ITT we discuss this thing called Dungeons and Dragons. Here is a Dungeon: Here is a Dragon: Hence the name. Also, as a bonus picture here is Bane. He's so dreamy Speaking of before we go any further here, want to get the perfect way of starting 4E? Don't know where to go though? Try Wizards generously offering both a revised and improved version of Keep on the Shadowfell and the Quickstart rules? What will this cost you? Absolutely nothing as it's completely free. Download them here. And no, he's not going anywhere from the OP. He wants you to love his manly pectoral muscles, his huge thigh muscles and bulging tip of the long hard shaft of his spear. Wizards even has a wallpaper of him, clearly showing they do seem to understand the joke at work here. Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty old game, originally being created by Gary Gygax (who passed away recently ) and Dave Arneson in 1974. Since then it's had various iterations and editions, with the latest edition being 4th edition, published by Wizards of the Coast. The basic rules consist of three books: As the name suggests, this is for players and also details the games core rules like combat. This book details the various monsters and other things that populate the worlds of most DnD worlds. This is for the DM and contains useful things like how much experience you have to make an encounter, treasure tables and rules for creating your own monsters. If you want to play DnD, you usually only need the players hand book. Running a game requires those base three books. Some stuff shamelessly stolen from the original post about the races and classes you can play as in the Players Hand Book, with some additions about the PHB2 races and classes by Terrendos. First off, races now provide only benefits and no negatives. Also, sorry if you liked the Gnome or Half-Orc, they'll be in PHB2, though the gnome is playable out of the monster manual. The gnome is also a monster, rarr. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The Dragonborn: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Not those pussies from 3E's draconomicon, these guys are badasses with a racial breath weapon. They make excellent Warlords, Paladins, and Fighters. The Dwarves: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler They're wise and tough as nails, pretty much the best categorization of the tough dwarf I've seen in tabletop roleplaying games. They make great Paladins, Clerics, and Fighters. The Eladrin: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The "Elves" of last edition were split into two different races this time. The eladrin live in ridiculously magical feywild cities and make good wizards, warlords, and rangers. They can also teleport as a racial ability. Sweet sorcery, bro. also Elves Elves lol. The Elves: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The other half of the elves from last time, they're forest living guys who are really accurate. They make good rangers, rogues, and clerics. See what I mean by Elves lol? The Half-Elves: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Proof that humans will screw anything. They're pretty tough and personable, and make excellent multiclassers. They make good warlords, paladins, and warlocks. The Halflings: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Short, fat... actually no, these are about as far from tolkien's halflings as a fat american on his couch eating potato chips is from a bush tribesman in africa. Except they both speak english. Halflings continue their tradition of being really lucky and quick, as well as make excellent rogues, rangers, and warlocks. The Humans: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Look in the Mirror. They're good at everything again and are the most adaptable, again. They make good anythings. The Tieflings: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Blah blah blah our ancestors made pacts with devils and we're not half-breeds anymore. We get angry really well as a racial ability. We're also merciless, etc. We make good Warlocks, Warlords, or Rogues. Also they really AREN'T the same tieflings we've had for 20 years. We also have a bunch of new races now since PHB II came out Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Deva: Former spirits under the service of good gods fighting an unending war against darkness. Must remain tirelessly good lest they be reborn into Rakshasa. Good avengers, clerics, invokers, and wizards. Gnome: Small Feywild natives who learned trickery during slavery to fomorians. Curious, stealthy, and small, these short Elflike creatures make excellent bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. Goliath: Mountain-dwelling nomads, covered in pebble-like bone growths that make them extra tough. Tall, massive, and strong, goliaths revere primal spirits and make excellent barbarians, fighters, and wardens. Half-Orc: Channelling the strength of orcblood and the decisive, resourceful nature of humans, some say these warriors were hand-made by Kord himself. Others consider them an abomination. They don't much care, so long as they've got food and battle. Half-Orcs are excellent barbarians, rangers, and rogues. Shifters: Descended from lycanthrope ancestors, these animal-like men see nearly everything in terms of hunter and prey. Able to draw on their ancestor's instincts, they are excellent druids, fighters, rangers, wardens, and surprisingly good clerics. Introducing the Classes: Every class now has a "Role" within the party, and a party is recommended to have every role represented to succeed, though it need not have to. It is considered "pro" to have proper party balance. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler The Cleric: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Leader. He's the priest of a god with some pretty wicked spells to heal his allies and disable his enemies. Usually at the same time. Rarely will the cleric spend entire turns casting Cure Light Wounds. The Fighter: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Defender. He's a badass with a sword and board or a Two handed weapon, his job on the battlefield is to keep the enemies from stomping his friends, and he can do so with a variety of weapons, which all behave differently depending on how you choose your powers. The Paladin: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Defender. This guy is the champion of a deity, who uses some pretty powerful melee spells to lay waste to the enemy. He does alot of glowing holy magical energy damage, too. He also uses either a sword and shield or two handed weapon. His crappy spellcasting from previous editions has been replaced by a whole host of wicked awesome prayers that can heal his allies and smite his enemies. The Ranger: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Striker. This guy can use either a bow or two one handed weapons to mercilessly mutilate his enemies. He can also designate specific enemies as his quarry, this includes a giant glowing red arrow above their head. Because this game is now WoW. The Rogue: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Striker. Is only good for picking locks and disarming traps, not really though. Sneak attack has been toned down a bit, but the rogue's huge damage boost makes up for it, because he really tears shit up with some pretty awesome powers. The Warlock: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Striker. Makes soul selling pacts with either Fey, Demons, or Cthulhu. Fires blasts of eldritch energy and murders people. Also, curses people so that he deals even more damage. Strikers are nuts. The Warlord: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Leader. This is the new class focused on tactics and inspiring your fellows. He's pretty cool and can actually replace a cleric in your party very effectively, and he brings a different playstyle to the table too. Cleric Inc. hates him for breaking its monopoly on this role. The Wizard: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is the only Controller. The wizard is good at killing lots of enemies, very fast. He's not as amazingly and unstoppably powerful as he used to be, but still is pretty cool. The Swordmage: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Is classified as a Defender. The Swordmage was released in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. He combines arcana and swords to make wonderful stabby magic. But probably not swordchucks. We also have some new PHB II classes just to add to the excitement! Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Avenger Classification: Striker Power Source: Divine Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Intelligence, Dexterity "My god has words for you. This blade will show you to him." Avengers are excellent at isolating and eliminating single targets. Other followers do what should be done. You do what must be done. Pro: roll two attacks under certain circumstances. Con: Reliant on enemies for static damage boosts. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Barbarian Classification: Striker Power Source: Primal Primary Abilities: Strength, Constitution, Charisma "My strength lies in the fury of the wild." Barbarians are savage warriors, channelling primal energy through themselves and their massive weapons. Darting back and forth across the battle, your fierce chouts make the enemy quake in fear. Pro: Big damage dice, lots of damage potential. Can fly into mighty rages. Con: Rages are daily powers, so don't expect to use them a lot. Also low defenses that get lowered during certain attacks. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Bard Classification: Leader Power Source: Arcane Primary Abilities: Charisma, Intelligence, Constitution "I play the song of my ally's victory over your corpse." Bards are artists, channeling magic through unbelievable skill with music, drama, or poetry. Your skill with blade, book, and hymn are the stuff of fables. Pro: lots of fancy rituals to help in conversation. Can take as many multiclass feats as she wants. Con: Comparatively less healing than clerics, and less effective hazing abilities. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Druid Classification: Controller Power Source: Primal Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity "I am the seeker. I am the stalker. I am the storm." Druids are the most effective and purist channelers of primal fury and embody all aspects of nature, from the calm of the still leaf to the fury of the thunderbolt. Pro: Alternates between caster form and wild shape for effectiveness in every situation. Con: Too many At-Will choices, fewer burst options than Wizard/Invoker. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Invoker Classification: Controller Power Source: Divine Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence "Mighty Pelor! I beseech ye! Smite these wicked foes with your unending light!" Invokers are invested with a pure spark of their chosen god, rather than being merely ordained by corrupt priests and weak rituals. They are the purest of their god's mortal agents. Pro: Arguably a better controller than Wizard, plus gains access to the sweet Channel Divinity stuff. Con: Less overall damage potential, less powerful rituals, and lacking the utility spells that make wizards such good generalists. Also I'm not that fond of the PP choices. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Shaman Classification: Leader Power Source: Primal Primary Abilities: Wisdom, Constitution, Intelligence "The spirits surround me, guiding my movements and obeying my commands." Blessed with a mighty spirit companion that aids his allies, the Shaman is a primal, spiritual force. His mighty companion serves as both a focus for his attacks and as a shield to protect both him and his allies. Pro: Protector spirit makes an excellent backup Defender or Striker. Con: You have to give up your actions to command it. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Sorcerer Classification: Striker Power Source: Arcane Primary Abilities: Charisma, Dexterity, Strength "The difference between you and me? You wield magic. Magic wields me." Sorcerers are natural founts of arcane power, resulting from either a history of dragon's blood or a product of mysterious, chaotic forces. Either way, you practically bristle with barely-contained magic, parcelling it out as needed in battle. Pro: Potential for very high damage and lots of cool effects. Con: Those effects are typically random, some of which can hit your allies. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Class: Warden Classification: Defender Power Source: Primal Primary Abilities: Strength, Wisdom, Constitution "Get past me? You might as well try to push the mountain aside." Wardens are protectors of the earth, drawing on primal spirits to protect their allies from harm, and the natural world from the encroachment of those who would corrupt it. Pro: You are a brick wall, but harder to hit and probably more resilient. Con: You're not supposed to wear heavy armor, and marking all adjacent enemies means you're going to need all that toughness. DM/Player Tools and Helpful Links A spreadsheet with all the magic items from the PHB, organized by Item Level and Body Slot (and subtype, in the case of Weapons, Armor and Implements) (Credit DVG) RPTools: Pretty useful for playing D&D over the internet. Get Maptool HERE Ability Generator from WotC Wizards' main site for D&D Enworld resource site for tabletop games Myth-Weavers Forum's character sheet tool. Has sheets for many games, including 4e H1 Keep on the Shadowfell for maptools Rescue at Rivenroar Asmor.com's Monster Maker makes a cool looking statblock, similar to the MM ones (thanks, Hexmage) D&D Insider Subscriptions D&D Insider has gone into subscription beta mode. What that means is, for three preset payment structures, you can access all of the online content Wizards is producing exclusively for Insider members without restriction. There are currently demos available for all the previously released content, listed below: D&D Compendium from WotC Dragon and Dungen magazines also from WotC Encounter Tool from WotC More and more exclusive content will be added each month. Also, Insider subscribers will be included along with those who signed up at D&D Convention events in the closed beta testing for the new Character Builder application, the next tool on the slate to be released for the Insider. So, what are the prices, you ask? $59.40 for 12 months - $4.95 per month $19.95 for 3 months - $6.65 per month $7.95 for month To subscribe to the D&D Insider service, click here. You can find screenshots of the Character builder here. Thanks Goose! A lot of stuff has been released currently as well and I have most of it, so I'll give some minor thoughts on each and update as stuff comes out: Campaign Settings Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide Forgotten Realms Players Guide Scepter Tower of Spellgard This is currently the only campaign setting that has come out for Fourth Edition and IMO, it's pretty decent. It marks a significant departure from the previous editions versions of the Forgotten Realms however. It has enough detail that any DM will find it a useful resource for making a campaign and providing an overall world to set that campaign in. It does not have the depth of lore or similar that previous editions have had, which is what leads to a lot of the negativity surrounding the setting. I'll make a more detailed post about the FR specifically for those interested. The players guide IMO is a useful resource even if you don't actually like the realms as a setting. Although a fair chunk of the book is dedicated to the FR, the Swordmage, races (Drow and Genasi) and feats make it a worthwhile purchase for anyone. The adventure is decent quality, but requires a lot of work compared to the 'core' adventure series to get fully implemented into a campaign. It also starts at level 2, which is a real pain for DMs wanting to just jump right into a 4E campaign with the adventure and some fresh level 1 PCs. Released books Adventurers Vault This is an excellent book for anyone, with a huge swathe of new awesome magical items and other things to bling your characters out with (or so you don't find yourself handing out bags of holding every single game as a DM because you can't think of anything else). This is a fantastic book. Draconomicon This is an excellent DM resource or just for anyone who loves dragons as well (It has some great artwork in it IMO). A nice smattering of new monsters, especially in the heroic tier as well as new options, new chromatic dragons and ideas for running encounters with Dragons. I highly recommend this book for any DM, but it doesn't have much utility for players. Manual of the Planes Good resource for DMs and a useful introduction to the planes. There is a new "race", Bladeling in the book and some Paragon Paths, but I wouldn't buy this if you're a player primarily. The book makes a lot of assumptions about the cosmology that may conflict with the Forgotten Realms and Eberron as well, which can make life something confusing if you're using those settings. Despite this, it's still useful and will provide plenty of ideas for running planar campaigns. Martial Power This is the best supplement for players released since 4E came out. Has a lot of new, interesting and fun options for martial characters, namely Fighters, Rangers, Rogues and Warlords. Good balance as well and has lots of great new paragon paths and more. I can recommend this book to absolutely anyone. Open Grave IMO, hands down the best supplement for DMs released thus far if you want your campaigns to have anything at all to do with the undead. Good adventure hooks, a wide array of excellent new monsters from filling out low level undead to providing even more high level undead monstrosities, this is an absolutely terrific book. Of course, if you don't like the undead much you won't find anything of interest in here and in a similar manner to the Draconomicon, there is nothing here for people playing in