Allen Gould

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Nov 7	comment	When do you reach a 'milestone'? I believe there's some caveats that a DM can rule that particularly easy encounters don't count towards a milestone (or contrarywise, a particularly hard encounter can count as it's own milestone), but both options seemed a bit.. weaselly to me (as in, you probably should just fix your encounter difficulties).
Sep 27	comment	Can I play an effective pacifist in D&D 4e? +1 for Pacifist Cleric. I play it, and you can easily go through a combat without dealing a single point of damage. You buff, heal, and attack enemies by debuffing them (so your allies can hit easily and do extra damage hopefully). The two concerns are: you are shorting the party a damage-dealer, so the party has to make up that aspect. And it's not the flashy style of play, so some players find it very boring.
Sep 27	comment	Character wealth by level for 4E? If you spend your cash properly, you can get multiple common items on top of your three built-in selections, you can easily end up with five or six magic items. Add the fact that they're guaranteed to be exactly what the character needs, and the balance is better than you think.
Aug 16	comment	Is it possible to mix different versions of AD&D? +1 for choosing a reference edition - you can always translate mechanics, monsters, and items from one edition to the other. But you need to pick what you're translating into. :)
Aug 8	comment	Which 4e books are made obsolete by Essentials releases? I would +1 solely for the point that the errata is far more an issue for the older books than Essentials.
Jun 29	comment	In D&D 4E, Changelings can keep other forms when sleeping? Another hint is that there's no sustain entry, which implies that the Changeling doesn't have to put any effort into holding a form, only to change it.
Jun 28	comment	What is the point of a spell component pouch? Eschew Materials does have an in-game use, however: if someone takes your spell components away, you can't cast M spells. (I've never cared about the specific components, though.)
Jun 27	comment	Can you pull an enemy from an adjacent square to another adjacent square? @gomad Yep. (Thanks to Ace and Ross for the assist).
Jun 24	comment	Is buying game ebooks practical? I can't speak for the kindle, but I've got a few PDFs on my iPad and it works reasonably well for me. Searchability is a huge plus.
Jun 23	comment	In D&D 4e What does a letter inside of brackets mean for a hit effect of an attack power? Corner case that confuses the locals: if you're using a weapon that rolls multiple dice normally (like a Falchion that does 2d4 damage), an attack that does 2W will do 4d4 damage. (Or 2x2d4)
Jun 22	comment	Does movement continue after an Opportunity Attack? Sure. By the time I get mine in, someone's done it better. :)
Jun 20	comment	What can I learn from playtesters? @Graham - I think that both questions need to be examined: are the regular players having fun, and are the power-gamers finding holes to exploit?
Jun 20	comment	Why do Combat encounters and Skill checks give the same XP reward? Another reason is to encourage/reward players for taking those non-combat skills and using them in-play. (3E suffered because while you could be awesome out of combat, it did little for you in hard XP. The only exceptions were when you could find a loophole to abuse, such as crazy-high Diplomacy.)
Jun 17	comment	Will magic items with raw stats break game balance in DnD4e? Not detailed enough to be a proper answer, but if you're doing this in isolation (just your group, no plans to bring in outsiders or export the characters to another group), it'll just be a matter of boosting the monsters to balance things out.
Jun 17	comment	How do I keep a long-range plot cohesive and coherent? Upvoted for the "start at the end" - the best adventures I've ever run could be summed up as "this is what's going to happen if no-one interferes" with some notes on how people react when someone does interfere. Oddly, they're sometimes easier to run as well.
Jun 17	comment	How much errata is there in D&D 4e? The third option listed seems to be far more prevalent in 4E (where a rule gets a major rewrite for balance).
Jun 17	comment	What are the Players and the DM supposed to be permitted to know in regards to rolls/defenses during combat? Do you find that players meta-game a bit more when they know a monster's weak spots right away? (For instance, Wizards not even trying a Will attack and going straight for the Reflex?)
Jun 15	comment	What skills can be used to pierce the 4th wall? And Insight is a good skill to use for general "Am I missing something?" type questions.
Mar 10	comment	How can my party be effective without a dedicated healer? Not directly related to the question, but another option is to keep the Pacifist, but change how you play it. I have one of those clerics, and I find you can manipulate the battle simply by being assertive. Your healing is burst 5, so everyone had best keep within five squares, for instance. It puts you in a bit more of a C&C role, which may be up your alley. (Sadly, you still won't be the boomstick.)
Mar 9	comment	How can I encourage my group to become more well rounded? @Pulsehead Turns out there is an actual "Deathtrap Dungeon" - ogrecave.com/reviews/deathtrap_dungeon.shtml . Alternatively, Tomb of Horrors is a good classical one (although I'd recommend tweaking it, since it's well-known and your players may neglect to mention they know about it.)