The Gaming Den

That is stupid. There is no way you can possibly polish that turd, it's still a turd. I know you think it's "neat" or some shit, but it's shit . You are talking about a resolution system that takes a relatively long time to complete, and which has a failure rate that rises and then falls ...

3 CR 1/3 goblins is a 1st level encounter in 3E. A 3rd edition fighter can kill 3 and 1/4 encounters worth of goblins.

16 level 1 minions is a 1st level encounter in 4E. A 4th level fighter can kill about 1.5 encounters worth of goblins.

First of, 4e combat is not easier to players, or better balanced, and I'm not sure what you mean by smoother, but it probably wasn't that either. Secondly, it is irredeemably boring, and fun is more important than other things. What metrics are you using? Um... for what? Balance? It's not more bala...

The defender role as-written is a piece of shit. I don't think that they're going to understand unless you explain the actual power level of pre-4.E classes to them. They seem to be the type to play the game "as intended." Bullshit, I've broken 3.5 just as much as anyone. I've played natu...

The defender role as-written is a piece of shit. Defenders only work at all under three circumstances: 1) The DM is specifically humoring you by making the defender look useful by either placing most fights in narrow corriders or just having all of the bad guys inexplicably swarm the warden. 2) If ...

Remember this was written when 4e "balance" included orbizards with a -12 save penalty throwing around a Burst 5, Ongoing Damage + stun (save ends), and the cleric's Righteous Brand hadn't been nerfed, and none of these had been changed after SEVERAL "patches". When BaneGuard wa...

You know what I just figured out the question I need to ask, because I think I'm beginning to see how you guys are thinking about this. What exactly do you think a "Defender" should be doing? Defenders should be able to defend their allies, usually by marking enemies in a way that encoura...

It really seems like most of those are "as bad as official rules" types complaints, eh? No, it's far worse than official rules. Simple trick is bad because: It's a minor action, meaning it conflicts with the marking ability. Blinded (save ends) is probably too powerful for a minor action ...

Reasons why Bane Guard is terribly designed: 1) It has three main stats - or, as Trollman has claimed, three builds with three different builds with three different main stats. This is poor design, since it means that 1/3 to 2/3 (depending on how the stats are aligned of a particular character) of p...

True, but wizards can and should be buying scrolls above their current level for future preparations (or to pull out in a bad situation). If one town doesn't have any fireball scrolls right now, fine. If no town ever has any fireball scrolls, it has clearly moved past the point of "most likely ...

What's the exact wording? I haven't looked at the 3E DMG in awhile, but I always thought it was 'you can find items up to this gp limit in this town' not 'you can find any item up to this gp limit in this town'. The exact wording is what I posted before: "anything having a price under that lim...

Some DMs play it like Schrodinger's Magical Item Mart, some play it like Baldur's Gate where even if it does have magical items it might not have the ones that you want. Personally, I've never had any trouble playing as a wizard or cleric being able to snag scrolls I want but since it isn't quite R...

I actually agree with Mystic Mongul on this point. This may not hold true for combat, but it does for noncombat. Unless you specifically construct an Eigen plot and carefully monitor resources, what often happens is that one player says 'I have such and such ability that will take care of everythin...

Great. More 4rries. edit: Basically it's a mess of a class that veers wildly back and forth between being overpowered (a late-game Daily that flat-out kills an opponent) and being complete shit (having three different primary stats) None of that is remotely true. It has three available builds that ...

And Darwinism instantly disproves Mystic's defense. Mystic says: There's no need for any *rules* about what powers do out of combat, even basic stuff like whether radiant damage illuminates a room or fire powers ignite combustibles. Obviously any DM will realize that you can light a fire with a fla...