The after Thanksgiving rush is upon us here in the United States, and this brings me to a very important topic - Food.

Selecting the perfect snack food for your Dungeons and Dragons session can be a daunting task.  After all there are so many excellent choices from seeds and chips to cakes and cookies, not to mention all the home-made goodness hiding at unknown gaming tables throughout the universe.

Over the years we’ve tried many different snacks.  Some – like the pickled cauliflower weren’t so popular.  Others like the year old stale Ding Dongs also didn’t get a return vote.  Nuts with shells on them of any kind are always nice, but then we found ourselves scrambling to find containers to hold the empties.

I love Cheetos, but my notes keep turning orange.  Salt and vinegar chips are excellent though after a while they wear on the tongue – and really aren’t a favorite for everyone.  Oreos are good, but only great if you dunk them in milk and I’m not a fan of open topped containers the gaming table.

So where does this leave us?  What is the perfect snack?  Something good by itself that doesn’t leave a mess that everyone at the table loves?

Donuts?
Beef Jerky?
Pepperoni sticks?
Whole roasted cashews?
Gummi worms?

Somehow I don’t think I’ll be able to decide just now.  In the meantime I think I’ll go back to testing out the possibilities.

Welcome back to Dungeons and Dragons Corner.

You can find Character Sheets Here.

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I’m a big fan of the less savory sorts and Tieflings just seem to have a lot going on in terms of just being bad ass.  Their 4th edition flavor has me a bit torn, though.  Probably it’s the size of the tails in the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook (we already have the Dragonborn).

I’ve been playing D&D for a lot of years, but I never really did anything with Tieflings in previous editions.  In 3rd edition I had a couple of NPC Tieflings and I liked to use them as NPC’s because they felt so mischievous and fun.  Of course the players always spotted them as being bad a mile a way so I had to twist their motives to seem good.  Several of my players played Teiflings and enjoyed them.  As a sort of half-breed riding the fringes of human society they made sense.

Now as a race of their own with the status of being in the PHB, I’m not so sure they make as much sense anymore.  Of course more players are playing them and they just plain show up more often in the game, but I’m having issues with accepting their flavor.  Are they good or evil?  Cunning or wise?  Do they even have a culture that is their own anymore?

I guess I’m just a bit confused.

I still like the Tieflings.  I welcome them into my game and I’ve even played one and I had fun with her.  Like so many other aspects of 4th edition the Tieflings are just going to take some time to get used to.

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In the d20 system it is impossible to run a game entirely without dice.  Dice are, afterall, iconic to the game.  To think of sitting down at the gaming table without them is unnatural.  However it is entirely possible to run a game with a grand total of 1 die.

Why would anyone want to do such a thing?  The answer is that players deserve the DM’s attention.

Rolling dice takes time and is a distraction.  Being able to provide players with immediate feedback to their actions and immediate information about the actions of the NPC’s means that players know that they are the entire focus of the DM’s efforts.  That is an excellent feeling.  Everyone wants attention (people even go so far as to say they don’t want attention in order to get attention).  At the gaming table a player wants to feel like the DM cares what they say and what they do.

Let’s cover the situations that a typical DM needs dice - and then we’ll see which of those can be easily and safely eliminated.

1. Attack rolls
2. Damage rolls
3. Skill checks for NPC’s
4. Skill checks for Players
5. Random encounters
6. Recharge abilities (4th edition)
7. Random outcomes of drastically wild events

Ok, so lets start with attack rolls.  I haven’t figured out how to get rid of these - I don’t think they should go.  So keep your d20 around for making those.

Damage rolls - yep, you can get rid of them.  How?  Use fixed damage.  On average it works out anyway and the players, in my experience using this rule, prefer it.  Just take the average roll that the beast would get and use that as its static damage.  Crits are still max damage, but otherwise a dagger does 2 damage - period.  If you think of it in terms of the number of hits to kill a PC, then given that your average PC has 22 HP at first level, it will take a creature that does 3-7 points of damage an average of 5 hits to kill that PC.  Statistially speaking that number of 5 hits will change roughly only 15% of the time or so which means that even at level 1 (DnD 4th here), nothing about the outcome of the fight has changed - except that it goes about twice as quickly.  I also noticed that players liked knowing exactly how many hits they could take - they didn’t seem to charge in so recklessly as often.