games to really make much use out of. Dungeon Delve Delayed somewhat and contains a large bunch of adventures of various levels and such. Is actually fairly interesting and really handy if you need an adventure now to put into your game in rapid time. I recommend this. Players Hand Book II I think this was a big moment for 4E in many ways, a really good balanced and thought out book would vindicate many of the decisions in 4E as well as really add some more depth and variation. A bad book however would probably really derail the success 4E has enjoyed thus far and the general verdict is it's an excellent book. It's well balanced with the first book, a couple of feats and epic destinies aside but everything in general is really well thought out: most especially the new classes are great and so are the new races. It's really added a lot to the game and IMO is one of the best supplements (and most important) supplements in 4E. I would almost say if you're a player this book is as much a must have as the original. http://www.amazon.com/Arcane-Power-4...1]Arcane Power This is an excellent book if you like the pew pew style of classes. The summoning wizard is a great option and the new wizard at-wills are amazingly good. Tomes are a terrific new addition to implements and every arcane class got some more new and awesome feats, powers and paragon paths. I highly recommend this book, but be aware that like Martial Power there are some things in here just a bit out of whack power wise. Nothing game breaking though, but certainly more powerful than core book options. Monster Manual 2 Overall this is a very solid book and seems to have taken some new directions with regards to solos and minions. Solos have less HP and defenses, but do more damage and seem to have more actions per round. Minions have been given control functions or do plain annoying things on death (like immobolise whoever killed them). Overall it's a great book. Released Adventures H1: Keep on the Shadowfell Good quality dungeon crawl, if a little hard for people new to 4th Edition DnD but is a good place to start if you are new. H2: Thunderspire Labyrinth This is a really solid adventure and has some good combats throughout it. There is also a sidetrek published in Dungeon in support for it as well. H3: Pyramid of Shadows This is the most "Dedicated" of the dungeon crawls that I've seen in this series, but has a wide variety of pretty fun encounters and IMO, works well. Easy to fit into any setting as well with little modification or work required. P1: King of the Trollhaunt Warrens I really like this adventure, especially the final siege towards the end of the module that gets pretty zany in the end. Good quality as well. P2: The Demon Queen's Enclave The "core" adventure series is a nice bunch of dungeon crawls to be frank and this one seems to keep up the tradition. It's pretty solid though and if the DM wishes, you can really up the backstabbing and intrigue, making it one of the more interesting adventures in the series. P3: Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress. This adventure is pretty solid and shadowdragons are a really nice addition to the usual group of chromatic dragons. It has some nice maps and is well thought out encounter wise from a quick reading. How some of these may play out in practice though I'd like to see (especially some of the later ones). Upcoming Stuff Eberron Campaign Guide: This month. Previews show it to be awesome sounding. Eberron Players Guide: July. Has Artificer as a class and full write up for Warforged characters. There may be other races in this as well. Seekers of the Ashen Crown: July. This is the adventure for the Eberron campaign setting. Note that like the Forgotten Realms, Eberron only gets 3 core books and the remaining support will be published in Dragon and Dungeon. Future Release Speculation and Rumours PHB III will have psionics, divine and primal heroes apparently. We have playtests of the monk already out, they are psionic now as a power source and the Psion class is being released through DDI early in July (probably to coincide with Eberron?). New races (like the Revenant) and even classes (Assassin) are being released over DDI. Interesting idea from Wizards. DMG2 is coming out later this year, maybe August/Septemberish. It contains full rules for making traps (there is a dragon article on this however), the revised skill challenge DC chart, new rules for traps and will have Sigil the city of doors fully mapped and detailed for insertion into peoples campaigns. More information on DMG2 from one of the podcasts: Expands on advice New mechanics and options: Monster design is mentioned (ok, now I'm interested). Attempt to offer new ideas and similar. May have a similar design to the first book (?) Useful Stuff Provided By Wizards and other people To go with some of the links provided from the previous threads, Wizards have an Art and Map Gallery here. This is free and provides a lot of useful maps and art for use in your games to pillage at will. The OP dungeon is shamelessly stolen from there ;) Additionally I recommend this site, which has a wide collection of fantasy art and such forth. Some of it is distinctly NSFW however, so consider yourself warned. They love naked women. Another useful site is the Cartographers Guild forums. Many talented map artists at this site who make a range of maps, both large scale continental maps, town maps and dungeon maps. Some of the maps here IMO are a bit too fancy, with excessive mapsizes for use with maptools but there are some real gems on here as well. Incidentally, the guy who did the cartography for the Cormyr article in Dragon Magazine posts here as well. Here's an example. Infidel has provided us with a handy 4E stat calculator. Especially useful if you don't have the character builder to do it for you. The most common problem I find with 4E games is people messing up their initial point buy by a couple of points. Unusually, this is because some people tend to give themselves less points overall.

