One of the EN World regulars (Festivus) has posted pictures of the new D&D Basic Game – you can see them here. One of the slides show a few powers. So, transcribed for your entertainment… here they are! Hypnotism – Wizard Attack 1, at will, Ranged 10, Int vs. Will. Target: 1 creature Hit: Choose one of the following effects:  * The target uses a free … Continue reading A few Red Box Powers

I know the Essentials isn’t 4.5e… for one thing, the changes should be freely available for those of us with the 4e books (I hope!), but there are a few rules changes coming in those books and the related rules updates. Magic Item Daily Powers Possibly one of best “this is fiddly so we got rid of it” changes is this: Magic Item Daily powers … Continue reading D&D 4E Changes coming with Essentials

My recent Serenity campaign tossed aside the concept of advancement altogether after a couple of sessions. Why did I do that? Well, largely it was because when I run a skill-based game rather than a level-based game, I find that advancement tends to run very strangely. Then too, the characters are competent enough to do what they needed to do (well, as much as the … Continue reading No advancement – but some for D&D

Well, the latest errata to D&D 4E has come out, and this time it’s targeted Nathaniel: Sorry, Nathaniel – Slashing Wake now only does damage once/turn, not every time you teleport in a turn. Your minion-destroying rounds are now reduced in effectiveness. Mind you, you still kill lots of minions if they’re surrounding you… However, there are some really interesting changes here. The Wizard and … Continue reading Latest D&D 4e errata… some power ups, some nerfs.

The D&D Essentials line will kick off shortly with the release of the Red Box, and Mike Mearls has written an article describing what we can find there. This is D&D 4e trimmed down – somewhat. It’s meant for new players to come into the game, and, from what I’ve read, it seems that some of the more complex areas are getting removed in the … Continue reading Oh my – Wizard encounter powers that deal damage on a miss!

The latest set of rules updates to D&D 4E are now available on the Wizards website. So, I hear you ask… what are they about? Are they minor? Or do they require the rebuilding of our characters? Well, there’s more major than normal. Not so much for powers being changed, but in a few ways the system works. Those of you who are D&D Insider … Continue reading D&D 4E May Rules Updates

D&D Encounters is a new Organised Play series by Wizards of the Coast to promote Dungeons & Dragons play in stores. However, my original enthusiasm for the project waned and faded when I discovered that the program could only be run on Wednesdays. My local store, which has game space and runs miniatures, boardgames and the occasional D&D event, has a basic problem with running D&D … Continue reading The problems with D&D Encounters