Skill checks for NPC’s - ok, there are 2 ways of getting rid of these rolls.  The first is to have them take 10 on everything.  Again the law of averages says this is the result you’re going to get anyway - so that is what I do most of the time.  The second way is to cheat.  Pure and simple decide if they succeed or fail.  Be careful with this one, but if you know your group and how they will react, then go for it.

Skill checks for Players - Same answer as for skill checks with NPC’s.  Though to be honest I cheat a lot more for the players.  If they try something ridiculous like using stealth to sneak past a couple of guards while wearing full plate and carrying a lantern, I may roll the die behind the screen but you can guarantee that it is going to come up a 1.

Random Encounters - If you’ve read this site at all then you know I don’t use those tables.  I make up balanced encounters ahead of time.  The order in which those encounters appear is drive 100% by the actions of the players, but you won’t find me rolling dice to figure out what happens next.

Recharge abilities - Roll a d6 to see if it recharges.  Or decide does it recharge or not.  More often than not the recharge ability gets used at the first opportunity - usually somewhere around round 3.  If the monster is still standing somewhere around round 6 then sure it recharges.  On average the ability will recharge only once during the combat so I like to give it 2 rounds of rest then use it again if the situation makes sense.  If the PC’s forgot to bring donuts, it may well recharge on round 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and automatically go off again when they deal the killing blow (just kidding).  Recharge abilities come up so rarely that I forget to roll for them anyway - a design flaw if you ask me about 4th ed. (but I understand why they did it).

Other Random Outcomes - this is a favorite trick of DM’s everywhere.  PC says I do amazingly stupid thing to try to save party from ultimate death or suffering which is clearly not covered by any rule anywhere.  DM rolls a die behind the screen while trying to figure out what might possibly happen.  Usually some weight is applied and a random result is calculated, giving the appearance of sagacity on the part of the DM for knowing the obscure rule which covers said action.  Not a bad ploy and I won’t condemn anyone for using it.  For my group, however, since we are all experienced gamers I like to say - roll a d20, putting it squarely back in the players lap.  1=fails miserably in a very funny way 2 -10 = fails in a moderately funny way, 11-19 = succeeds, 20 = succeeds gloriously in a very funny way.

Truthfully my nice ruby dice my wife bought me have done little but collect dust, but at least they still look pretty.

Until  next time have fun!

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The D&D rules changed quite a bit in 4th edition.  Most of you are probably aware of these changes, but here is a quick overview of the main points.

• No more penalties to ability scores – all the races give only bonuses.  This is part of a wider theme to remove negative modifiers where possible.
• Pretty much everything is now 10 + ½ your level + other bonuses.  This goes for the various attacks as well as for things like armor class and defense bonuses.
• No more saving throws (well pretty much).  Older versions had saving throws vs. poison, traps, spells, etc.  Then in 3rd edition it became Will, Fortitude, and Reflex saves. Now these are static defenses just like armor class and different attacks target those defenses.
• Simplified combat system from 3rd edition.
• Multiple attack rolls if you do an area attack.  The old fireball was one attack and 20 saving throws.  Now it is 20 attacks and no saving throws (targeting a static defense score).
• Skill challenges.  Rules for handling non-combat encounters.
• Magic items creation.  Greatly overhauled.  If you have the item creation ritual (available through feats and class features) then you can make any item of your level or lower by paying the price.
• Every class has powers that work very similar to the way spells used to work, i.e. special abilities useable only so many times a day/encounter.
• The old spell system done away with.  Now every class works the same mechanically (yes it is more balanced).

There are quite a few other changes to the D&D rules, but this is a start.
I have posted other information, some more specific, about the D&D rules for 4th edition.  Feel free to check them out.
As always, have fun!

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Picking a race to play for your character in DnD can be a bit daunting – especially if you have personal biases like I do.  I don’t like to play dwarves, for example.

Which means that when I want to play a stout, immovable fighter, I either have to play a race I don’t care for or else I have to get creative.

Picking a race should be much more than just finding the race that gives you the best combat bonuses for the class you have in mind.  It is also a reflection of an aspect of your personality and an indication of what you bring to the table.

If every character you play is min/maxed or optimized fully every time, it won’t take long for the other players to know exactly what you are playing and how you are going to play it  - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  There are builds that are more effective than others, anyone who tells you different should be selling life insurance.  I prefer to allow the other players to find out my character’s strengths and weaknesses over time rather than saying “I’m playing an elf” and someone else finish my sentence “ranger, ranged attack specialist because you’re scared to get your hands dirty, and you want to do lots of damage.”