blue dot! You should totally put my 4e Stat Calculator in the OP for us cheapo people without D&D Insider.

blue dot! You should totally put my 4e Stat Calculator in the OP for us cheapo people without D&D Insider. It shall be done.

Back to discussion of the Heroslayer Hydra and the Adamantine Dragon. I'm sort of wondering if WotC is rebalancing things in favor of faster battles at higher levels in response to some criticism that it can take too long sometimes just to hack through the huge amounts of health. Both the Dragon and the Hydra have 4x health instead of 5x, and lots of attacks. (Hydra at a potential eight attacks, and Dragon at five)

Don't forget that the Adamantine dragon can also just inflict damage without a roll either in a close burst 3. So it can have amazing damage output.

I guess that would make for a more interesting fight... "gotta burn this down fast enough or it will kill the shit out of us"

So remember how we were talking about how Invisible Castle hates me? Apparently it just hates me doing damage. My sleep attack rolls all hit. My init for my first battle I rolled like a 19. I had a huge stealth roll in an encounter. In our current encounter, I roll a 19+4 on a perception assist, then proceed to roll a nat 20 for a nature check. I'm like, some kind of enforced pacifist or something.

I guess that would make for a more interesting fight... "gotta burn this down fast enough or it will kill the shit out of us" The Hydra is particularly nasty because it has virtual immunity to stun and daze effects (It just loses an attack). It does have the disadvantage of being a brute, which means many of its attacks won't hit a defender easily and its defenses are a bit lower. So it should be manageable unless it got itself into the wizard or something. The Adamantine Dragon is worse because it's a soldier and has an auto damage attack.

Can somebody give me an example of how stealth might work in a combat encounter? Party vs monsters with some pillars or rocks to hide behind or something. Don'tcha hafta hide behind something before attempting a stealth roll or whatever? But then can't you not walk into plain sight because they can see you? And can't you not move more than a couple squares? I'm very uneducated on stealth rules haha. That includes bluff checks.

