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A player who is less invested in the game may be willing to accept a less powerful/optimal character as the price of ease of play, and therefore be less concerned about balance. For example, I started playing in a small AD&D 2e group with a 12th-level mage and some sort of Kaz the Minotaur...

The Sharn got an illustration by Monte Moore in 3e in Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun (2001). In my opinion this new illustration is a little bit better, but that's not saying much. Some of the ecology text seems to be a paraphrase of the MC:MoF entry, but the origin story (remnant of...

I guess the simplest thing to do would be to make the city part of a larger nation or empire. The thieves can run things easily from the shadows, but if they declared themselves, the national or imperial government would crush them. The Thieve's World series dealt with such a place, on the...

Touché, good sir. Touché :o

I suspect the reason we don't see "hobbits" in someone else's work is because they know they'd lose their shirt without the history D&D and WFRP have. Think about it. Immediately after a big movie trilogy you "just happen" to come up with some sawed-off protagonist race. McKiernan's Iron Tower...

Definitely worth pondering. For all the big box manga aisles I've seen, I've seen mostly D&D, D20 WoW, and NWoD hardbacks available as big box RPG offerings. And by far I've seen more D&D than any of the others. Realizing that the plural of anecdote is not data, has anyone seen "obvious anime"...

Love it. Yoinked it. The next serious Law/Chaos campaign I run will feature alchemically perfected humans. As far as the Guardinals/Archons, etc., could they be the result of human worship of various natural concepts? Looking at Lackhand's previous post; maybe a successful healer/cleric who...

For myself, no. "Golden Blah Blah" reaches toward an Exalted flavor that rubs me the wrong way. Might as well name it "Way of the Earnest Creditor," or "Irresistible Succubus Style." But, like Henry, I'm happy you're happy. 4e, for me, is another option. If, for you, it is THE OPTION, that's all...

I would start from the beginning. The tone of the campaign would be dark, and several "examples" would be made of low level NPCs to show the harshness of the setting. The PCs would meet a seemingly low level, innocuous NPC who needs their help and can provide valuable assistance/patronage...

Random fantasy cities that come to mind... Tindalos - beyond time itself, the hound-like creatures that haunt its streets hunger for something in humanity. "They are lean and athirst!" Mos Eisley - a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Middenheim - the WFRP city on a rock, rising above the...

I like to think of the dragonborn as an empire tainted by the presence of an Iron-Kingdomsesque dragon in the earth below their lands. Sort of a Dragon/Cthulhu. "That is not dead which can eternal lie..." and all that. Makes them more of a Howardian serpent folk than draconians, which I never...

This is certainly true as a general rule. In the instant case, however, the 'demon' is quite evil and the 'warlock' is practically a paladin. I agree there could be extra evil 'weight' (above and beyond any actions by the designated creature) for the terms demon and devil within the Western...

Honestly, I'm thinking they won't even be scary good guys. They'll be Naruto. Friendly little dude powered by a demon inside. As popular as that cartoon is, I don't think the Warlock will be a PR problem for 4e. I think we are bringing a lot of 80s baggage to this discussion that a 12 year old...

In this sense I would describe fey and fey-like creatures as the original "attractive nuisance." They are a nearly irresistible temptation that is almost invariably dangerous, in keeping with TwinBahamut's note that 99% of the time a human/fey encounter results in misfortune for the human. This...

Maybe this is just me, but I thought Mialee was a nod back to what I perceived as the older "Chainmail Bikini" theme in D&D art. With the other Iconics they seem to have tried to represent their gear at least to some extent. I get the feeling that when they looked at Mialee and Hennet they said...

Come, now. When did such a fabulous beast ever walk upon this earth? ;) I guess what you do with high level characters depends on the tone you want to set for the game. Since "arete" has been mentioned, I would guess that for a game based on an epic or mythological feel you would probably...

Maybe as a house rule you could bump their effectiveness against grapplers and natural attacks up to say, 2D6 damage but give armed attacks against the wearer a +4 to hit and damage bonus. That might make spiked armor, especially at lower levels, superb against beasts/natural predators and a...

Put me in the "Snape is Neutral Evil" camp. Possibly Lawful Evil if his Death Eater association actually had anything to do with the Wizard/Muggle divide. If only more evil PCs rolled this way. Also gets my vote for best character in the series. Honestly, I've got some questions about...

Is there any wind down on the Sunless Sea? You might have a lot of oared ships powered by (in the case of evil races anyway) slave labor. I think you should have at least one or two climactic fleet sized battles with lots of ships catching on fire. That would have to look pretty sweet down in...

I would suspect the reason for any perceived Far Realms supremacy is that familiarity has bred contempt for our dear friends in the Nine Hells and the Infinite Abyss. We know, intimately, their sordid histories of petty alliances and betrayals. Malcanthet and Graz'zt. Asmodeus locking Levistus...