So, how do you pick a race?  Simple – pick what you enjoy.  Pick what matches the concept you are striving for.  If you like dwarves.  You read The Lord of the Rings and fell in love with Gimli – then play a dwarf.  If you liked Legolas better, play an elf.  If you read a Forgotten Realms novel and found something you enjoy – play that race.

And when you pick that dwarf, understand that you can make an effective character from that race in a lot of ways.  A dwarf rogue may not be great at sneaking but could excel at finding dungeon secrets and uncovering NPC lies.

Or you could just roll a die and play a random race.

Either way, have fun with it!

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I used to work full time as a video game tester.  I quickly rose through the ranks and eventually was in charge of the quality department for a small software development company.  I would encourage those of you out there who enjoy games to become a game tester.  Often the wages are relatively poor to start out with, but it opens doors to future possibilities.

Making a career is about meeting people and making connections.  Becoming a game tester can be a good start in that direction.  When I was hiring game testers I would turn to friends and acquaintences that I knew through my relationships in gaming either table top or people I knew from LAN parties.

Gamertestingground offers a program that can help you get into the business if you are interested.  This is one way to start a career or earn a few extra bucks to help get ready for college.  Many of us spend hours playing anyway, and if you are like most serious gamers I know then you have the intelligence to put those hours to good use.

I know this is a bit off topic from the norm (hence appearing on an off day) but I do encourage you to try out gamertestingground if you have the inclination to put some of those gaming hours to good use and become a game tester.

As always, remember to have fun!

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Maintaining a healthy game can be difficult under the best of circumstances.  Trying to keep a game healthy and have fun doing it can be nearly impossible.  Power control, done properly, allows players to have a more enjoyable experience as well as keep the DM’s headaches to a minimum.

Power control, for the purposes of this post refers to balancing the abilities of the player characters in relationship to their world.  In other words it can become an unhealthy game if the players are able to do things that the rest of the world, even the most powerful NPC’s, cannot do.  Another, and perhaps even more damaging situation arises when the power levels among different characters is vastly different.  This can mean that one player has few or very limited options while another can essentially do whatever she wants.

Many players will argue against various forms of power control, though I have known few DM’s who suggest that no form of power control should be implemented.  Those few I have met haven’t run more than a few sessions and are not generally regarded as enjoyable to play with.

Power control does not refer to cheating a player.  If as a game master you made the mistake of allowing a player to have an item or to perform an action which severely disrupts the game, the one paramount rule that you cannot break is that you cannot break the core game rules.  This means that if you have, for example, allowed an item which works spectacularly well with a given power or feat into your game that you cannot then turn around and disallow that feat or power.  This immediately causes resentment and bad feelings.

There are emotions tied to the core rules of any game, but Dungeons and Dragons in particular has as sense of canon with regards to the Players Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide.  Think twice or three times before messing with rules the players consider as gospel.

Some better ways to control power levels include following the rules.  This does not mean rules-lawyering every little point with your players.  It means being fair and consistent with your application of the rules.  Encounter balance, treasure guidelines, and experience awards are there for a reason - they keep the power levels consistent so that players feel a level of challenge without feeling cheated.  If your version of power control is to give your NPC’s a high level magic item which they use to decimate the party (until one of them finds a scheme around your uber encounter and someone rolls a lucky crit), and the party ends up with uber item in their possession, then you may wish to consider the consequences.  Either all monsters you throw out now will have to be more powerful or you will have to have the item (and/or the character with the item) disappear.  Option one means that the game balance will skew out of control quickly.  Option two means the players will be pissed at you personally.

One of the biggest complaints about power control is that it feels so arbitrary.  Any game, especially an RPG will have many arbitrary limits and decisions.  The key is to make the arbitrary feel organized.  Again, consistency is a great tool.  If the players know ahead of time that getting control of an item of immense power will cause them problems then the loss of the item (or even the death of the character) at a later date will feel a lot easier to take.  They may even decide to leave the item alone.

Another way to avoid making decisions that feel arbitrary is to make them ahead of time.  Make as many decisions before the game starts as possible.  How much treasure is availalbe?  Write it down.  Which monsters are available?  Write it down.  If you like to use random encounters then get out the random encounter table an hour before the game and roll up the encounters.  Having 5 minutes to review the encounter to do a sanity check can save you having to scale the encounter up or down on the fly later.

