So what about a Multi-Armed Character with 2 double weapons?

I don't know being a person who enjoys grappling in the very real sense(BJJ & Judo) and having a toddler I will say size does help a lot.  Weight really more so then just size.  I really do think a giant vs a perch the perch is done for in a grappling situation unless he is the most technically sound grappler ever.  Plus the movement to start a grapple is significantly different then that to strike and in many ways is just easier as you just have to catch someone any where on their body.  So the movement into a square opposed by an athletics check to me is fairly realistic. Lets face it a nice double leg take down or a tackle is not the same as trying to make contact with a particular striking surface. 

Good: That link you posted doesn't look kosher and as there's no way to make sure it is we've pulled it from the boards. Sorry.

The Whole Realms Catalogue was a kick-ass product, though, and I think you guys will be plenty pleased with a couple projects we've got planned for 2010.

Opps sorry certainly not my intent to distribute other people IP especially here I was under the impression that Wizards had released a lot of the old TSR stuff into public domain.  At any rate I am very please with the line as such and can't wait to see what else does come out.  I also do like the fact that as it sits I feel that a lot of my old 1st - 3rd edition books once again are usable because of how flexible mastercraft is.

So I was just going through some of my old books and came across the AD&D "Forgotten Realms Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" this thing is still pretty sweat I would love to see a Crafty revision of it.  For those of you not in the know.  Its pretty much a big book of more or less mundane equipment(with a few fantastical things in it) and very simple game mechanics.   I think its kind of neat like browsing an old time general store and seeing things like hey my character would totally own one of those. 

My biggest problem with riddles/puzzles in published rpg adventures is that it typically falls on the player to figure it out which often removes the character from the situation entirely.  It's frustrating to the player running Merlin Jr. with his Int/Wis of 18 to be routinely outriddled/puzzled by Grok with his Int/Wis of 8 simply because the players happen to be bad and good at those sorts of things respectively.  If I know martial arts in real life no character I make gains any benefit from it nor should a players who's good at riddles/puzzles get any benefit from it in-game.  But, IME, that's exactly how most GM's run it.

jolt

I really do 2nd this thought, while I enjoy riddles and puzzles it is certainly the player being tested and not the character.  It would be interesting to see if someone has come up to a good solution to this problem.  Maybe give more clues to the players with the higher stat and less to the ones with the lower of course this would mean having to give each of them information at separate times. 

Course you've also got to take into account what you're allowing in your world, the mere existence of isopropyl alcohol could just be player knowledge, it wasn't discovered until the 1800s. Why, they could no sooner rig up an electric telegraph!

Seriously though, I doubt it'd be much trouble for the sage to find an alchemical equivalent, and I suppose it depends on what sort of technology exists in your world. Beyond that I'd say it's totally up to you; If you think Rootwalkers should be made up, biologically, of the same stuff as trees, don't see anything wrong with that, but I think that's how all of that goes.

Anyway, for the party, gotta think what kind of reaction they're going to get after that, either the guards don't believe them, what happens then is easily predictable, but what if they do? The guards run off into the city for the offering, how long are they going to burn, really, especially if the guy that guard runs to doesn't believe him, it'll be tough to maintain the bluff when your burning spirit goes out.

I have to agree with him this parlor trick would last what maybe 15-20 seconds I am pretty sure you can't get a sustained burn going on more like a vapor fireball then anythings else.  Creative thinking but not much follow through on it.  Also have to agree have no idea how this plan lines up with any sort of goal other then to give a DM a head ache really random pointless(but cool) actions.

It matters not how original it is.  Your players will bring something to the game.  This is what I like about "orginal" worlds no matter how much or little influence they have from existing sources.  Its a blank slate no cannon to keep up with no NPCs that you don't really have control of.  It creates more opportunities for a truly epic adventure where your PCs can be major movers and shakers and you don't have to worry about some two-bit author undermining your story with there latest and greatest novel.
All that being said I would totally play it, although I would probably make your central location a slum very resource poor after all they did just end up anywhere on a new world.  Smack dab in the the middle of a desert would be nice.  Adds to that constant struggle.  With that the best and brightest have all ready left in hopes of finding there own claim. 

