Redesigning Encounters: Dual at Gabal’s School
The group’s encounter with Shealis was different than those that had come before. First of all, it was completely possible for the group to talk their way past her; a detailed skill challenge was put together so the party could choose whether they wanted to open with diplomacy or hostility. Though the players chose diplomacy, in the end it failed and Shealis attacked. Overall, the encounter was enjoyable for the group, mostly because the players were able to work together and focus on one powerful enemy. On my end of the screen, however, Shealis was boring. She was little more than a...
Read MoreUsing Fortune Cards
At first, I wasn’t completely sold on Fortune Cards. How would they work? Would I use them? Sure, I had a few ideas—but until I was able to get them into my hot little hands, I just didn’t know what my feelings towards them would be. Now that they’ve been out for a little over four months, I have to say—I love them—but not for the reason they’re meant for. To be honest, I’m not even sure how to use them properly because as soon as I saw them, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them: I was going to replace my Bonus Action Points house...
Read MoreCan I Get a Fluffer? …Part III
If it wasn’t obvious by now, I love fluffing. I’ve altered the descriptions of powers, feats, classes, races, movement, items, and templates. Throughout my blog you can find examples of my efforts, from fluffing class powers to monsters; movement to entire encounters. If it has rules and some blob of descriptive text associated with it, chances are I’ve fluffed it. For those of you who need a quick recap on what fluffing is, page 55 of the Player’s Handbook discusses this concept as Flavor Text: A power’s flavor text helps you understand what happens when you use...
Read MoreMassaging Treasure Parcels
At the end of 2010, I detailed how I deal with magic items in 4th Edition games. In a nutshell, rather than routinely hand out brand new items, forcing characters to ditch arms and armaments that they may have grown attached to, I add the powers of what would have been new magic items to the magic items that the characters already have. Confused? Read the process in more detail here. Recently, my group fought a pretty major NPC named Shealis. During the battle, Shealis wielded what was apparently a magic wand. Also of note: During the battle, one of the character’s...
Read MoreDo Cover and Concealment Penalties Stack?
For example, let’s say a kobold is hiding at the base of a tree; he is concealed by some low branches. Then, 5 squares away, there is a PC with a ranged weapon attacking the kobold—but between him and the concealed kobold is a large rock, providing the kobold with cover. Do these two stack, creating a total of -4 to the PC’s ranged attack? Or is it just a flat -2? Page 29 of the Rules Compendium has this to say about penalties: “Penalties are added together, unless they’re from the same named game element.” Pretty cut and dry! Cover and concealment do...
Read MoreReliable Encounter Powers
I don’t play very often, but when I do, it sure sucks to miss with an encounter or daily power. Fortunately, dailies either have miss effects or are reliable. But what about encounter powers? Sure, you get it back for the next encounter, but for many groups, that may be the next game session—which could be anywhere from one to three weeks away (or more). And then what if you miss again? Missing consistently with encounter powers can be frustrating. It’s a bummer to miss with one of your amazing abilities, only to be left with at-will spamming attacks. After seeing players...
Read MoreThe Impossible DC
I hate saying no to players. In fact, saying “yes” has made it into the 4th Edition rules lexicon. Page 28 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide states: “One of the cornerstones of improvisational theater technique is called “Yes, and…” It’s based on the idea that an actor takes whatever the other actor gives and builds on that. That’s your job as well. As often as possible, take what the players give you and build on it. If they do something unexpected, run with it. Take it and weave it back into your story without railroading them into a fixed...
Read MoreThe Difficulty Class by Level Chart
As a player and a DM, I hate having to stop the game to look up rules; a silly statement, to be sure, as I doubt there are many gamers who enjoy seeing the flow of a session disrupted just to look up a rule. One rule—or set of rules, rather—that my group consistently has trouble with are skill check DC’s. Each skill has a multitude of ways it can be used, and each of those uses has a different way of determining the DC. Take a look at Arcana: There are three suggested ways to use it (four if you look in the Player’s Handbook), and each use has its own complicated way...
Read MoreWhat are hit points?
Since recently I’ve been treating hit points more and more abstractly in games, I figured it might be a good idea to hammer out exactly what they mean to me and what players in one of my games can expect. For the most part, my feelings can be summed up by the following: hit points don’t represent the amount of physical damage a creature can take before dying, but instead are a mixture of luck, karma, skill, foresight, resolve, endurance, and other non-tangible limits. Gary Gygax has a great explanation of hit points on page 82 of the 1st Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide: It...
Read MoreMonster Death and Conditions
If a monster dies, do conditions he places on others go away? The quick answer is no: Conditions last until their defined expiry. The only exception to this would be marks, which end immediately when the marking creature drops. Page 229 in the Rules Compendium says of condition durations: “The effect that imposes a condition on a creature specifies how long the condition lasts. For instance, a cleric might use an attack power that makes its target blinded (save ends). However, some conditions have built-in rules for when they end. For instance, the prone condition ends on a character...
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