On a side note - those of you who read my site regularly will have guessed I’m not a huge fan of random encounters - if you want to make your encounters feel more random to the players (no idea why you would want to) you can always roll the dice behind the screen anyway.  The players won’t know that you made the encounter up yesterday and that you planned for them to face the lizardmen “randomly” before they found the wounded black bear “randomly”.  They probably won’t even notice at the end of the night they got exactly as much XP as they needed and they all have a well balanced treasure sack.  But you can bet they’ll notice 3 weeks later when its time to level up and nobody is a ton more powerful than anyone else and the campaign still makes sense.

Power control is not about limiting options - it is about creating an enjoyable game.  It is about giving as many options to your players as possible and understanding the consequences of those options.  Understanding that giving out 1/2 a level worth of XP to a specific player while ignoring the rest of the party will not only piss everyone off when they find out, but it will limit the ability of the other characters to contribute to the party.  It will also effectively make the affected character 1/2 a level poorer in terms of gold and wealth (unless that is handed out for free as well).  The point is to be careful here.  It may seem like a good idea to arbitrarily reward a best friend, but ultimately the game will probably suffer.

Setting limits to the game is just one more tool for making the game more enjoyable.

Until next time have fun!

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My Steps For making a Dungeons and Dragons character:

Ok so most, if not all, of you reading this have made dozens if not hundreds of DnD characters.  But I thought I would outline my process for making a new Dungeons and Dragons character.

These steps apply pretty much to any version of DnD, and I’ve been playing since 1982.

Fist I start with the concept.  No matter what character I am going to play or which version of DnD I am going to play in, I start with the concept.  What is this character going to do?  What is his or her purpose.  Don’t confuse this with background.  Background involves many more details.  This is concept.  Am I making a sneaky type, a nature-loving type, a magic user, a street brawler, or something more concrete like air magic specialist or dagger throwing street comedian.

I usually then pick a name.  I like to brainstorm names.  I like to pick names that appeal to me, and I try to keep them relatively generic as to race.  Though usually the concept gives me some inclination as to the race I want to play.

Which brings me to race.  I pick my race based around the concept.  And usually I do one of two things – either I choose a race I haven’t played in a while or I pick a race that isn’t optimized for that concept.  Why?  Because I enjoy the challenge of taking races on a new spin.

I may spend a lot of time making this decision.  I usually re-read a lot of source material on the subject.  At heart I’m an optimizing fool, so when it comes to choosing a race I find a balance between concept and functionality.  I like to find that one race that fits the concept and can be optimized in a strange new way so that it works and is interesting to play.   No I haven’t played a dwarf fighter in a very long time.

Ok, so now I have a concept, a race, and a name.  Here is where I get my hands dirty.  I pick a class.  This isn’t as simple as just picking any old class to play.  No this means poring over the PHB and other source material for hours until I find the perfect mesh of optimization and concept.  I should mention that by now I usually have some ideas of background hooks in mind but those are still flexible.

I build out two or three characters to at least level 15, switching out different classes and trying multi-class builds.  This is really the process I enjoy the most.  The goal is not necessarily to have the most powerful character in the party, but rather to have a character that is surprisingly powerful within his or her niche, i.e. being sneaky or throwing daggers while being funny.  This is why the concept is so important.  It drives not only the crunch but also the fluff.  How I am going to play this character, the things I will actually say and do at the table.

The reason I go through all this trouble at this point is the be sure that the concept is playable.  An air magic specialist may sound cool, but it may not be effective for the party if the only time the character is useful is to help fly to a new location or levitate something.  If during combat and most skill challenges all I have to say it “pass” then the character won’t be fun for me or the rest of the party.

On the other hand the reason I push to find a concept is to also clearly define the things the character won’t do.  If it isn’t a melee fighter then I can ignore the feats and abilities that focus on melee fighting.

After looking though the various builds I finally pick a class.

So now I have a race, a name, and a class.  Due to my test builds I probably also have a set of ability scores, powers, feats, and equipment already done as well.

So, it may appear that I am done.  Wrong!  Now I get to do the other fun part.  I write the background.  I know how I am going to spend most of my time at the table during the game – the things I will do and the thing I won’t do.  But I still don’t know this character.  I still understand it.  So I begin the background.

Typically I start with the name, and I go through family relationships.  If I don’t have a lot of information about the campaign, then I make up a town to go with the character, organizations he or she is affiliated with or opposed to.  I try to be as specific as possible when doing this, using specific names of individual NPC’s that the DM can choose to use or ignore.