Um, no.  That is not, in fact, the issue for which I started this thread.  I think you may confusing a core ability, which is a specific function of a class, with overall design intent for a class as a whole.

Now, if the only mechanical function of the assassin was "kill the guy with a name," I'd be vehemently opposed to it - and so, I suspect, would Scott.  Something so narrowly-specialized as that rightly belongs as an expert class, not a basic class.  Looking at the class ability spread, though, that's clearly not the case, and I rather like Daedalus' point about the assassin really being more of a spy/agent archetype - which is broad enough to appropriately be a basic class.  And I think every class ability except the core ability is both well-balanced and supportive of that role.

Lets face it an Assassins job is to kill an important person that is by there very nature who they are.  The fact that the class allows for a wide range of assassin arch types is brilliant but when it comes down to it, at the CORE of the class will most likely come down to some sort of combat(most likely a surprise attack) in which the Assassin tries and kill its mark.  All the other abilities are is support by being various ways to make that plausible and possible.  After all they are not a solider who is going to just walk through the dungeon/castle what have you killing everything else in its way getting close through other means are in order. 

Oh come on now your complaining about an Assassins main ability is to "KILL the guy with a name"?  um next your going to be going on how mages can cast spells.   

Huh, it looks like WotC is re-releasing the Dark Sun campaign setting for 4e.

Walter

Yeah, I love the setting(or more like many elements of it), can't say the same about the 4e mechanics or system.  Not even looking to necessarily copy the setting whole sale just capture many of its elements.

Waiting for the dead tree version but how well will a dark sun inspired campaign work?

Not to mention I have seen more then one self defense argument fail very miserably in court.  It is after all a jury of ones peers and believe it or not despite our right to bear arms there are many many people that think the mere ownership of a gun is proof of guilt. 

My daughter was watching the animated "Jackie Chan Adventures" and I found myself slowly being sucked into it...

So I was having a discussion with my group about child prodigies and childhood adventurers.
One concept that came out of this was perhaps creating a class or 2 that is 10 lvls in scope.  Level 1 ruffly being a 10 year old and each level after more or less being a year(not a hard rule) with those who would have enough experience points to reach lvl 11 instead to start over at lvl 1 but instead now progressing normally along the normal available classes. With there XP dropping back to 0, no x4 skills, no talents or specialties.  And any Positive BAB left over from the previous class being a bonus.
So here are some of the questions that come up.
What sort of attribute points do you think a minor should start with at lvl 1 minor(I would assume that fast attributes would be an appropriate campaign quality for this phase of the campaign)  as to no come out to far ahead of a normal lvl 1 character?  A little higher then normal fine. 
I was thinking of Starting BAB being like a -10, with a +1 BAB per level of minor, with some feat or class abilities that may raise this but no more so then where at the end it would be a +1
Starting Skills and how many skill points to award per level?  With the goal that they end ruffly at the same as a 1st level character would have.(yes i know there is quite a divergence between the classes)
Then of course the problems that come up with feats.  With the lower BAB and total Skill points, ect is going to automatically eliminate a lot of the problems with the character having inappropriate feats.  I was thinking that they can take any "must be 1st level" feat any time they would be awarded a feat.  And maybe create some approriate feats such as
"Licensed to drive"
If the character is actually licensed to drive or not the character has learned to drive from one of his contacts(most likely his "mentor"). As such Drive skill is now a class skill.
Simple little feat burns a feat spot so that the character won't have too many "real" feats when they roll over into real life but will make playing as a child fun and exciting.
Oh well we are still playing with these thoughts mechanics are not our strong point though.

Just came across some Spell Jammer stuff and now really wants Fantasy Craft to be out so that I can run a spell jammer campaign.