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Run. Quickly and nimbly. Run Seriously. Run. 4e is a game that thrives on balance. The first clue for me that something was messed up with your group was your DM requiring PHB1. Those rules are frightful and have been replaced with much newer, nicer and shinier rules. The second clue that something was wrong was the outburst about getting bogged down by ...

Yes, a horse may grapple. Monster Manual p273: Horses have a grappling score, there aren't any special requirements excluding them from being able to grapple, and there's nothing saying horses can only react to grappling. The grapple rules, even employed literally, require a grappler to grab and then be capable of holding their opponent - the horse can ...

D&D 4e is definitely not a nebulous game. It gets all oogy and wobbly if houseruled carelessly and too much, which is what it sounds like this DM has done. Your three options are well considered! It sounds like you have your head on straight, and your reaction isn't disproportionate at all. It's entirely possible that this DM has had bad experiences ...

You have the correct reading, ability scores may not be lowered during character creation. The Rules Compendium has the latest character creation information published on page 78, which sheds a bit more light on the subject. Point buy is method 2, now called "Customizing Scores" Other than nomenclature changes, the rules are exactly the same. Start ...

does the death penalty require the milestones to be uninterrupted by extended rests? No. It says three milestones, not three milestones without resting. You get a milestone if you do two encounters without resting. Encounter, Encounter, milestone achieved, Encounter, Encounter, milestone achieved, Rest, Encounter, Encounter, milestone achieved — makes ...

Session ends, all good, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, myself included. Sounds like a good RP experience to me. Why let that be destroyed by disagreements about rules? Fundamentally, the problem is that you and the DM have different leanings in the GNS model of roleplaying styles - he seems very strongly narrativist while you seem to have mostly ...

No. Shockingly, the rules specifically address this. Looking at the rules for multiclass characters: Class Features: A multiclass character gets all the class features of all his or her classes but must also suffer the consequences of the special restrictions of all his or her classes. (Exception: A character who acquires the barbarian class does not ...

No The chain of conditions you need to follow is a bit tricky and not-so-obvious, but it still clearly laid out in the rules. Blinded[DDI]: While a creature is blinded, it can’t see, which means its targets have total concealment against it, and it takes a -10 penalty to Perception checks. It also grants combat advantage and can’t flank. Total ...

Yes, a horse can start a grapple. There isn't such a rule because it's possible. The word "grapple" may imply having arms and wrestling around, but the linguistic nuances of the word are irrelevant to the mechanics it describes--just like you can have your Fighter call himself a samurai without taking the Samurai class. Similarly a "cantrip" is ...

It is referencing the Ability Scores and Spellcasters section in the chapter about ability scores. In short, you get bonus spells per day, not spells known. Extra spells known tend to be rare and difficult to get, and will spell out explicitly that this is what you’re getting.

This answer is probably not going to be any better than any other answer, but I have to point it out because you're new to role playing and I feel it's important to see the whole picture. Everyone else is giving good advice, but it helps to have some background on why they're giving that advice. The DM's NUMBER ONE Job is to Make Sure Everyone Has Fun ...

If the warlock has to keep his distance from an attacker, I would be happy to say that a Guardian could bond him. The seeming intent of the theme is to improve the capabilities of defenders to protect one other party member. Since this is 4E, every PC is supposed to be good at combat. There's just some that fight up close and some that fight at range. ...

In a nutshell, your second option, to leave and find a different group, sounds best. The guy DM'ing has made it clear he doesn't want you understanding the rules, let alone implying he might not know them. "Rules Lawyer" is generally a label for someone who disrupts play by telling the GM where they didn't follow the rules, especially when it benefits ...

I'm no expert on Universalis, but here are a few thoughts: I think your 'no thundering herds' rules gimmick is clean and effective. I wouldn't challenge it if you wanted to introduce it in play. What if it came up without the rules gimmick in play and I didn't want to let someone benefit from that kind of play? Well, if someone goes 'all-in' -- i.e., ...

To elaborate on what wax eagle's typed: However, I enjoy gaming, and you probably enjoy gaming, and if the other people in the session are actually enjoying themselves then maybe this guy has something to offer I am mostly GMing in 3.5e, but I think that this edition is also "almost exclusively rules driven"... Well, maybe a bit less. This hasn't ...

