Community

Session 1: An Intro.

Recently I ran a full session of the playtest packet(A combined ruleset using both January and March released information - Liked some changes such as the Skill Die change from january to march, and hated others, like the lackluster monk in march vs. the Monkly Monk of January) and altered some of my own changes(Combat Expertise changes - DM fiat)

The beginning was like most others, the PC's(Walter - Cleric of the Arcanist; Winnifred"Winnie" - The Trustworthy Rogue; and Tassleholf "Tass" - The Juggling Monk) were enjoying a meal at the Bogs Brewery Tavern & Sleepaway; A commotion outside the tavern entry drew their attention, A merchant had collapsed before a few guards just exiting the tavern, and he was taken to the local guardhouse for his story; His claim was that...

ROGUE

Level    Attack Bonus   Sneak Attack  Class Features
1          +1                    1d6                Rogue Scheme, Skill Tricks (2), Sneak Attack
2          +1                    1d6                Scheme Benefit, Skill Trick (1)
3          +1                   ...

Zahier - human Cleric (healer and minstrel)
Leiffy - dwarf Fighter (veteran shieldbearer)
Merrith - human Fighter (unbeatable warrioress)
Claudias - human Fighter (archer and bounty hunter)
Davian - half-elf Rogue (secretive vagabond)
Mith - dwarf Rogue (treasure hunter)

The second session was not as successful as the first, but it was overall positive. Everyone updated to the new packet, which took longer than I expected.  They also did not enjoy "giving up" some things.  Nonetheless, the game went on.

After defeating all of the hired muscle, they made their way into the mayor's longhouse.  Downstairs, they found an office.  After some awkward banter through the door, they finally got in.  A rather large mercenary named Jovian was standing between them and Kilreth, cowardly...

The players thought they'd be playing the Isle of Dread (above). What they didn't know was that it would be a mash-up with LOST (below) The Isle of Dread (above) doesn't look so different from the island of LOST (below), does it? A green dragon can be found on the Isle of Dread. In my version, the dragon is called "Smokey". Strange creatures dwell on the Isle of Dread. On the LOST Isle of Dread, the pirates were replaced with the Others. On the LOST Isle of Dread the medusa spiders (below) are giant (above)! The only thing LOST lacked was dinosaurs. The LOST Isle of Dread fixes that omission. Even flying creatures have their analogs on LOST, like the Hurley-bird. Mysterious maps of the island are a staple of both LOST (below) and the Isle of Dread (above)

So there are two things

...

Please note I am repeating this discussion in the forums at this thread.  Feel free to leave comments below or join us in the discussion thread.

So there's been a lot of discussion about the concept of bounded accuracy -- the notion that there is no assumed improvement in attack rolls, skills, or defenses unless the character devotes character building resources to such improvement.  Thi was not true in any prior edition. I will call this phenomenon "assumed progression" as the term "bounded accuracy" tends to confuse.

In OD&D, BECMI, AD&D, and in 3e, every class got assumed progression in attack rolls and saving throws. In 3e, you also got regular improvement in some Ability scores. In 4e, this was assumed progression was extended to all ability checks (including skill...

About a month ago, Mike Mearls, in a  Legends & Lore article, described the distinction between the Basic, Standard, and Advanced rules. In that article, he listed a variety of potential Advanced rules that might be included with the Standard Rules at initial release. I started a poll and a discussion thread in which I asked people to vote on which Advanced Rules they might use in a game. Although the poll is still open, the results have not changed in more than a week, so I think it is a good time to analyze the results.

Initially, I want to note that this poll is in no way scientific and should be taken for a huge grain of salt.  A litle less than a thousand people responded, which is a relatively small number compared to the 80,000 or so playtesters. Moreover, I have no...

With the latest slew of Legends & Lore articles, we are finally getting a sense of how the game will be organized. There will be a basic, a standard, and an advanced version of the game. The advanced rules are further divided into "modules", which sit atop the standard rules without altering them, "dials", which alter the standard rules in predictable ways, and what I call "variants", which alter the standard rules in fundamental ways. For more than a year, the designers, and Mearls in particular, has been stating that it was too early to speculate about specific presenation of the game while they were still hammering out the details of the game engine. Now that the details of the game engine has been hammered out, let the speculation of presentation begin!

Here is how I would suggest...

A Skill Point (or Rank) module.
At 1st level, pick a background and take those 4 skills at rank 1, or pick 4 skills to be at rank 1 and an appropriate background trait. Now in addition to that, if you have a positive Int modifier you gain that in extra ranks in other skills you can pick, (i.e. Int 14 is a +2 would grant 2 more skill ranks), but no penalty for a low Intelligence. Making minimum Skills at first 4. Now at every other level you gain 2 extra skill ranks to increase what you currently have or to gain new skills, (which start at rank 1). Still keep the maximum amount of ranks at +7 for bounded accuracy.  That 7th rank costs two skill ranks to reach. This is to indicate a dedication to being the best of the best of the best with that skill. 

If there is an overlap...

Quoting myself from a recent trollish thread started by someone who has bought into a great many myths about the game:

[quote]I'm being perfectly sincere. There are mechanical traditions associated with the game that should be maintained. Every game having the same level of balance, the same balanced-guided philosophy, leads to a boring situation.

Every game doesn't need to avoid dead levels.
Every game doesn't need to avoid any disparity between classes and races.
Every game doesn't need simplification.

When I play D&D, I want certain things mechanically. I want linear fighters. I want Armor Class. I want saving throws, rolled hit points, rolled ability scores, and so forth. i want certain things from the flavor of it, too - nonsensical dungeons, dragons that exist primarily to be killed, monsters...