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Lots of RPGs out there use various dice tricks as a part of (or the entirety of) their mechanics. Among these tricks are some of the following: dice pools, gaining additional dice rather than static modifiers, changing results based on odd/even die results, changing die types instead of modifiers, and rerolls. 

On the one hand, these kinds of dice tricks are nifty. They manipulate the way the game is played in interesting ways. Also, rolling dice can be fun and satisfying, and fun little tricks are engaging and clever. These tricks might make for easier play, too. For example, looking for the highest roll in a number of dice might be faster than adding a modifier to a single die.

You could, for instance, gain a flat bonus for favorable circumstances to a check, a saving throw, or

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Ragnar leaps forward, axe rising and falling to clear a path through the goblins. Yet even as the first rank falls, more foolhardy warriors spill out of the darkness, with war cries to Maglubiyet rising above the combat’s din. One, two, three goblins fall, and Ragnar feels a song to Moradin rising in his chest as he falls into the battle’s rhythm.

Multiple attacks have, historically, allowed fighters and other warriors to keep pace with spellcasting characters. In 1st Edition, for example, a fighter gained increasing accuracy and damage increases with each additional attack he or she made. Thus when the fighter hit 7th level, he or she could hit Armor Class 0 more reliably and had three chances every 2 rounds to attack. In addition, a fighter could also make one attack per

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Melf. Tasha. Bigby. Leomund. Drawmij. Otiluke. Tenser. Evard.

Other than being famous D&D wizards, what do all these people have in common? They have spells named after them, of course—spells such as Tenser’s floating disc, Otiluke’s resilient sphere, and Melf’s acid arrow.

D&D spells that include proper names are rich in history, both because of the real-world story behind a particular name, and the in-game myths that surround the famous wizard in question. For example, the spell (and 4E ritual) Drawmij’s instant summons was devised by Drawmij the archmage, who was a founding member of the conclave known as the Circle of Eight. And in the real world, Drawmij is the talented and famous Jim Ward’s name spelled backward. Jim, a player in one of Gary Gygax’s

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The "milestone" is an abstract achievement in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons. The party earns a milestone every second encounter (or so-- see page 123 of the DMG) that they complete before taking an extended rest. So, two encounters to the first milestone, four encounters to the second milestone, and so on. Take an extended rest, and the milestone "counter" resets. What does the milestone actually do?

• It grants each character an action point.
• It unlocks properties or powers of certain magic items, powers, or other game features.
• Once upon a time, a milestone granted an additional use of a magic item daily power.

For that last line to make sense, you have to remember that when 4th edition was first published, characters could only use one magic item daily power per tier, per day.

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If you were to look at my roster of characters in the Character Builder, you'd notice a preponderance of the following:

• Star pact warlocks, and infernal pact warlocks and hexblades
• Tome-wielding summoner wizards
• Shielding swordmages
• Swarm druids
• Battleminds

They're mostly arcane, and they all have some pretty flashy class features. But what really draws me to these options is that they rely on Constitution as the primary or secondary ability score. Why should such a design choice appeal to me to the exclusion of others? Obviously, a high Constitution score offers better hit points, more healing surges, and a good Fortitude score, but I think my preference has more to it than liking survivability and well-rounded defenses.

For most of the life of Dungeons & Dragons, Constitution

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Before I say anything else: Within this wall of text you will find details of the first public draft of the Xaosmith, an elemental defender that can be played from level 1 to level 30, with two complete builds and two paragon paths. But we’ll get to that in a minute…

Chaos and Time

The revelation of 5^th edition makes it exceptionally unlikely that we will see true, official elemental classes produced any time soon, so I would like to reaffirm my commitment to proving the viability of the elemental power source by creating four fully-functional elemental classes. I’ve been doing quite a lot of tinkering these past months, albeit less than I would have liked, and for a few months I was bound to silence on the topic; I have sent in, and received a rejection for, a Dragon

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Hello Everyone, (I will be pleased if Monte Cook would read this post!!!! @Cook: if read, please comment at least to say "I read it" xD.)


First of ALL, I am A VERY EXPERIENCED player. I play RPG since I was 9 year old because of my father/cousin/friends. Nowaday I am 25 years old which means that I played RPG more than 50% of my life! (So, you should read everything here because it comes from someone who started at the 1st edition where there was no difference between classes and  races!)

I have played any kind of system you can ever imagine, D&D, Tagmar, World of Darkness-like (vampire, werewolf, mage), Falkenstein Castle, Shadowrun, GURPS, etc... and my favorite is D&D 3.5/Pathfinder right now (or AD&D with some "special old friends")!

Well, I am Old School! It does NOT mean that...

To continue talking about mounts in 4th edition D&D, I'm going to put some existing mount options on a continuum of sorts. At one end of the continuum, the "mount" is very abstract: it is really just a narrative convenience to describe or explain an effect, and there is no creature there. At the other end of the continuum, the mount is more realized: it has its own level on the 1-to-30 scale, it has ability scores and hit points, and so on. Here's a picture of what I mean:


 

The "steed" in Spirit Steed (Glorious Spirit Utility 26) only exists in the flavor text for what is ultimately just a personal movement power. However, with Cloud Chariot (Cleric Utility 22), the power explicitly creates a vehicle and the creature to pull it, and they both occupy Large spaces. The entities created

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As I mentioned in my last post, I want to promote the use of mounts in my D&D games. One of the best ways to do so is to write encounters that permit or, better yet, encourage players to go mounted. I've taken to calling such adventures "drive-thru dungeons" to differentiate them from scenes that can be accomplished merely on foot. Conveniently, I already spend a lot of time thinking about how to turn my encounters into set pieces in unusual locations, so I'm used to thinking outside the tunnel. What I particularly need are sites spacious enough to accommodate multiple Large creatures, yet geographically linked or limited in such a way that the action stays focused. I also need opponents who challenge the players to keep up (or vice versa). And, in case it needs to be said, I need plausible

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