It stacks. So Wolverine the Gnome (David the Gnome's much surlier cousin) can do 2 points of physical stress per attack. As for why... natural weapons increase the stress you can inflict, just like a plain old weapony weapon can (as referenced in the Wee... bit your quoted). Anything else that got you a damage bonus, like powers or stunts could also up the ...

Yes, but read on. If a monster can grapple and not be considered grappled itself, there should be a penalty and/or a limitation involved (for example, see Improved Grab: -20 grapple check penalty and -1 size category limitation); this might vary per creature, with details explained in its description. No. In fact, your allies can choose which square of a ...

Oddly enough, horses grappling isn't actually that much, if any, a suspension of disbelief. Anyone who has been grabbed by a horse can tell you how: they use their teeth. The grappling rules are also pretty sensible about what can and can't grapple, giving a nice fiction-based rule: To start a grapple, you need to grab and hold your target. Can an ...

They are not mutually exclusive And in fact there's even one weapon that's two-handed but finessable (the Spiked Chain). You can Power Attack with a finesse'd weapon as well, unless it's classified as a Light Weapon. Did the designers intend this? We'll never know, but the RAW is fairly clear on the matter, as there's not text in Weapon Finesse or the ...

As long as the enemy is a valid target of the MBA you can. The feat Repel Charge does not have an adjacency requirement so the character repelling the charge merely needs melee range on the person charging them. This is not an Opportunity Attack which does require adjacency, it's a set Opportunity Action. It's part of the same super set (Opportunity ...

The following general rule about Spell-like abilities applies: If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature’s Hit Dice. See the general description of Spell-like abilities. The spell level does not seem to be defined (nor is it necessary in this case).

This one is not so black & white, it is a situational dependent answer. Attack Action A monster with the rake ability must begin its turn grappling to use its rake—it can’t begin a grapple and rake in the same turn. Source (Exception noted below) Triggered Note: Many creatures with the rake ability will have either Improved Grab or Pounce ...

First, consider that from an optimization standpoint Guardian is considered a very strong (sky blue, if you're familiar with CharOp ratings) theme for melee characters simply for its level 1 power; anything more than that is just icing on the cake. Next, consider the statement you’re supposed to protect people who don’t fight as well as you do. If the ...

This sounds like a bad situation, honestly. It's certainly alright to change the rules to suit a campaign (as a GM, I do it too), and it's even alright in some circumstances to let the players discover those changes (some magical effect in an area makes Fireball not work properly, for example). However, it's not okay to do that and then get upset when the ...

Here's is my take on this problem. Mechanically, I agree with your statement "intangibility is just a die to add to Reaction rolls, not an automatic effect that allows you to ignore everything, that requires SFX." ...

The description of the item here is unclear. However we can make a couple of inferences that should lead us to the solutions: There is no statement that the items cannot be removed. D&D 4e is an exception based rules system. If there is no rule that says you can't then you probably can. There is no indication that the items are consumed, in fact they ...

For an official DnD Function such as Encounters or most events at a Con the answer would be No. The RAW is as stated by Pat Ludwig. He nailed it. The game designers do this to promote each character taking on primary role such as striker or defender and maintaining a balanced level of strengths/weaknesses across the party. For your own game, feel free to do ...

The Rake ability allows you to make special attacks called rake attacks that are performed as part of a Pounce attack, or sometimes (see below) as part of an Improved Grab attack, or in addition to a natural attack as an Attack Your Opponent grapple action, only if you were grappling at the start of your turn. (Intermezzo: Not all monsters with Improved ...

Yes, Rain of steel would still affect your opponents for the reason you stated. The condition Blinded does not prevent Opportunity Attacks. Don't try to literally interpret the names of the conditions or you'll find yourself questioning a lot of things. My favorite is that folks that are Immobilized can still stand up. That doesn't meet with my ...

Some powers do have, within their description, effects beyond their mechanical ones. Durability is a common example: at d10, you're not just rolling an extra die; you're proof against small-arms fire. Intangibility is similar; at d10, only "super-high density" substances can touch you, which wouldn't ordinarily include a thrown pipe. Though I disagree with ...