Often I will make stat blocks for these NPC’s (if they are allies) or make suggestions as to level – anything to save the DM time and effort.  Very often during this process I will ask the DM for specific information that the character should know and then incorporate it into his or her background.

At the end of the process I usually have a character sheet and 3-5 pages of useful information that I can bring to the table.  I already know where I am going and what I am doing during the first few sessions.

And then what happens?  The idiot across the table kicks in the door, tripping the trap that kills us all in the first 5 minutes!

And then I play the drunk dwarf fighter I whip up in 5 minutes.

Until next time – have fun!

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Have you ever had a hard time “getting into charcter?”  You’ve thumbed through the Player’s Handbook for a couple of hours already and have nothing to show for it?  Or worse, you have a character build and optimized, but you just don’t “feel it” when you play that character.

First let’s back away for just a moment.  Remember that role-playing is about making a fantasy, even if it isn’at a medieval fantasy setting.  As a kid did you ever pretend to be superman.  Of course you did (ok, pick the heroe of your choice).  That is probably why you got into RPG’s in the first place, and its probably why you’ve stayed with it.

So start with the fantasy.  Put the rule book away and grab a notebook and a pencil.  Yes, I said pencil.  You’ll want to erase things and make changes as you go.  Now start.  You can start with a name, like Firzna the Belligerant, or a race, or maybe even just a concept like “warrior princess.”

Then brainstorm ideas about the character.  Is it a he or a she?  Tall?  Thin?  Fat?  Blonde? Grey eyes?  Just throw out random thoughts until you get some that you like.  Then think about what motivates the character?  Does she hate troglodytes?  Why?  Was her village rampaged by them or did his father tell him stories about the old days when the trogs used to steal children?

Move onto why the character is adventuring.  Is she out to avenge wrongs or just looking for a good time?  The motives will guide you into more specifics about how he goes about it.  A sneaky thief, for example probably won’t stroll around in full plate, but an experience veteran in the local town militia certainly will try to get the best armor possible.

By now you should have a pretty good idea of what your character is all about.

If you don’t, then try and draw a sketch of your character.  Don’t worry, you’re not going to be sharing it with anyone, just start drawing and see what you come up with.  Notice what you include and what you don’t.  The gear you choose will tell you a lot about what you are going to play.  If you really don’t like to draw, then get online and start looking at some fantasy artwork.  Find a piece of art that matches your concept, or at least gets close and an idea will form in your head.  Then go and get your notebook and start writing.

Now that you know exactly what you want to play, and how, go back to the rule book and find the race/class that matches your concept.  Yes it is possible that you won’t have a completely optimized character, but you will find something that works.  Don’t get caught up in the notion that a class name like wizard means that you have to be a stuffy old bookworm.  “Wizard” really only means a character that has access to the class abilities, skills, and powers of that class.  If your character concept is one of a warlock that uses wizard style spells, then call yourself a warlock (just write wizard) on your character sheet.

Find the powers that best suit your character concept.  Ask your DM if you can rename some of them.  You don’t have to change anything else about them, just call them something else.  Your Magic Missile can become a “Doom Bolt” or similar.  Do the same with skills and feats.  Pick the ones that let the flavor you have already picked shine through.

If you are in the unfortunate place of already having a character, then I suggest you do the same things already outlined, only you may not have all the customization options open anymore.  If this is the case, then either ask your DM what you can retool, or else focus on the aspects of your character you do enjoy.  I find that getting an image of the character is very helpful here.  Most of us have played computer RPG’s where we couldn’t customize things just the way we wanted, but having the graphic in front of me helped a lot to get into the game.  You can use the same trick with a tabletop with either a picture or a mini.

Hope these ideas help, and enjoy your character!

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Upsetting the DM is a pretty common fear. After all the Dungeon Master can pretty well screw you over anytime she wants to.  If you want to survive to level five, or higher, making her life easier is just a good idea. Here are seven things you can do as a player to make her life much simpler, and every aggravation off her shoulders is one less excuse to give you grief.