I guess that would make for a more interesting fight... "gotta burn this down fast enough or it will kill the shit out of us" The Hydra is particularly nasty because it has virtual immunity to stun and daze effects (It just loses an attack). It does have the disadvantage of being a brute, which means many of its attacks won't hit a defender easily and its defenses are a bit lower. So it should be manageable unless it got itself into the wizard or something. The Adamantine Dragon is worse because it's a soldier and has an auto damage attack. my guess is 'weaken' would affect one head at a time too, right? man vestige pact gets you an at-will that weakens the target on hit

I guess that would make for a more interesting fight... "gotta burn this down fast enough or it will kill the shit out of us" The Hydra is particularly nasty because it has virtual immunity to stun and daze effects (It just loses an attack). It does have the disadvantage of being a brute, which means many of its attacks won't hit a defender easily and its defenses are a bit lower. So it should be manageable unless it got itself into the wizard or something. The Adamantine Dragon is worse because it's a soldier and has an auto damage attack. my guess is 'weaken' would affect one head at a time too, right? No. Weaken would affect all heads and attacks. So weaken would certainly help a lot. If you could make yourself insubstantial (or at least the defender) in some way weaken + insubstantial would basically render the Hydra toothless. Don'tcha hafta hide behind something before attempting a stealth roll or whatever? You need superioer cover or total concealment to make a stealth check now and allies don't count as cover (man, I remember that discussion from back in the day). So if you were behind a solid piece of wall or a wide pillar, you could make a stealth check. But then can't you not walk into plain sight because they can see you? It's where you end your movement. If you end your movement in cover or concealment you remain hidden. If you end your movement in the open or make an attack you are no longer considered hidden. And can't you not move more than a couple squares? Moving more than a few squares (I think it is 3 IIRC) means that you suffer a penalty onto your stealth check.

Why is it always bane?

Why is it always bane? He's so dreamy You don't have a problem with the threads lord and savior Bane do you? Because Bane doesn't like problems....

Why is it always bane? Because he's dreamy? duh. edit: too slow.

I don't think the free version of KotS has the nifty maps for printing out though...You'll have to graph it out. Shame cause those maps are tres nifty.

well, I had a personal first tonight. I caused a total party kill. The DMing reigns have passed on to another in my group, but I think I'm going to take advantage of the free time to work on a complete campaign. I'm just not totally set on how I"m going to approach it.

MM2 makes me happier every week. Now to start saving some money...

So at what point in time is a Beastmaster's pet at least as accurate as it's master? I know they'll never hit as hard, but for all the combined ranger/beast attack powers, it would be nice to not waste the beast hit.

I am very pleased with this editorial relating to Dungeon and Dragon. I am pleased to see Dragon focus entirely on PC orientated content and Dungeon focus on monsters, adventures and other things.

Beastmasters get level+x to their attacks, like monsters, so depending on the attack bonus delta on start they may outclass them eventually. PCs get attack bonuses at every half-level, every 2nd stat increase (8, 14, 21, let's say 21 again for Demigod (or similar ED), 28), every five levels starting at ~3 from magic, and probably every ten levels from Expertise. That's a total of 15+5+6+3=29 over 29 levels, which works out. But if the PC doesn't take Expertise or Demigod, they'll miss bonuses at ~5, 15, 21 and 25. If the beast starts out at 4 or less below them, that's when they'll catch up.

OoOo.. some cool new powers in the new Dragon Article. I especially like Ooze Incarnate Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Warlock Attack 9 Daily * Acid, Arcane, Implement, Polymorph Standard --- Personal Effect: You shift your speed, including through squares occupied by enemies. Until the end of your next turn, you can squeeze without penalties to your attack rolls or speed. Targets: Creatures whose spaces you shift through Attack: Constitution vs. Reflex Hit: 3d8 + Constitution modifier acid damage, and you push the target 1 square. Miss: You push the target 1 square.

I have no idea how that works. Shift into square, push back one, move into newly occupied square, repeat? I really don't think it works like that.

By the way its written, you could do exactly that and deal potentially 18d8 or more depending on your speed? Edit: But RAI, I believe, would be that you would move your speed, and then roll the attacks/do the pushing. So you couldn't really do that.

Don'tcha hafta hide behind something before attempting a stealth roll or whatever? You need superioer cover or total concealment to make a stealth check now and allies don't count as cover (man, I remember that discussion from back in the day). Almost as bad as the time that one guy thought that according to the PHB a Paladin had to meet the stat requirements for the Plate Proficiency feat to wear it. (I kid, I kid... but man there were some horrible pre-errata rules debates though)

So, I'm trying to build a Barbarian. I think my AC is going to be horrible either way but in the interests of making it least horrible, would you say it's better to just try and get a decent DEX and stay in Hide armor...or just eat up some armor proficiency feats?