill or combat rules ? (Some diplomacy-based feats...

Hi, so what have you done about those after you saw a balance problem with the various "orb spells" ? Added SR ? Switch them to Evocation ? You did the same with Acid arrow ? What about the fire/poison/etc. based ones ?

Hi, Even if I know that such abilities can be quite broken, they can add some exciting feel into a dull fight. Can someone come with a list of all the abilities that enable one to force his opponent to move out his square? I don't want Teleport / Plane Shift / etc. that remove the opponent...

I'm currently examining spells that mimic skills and I noticed that strangly, spiders can't "walk" on ceiling in D&D while spellcasters can. Did I miss something ?

Hi, like many 2E players, I prefer to have called demons/angels banned back to the planes when vanquished on the material plane (along with their special equipment). Have some of you found some kind of alternate rewards for defeating those foes? (Not including the obvious in-game rewards). Thanks.

Hi, for those who use an alternate advancement system (such as the party levels when the goal is satisfied, etc.) how do you handle spells with XP cost and magic item creation ? Thanks for ideas.

Hi, I don’t understand this rule when the character has no way to figure out that it's an illegal square (total darkness, invisible creature in the space, etc.) How should those cases be dealt with? Same question for movement in enemy occupied squares under the same conditions.

Hi, when a spell such as Darkness has a target : Object, what reach do you have to touch the object? Anything you wear/in hands, any object inside 5', any object within a 5' reach? Does that last one includes object on another creatures? If yes, does it require some kinds of "touch attack" ...

No Sneak attack vs Concealment always bugged me because it means that a human rogue cannot sneak attack his victim in a shadowy lane. Of course, I don't argue about it when there is total concealment, but in partial (20% miss chance) concealment, why sneak attacks are negated ? Do you think...

Hi, I noticed that Psions with augmentation can have 1 more point of DC than Clerics/Sorcerers/Wizards. For example, a fully augmented Charm, Psionic cast by a 20th level Psion would have a DC of 20(10 + 1 + 9), and a hypothetic 9th level charm spell cast by a Wizard would have a DC of 19(10 +...

Hi, why a Scourge in CW is an exotic weapon? It isn't very good (1d8, x2) and only has a +2 bonus vs disarm.

Hi, In all my experience as DM, players are never excited when they receive monetary treasures that are in different kinds of pieces. Always playing in FR where there is a lot of them, I have tried unsuccessfully to grab my player's attention with those details; sadly all I heard is : Ok, tell...

Why Wish has an XP cost for duplicating lower level spells and not Miracle, balance or flavor ?