1. Do all your character preparation work ahead of game time. Some dungeon masters require character creation and leveling up to happen at the table, many don’t. Even if your DM wants to see you do the work, you can still make all your leveling and creation decisions off-line. Just bring a short list of all your choices and let your DM look them over. If your DM is okay with it you can even e-mail your character sheet ahead of time.
2. Stay focused during the game. If the DM catches your attention wandering, don’t be surprised if she reels you in by sending a few extra attacks your direction. There will be distractions at many game tables, but if you show up with a laptop or are constantly looking at your blackberry or answering the cell phone, the DM may take some action.
3. Don’t roll your dice if you don’t have to. Anytime dice roll at the table, heads will naturally turn to follow the sound. Even worse, when you’re just playing with the dice the odds that they will roll onto the floor increase. If you’re picking your dice up off the floor I guarantee the DM (and probably the other players) will be a least a little annoyed.
4. Pay attention to actions of other players. It is easy to get distracted when it isn’t your turn, but very often the actions that other players take will have a direct effect on what you will do. If you have to spend a full minute every time your initiative comes up reviewing the table, you can bet the DM will notice, and not in a good way.
5. Bring snacks. At the very least, chip in your full share if you agree to go in on pizza. Thank your DM for her hard work and you’ll may catch a few breaks when you need them.
6. Don’t argue the rules. Even when you’re right, if you argue with the DM during the game you’re wasting your breath. Even worse, you’re wasting the valuable time of the other players. Drop the DM an email after the game. Cite the rules correction, and be polite about it.
7. Learn the house rules and follow them. If your DM has special rules, pay attention to them. If you have a particular objection to any of them, then discuss them away from the game and find out why. Understand that most Dungeon Masters aren’t terribly flexible with a rule if they’ve taken the time to write it down. And if a group has been together for a long time things don’t change very quickly.

Remember that the Dungeon Master has probably put more time into the campaign than you have. Odds are good that they deal with the game both before and after the session, and a lot of that prep time is fairly repetitive and uninteresting. Reward that time with a little respect and preparation of your own and you will find the game runs smoother all around.

Of course the most important thing is having fun. You are there to have fun and so is everyone else in the group, including the DM. The more everyone can do to increase the fun, the better off everyone will be.

Enjoy your Dungeons and Dragons session!

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Ok so you have no money, which is generally true for most of us, but you still want to run as cool of a game as possible.

Here are some ideas to save cash and still enhance your gaming experience.

1. Buy bulk minis.  If you are going to buy minis, buy in bulk off of Craigslist or Ebay. (Check my full story on buying minis here.)
2. Spend time in the forums.  People retire from the game all the time (if even for a short time).  See if they are willing to give away some of their old maps, minis, or dungeon tiles.
3. Craft.  No, not the 3.5 D&D skill.  I mean learn to make your own.  There are lots of ways to make figures from origami to inventive uses of hot glue.
4. Second hand stores.  These are excellent places to find stuff that other gamers Mom’s threw out when they went to college.  You can get everything from cards to minis, dice, even books.
5. Print your own stuff.  You can make everything you need from character sheets to Dungeon Master screens yourself.  They may not have the polished look of a commercial product, but they will be useful. If you can find some free art and a color printer, you can make them look even better.
6. Visit DnDCorner often.  Or better yet, subscribe via email (link on the right).  I know, shameless plug, but everything here is free.  I do this because I love the game, and the techniques I use have saved me both time and money.

 Hope these ideas trigger a little less spending, and as always remember to have fun!

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In the old days, you couldn’t get a pre-made module that didn’t have at least one random encounter chart, usually several.  In 4^th edition, the trend seems to be heading the opposite direction.

I think that a solid understanding of what a random encounter does will help you decide how to include them into your game, if at all.

First the Cons

• They generally serve no purpose for the story.
• They cause fluctuations in XP and treasure.  Usually the party gets XP but no treasure.  Too much of this sort of thing makes for game imbalances.
• They cause Party Wipe.  All too often the random nature of the encounter produces something too powerful at the wrong time.
• They use up party resources which can lead to either Party Wipe, character death, or game imbalances because the party’s single use resources (potions & scrolls) are used up before their time.
• If used in conjunction with random treasures, you can (and often do) get too much treasure or totally useless treasure.

 Then the Pros

• You don’t have to plan ahead for them, so it can save you time.
• They fill session time when the party decides to go somewhere you hadn’t planned on.
• They can be used to boost XP if the party has more treasure than their level suggests they need.
• They can be used to kill off annoying characters.
• They can be used to boost treasure if the party doesn’t have enough.

 In general I never use truly random encounters.  I ignore the tables.  However I do use pseudo-random encounters all the time.  I make up a few extra encounters when planning for a session.  These are always the same level as the dungeon encounters I expect (or hope) the PC’s will find, and either have equivalent treasure or no treasure. 

Here are the situations I use them for.

• The PC’s are heading to the dungeon and will eventually get to the dungeon, but not this session, and they need a combat to get them moving.  In this case I will remove the first dungeon encounter from the campaign.  If there was a treasure with that encounter I will usually leave it in the dungeon to be found next session (though there is nothing to stop you from handing it out now).
• The PC’s will never reach the dungeon and the dungeon encounters I have prepared simply make no sense whatsoever where they are now.  For example, the only dungeon encounter I have left is a gelatinous cube and they are in a forest.  See more on encounter swapping here.
• Somebody pissed me off and I’m in a vindictive mood.  So I hit them with an extra encounter while they are trying to rest and gang up on the jerk who took a bite out of my chocolate cupcake.

You can find more information about this technique on my encounter swapping article.

 Hope these ideas help, and as always have fun!

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Ok, I’m presenting some links, and a few general thoughts on each 4^th edition character class. So many others have done so much to get guides and advice on character building together. This is simply a short primer on what each class can do with links to much more extensive advice on optimization and character building, by class.

Warlock Guide

Warlocks have many options, but there are also a lot of decisions to make at first level. All of the eldritch pacts can be useful and effective. This is a choice that comes down to style and preference. If you are worried about survivability, though, remember that you can really maximize your hit points by taking the infernal pact route as your constitution can start at 18 or even 20 quite easily.

If you would rather play a more sneaky or deceitful route, then you can also maximize your charisma to good effect and remain a force on the battlefield. Your choice of skills should support your main ability score choice and also the way you decide to play your character.

Ranger

Rangers can do excellent damage, as well as have awesome mobility. The decision between ranged and melee Ranger is a crucial one you need to make when you create the character. You can’t really do both and still be effective.

Put your ability scores where they will help you hit as often as possible. Rangers can do a ton of damage, but only if they hit, so be sure to maximize your hitting potential. Also, they tend to have lower hit points than other characters, so get them some solid armor as well.

Paladin

A Paladin won’t generally be able to main heal your party. For that you will want to look at the Cleric or Warlord. But they can do some great things for controlling the battlefield, and can have awesome hit points.

They get plate mail to start with, and there isn’t a good reason I can thing of not to go with it. Maximize your defensive capabilities. Don’t worry if you can’t hit as hard as some of the other classes. Focus your ability scores where they will maximize your ability to absorb damage and nullify the enemies’ attacks.

Cleric

Keep in mind that your Cleric is there to support and help the party. Sure they can deal some good damage, especially against undead, but their main purpose is going to be to help others.

They don’t tank as well as fighters, and they don’t hit as hard as rangers, so don’t expect them to. Be prepared to help those around you when they need it. Put your ability scores where they will increase the effectiveness of your powers so that your healing powers work when you need them to.

Warlord

Remember that a Warlord is out there to help his teammates. Of all the characters in the party he is least equipped to go it alone. You won’t find the warlord solo killing any bosses, so don’t try it. Put your points (INT, CHA, STR) where they can be used most effectively to give your party a boost.

The warlord needs some mobility, but also needs to keep his defenses high. Invest in good armor and armor capabilities. Often when he takes too much damage he has to spend time and resources getting himself out of trouble instead of helping others. So make the effort to give yourself some decent defenses and survivability.

Wizard

Perhaps the biggest challenge to overcome is understanding that wizards as a concept have changed in 4^th edition. Personally I find nothing wrong with that, in fact I think there are a lot of things right about it, but that isn’t the point of this article.

In general, if you want to play a good wizard, then find the spells that are going to help you stay alive early on. Magic Missile, as always is a solid spell. You’ll want to put your stat points where they will help out your attacks more than anything. You will find yourself under attack from time to time and early on you’ll need that protection as you won’t be doing as much damage as other players at early levels.

Also don’t forget about the potential of the rituals. These are often overlooked, and can add depth and power to your character.

Rogue

You probably won’t find any better information that what you can find on that thread.

Keep in mind that your rogue is designed to do big damage, but they don’t generally have the hit points or defensive capabilities of other characters.

Rogues have the advantage of being able to diversify their abilities quite easily, but like all characters they will benefit greatly if you try to specialize in an area where your party needs the support.

That’s if for today. Until next time, have fun!

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