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You know what? Scrap that last idea about the Rogue variant, especially the part with Disguise Self. I'll think of something much better in the morning.

Now I'm going to brainstorm ideas for a PRPG version of the Avenger. Just to clarify, I'm not saying that the final class should have all of these features.

- Many of the Avenger's powers allow him to teleport. Perhaps he could have a limited number of spells and a version of the Spontaneous Casting class feature that enables short-range versions of the teleport spell instead of a cure spell.
- Alternatively, you could give the Avenger a version of Channel Energy that, instead of harming undead, allows the Avenger to teleport to any location within the burst.
- The Monk's AC Bonus class feature would certainly work for the Avenger.
- Dragon #344's Class Acts segment has a variant Channel Energy ability called Holy Calling, which allows a character to use a Channel Energy attempt to force a single undead creature to approach and attack the user and no one else for 1d4 rounds. You could give the Avenger a variant version of the Channel Energy ability that does only this.

Personally, I see the Avenger more as a Rogue variant than a Ranger variant, although either one makes sense.

Here's what I'm thinking as of now (My 3.5 knowledge is a bit rusty, though): Start with the Rogue. Get rid of the light armor proficiency and replace it with the Monk's AC Bonus. Replace Sneak Attack with Smite Evil. Add a Channel Energy variant that allows the Avenger to teleport to any location within the burst. Replace Trapfinding with the ability to use Disguise Self 1/day and replace the Trap Sense class features with extra uses of Disguise Self.

Here's a brief overview of the Avenger's class features and the gist of some of its powers:

Avenger - Divine Striker
- Average hit points (not too low, not too high)
- Gains a divine bonus to AC when not wearing heavy armor or using a shield.
- The Avenger may choose one enemy to place an Oath of Enmity on. When the chosen enemy is the only enemy adjacent to the Avenger, he may make two attack rolls and choose either result.
- Abjure Undead allows the Avenger to force an undead enemy to move closer to him and to become immobilized.
- Most of the Avenger's powers are designed to focus on one enemy, usually the Oath of Enmity target. These powers usually allow the Avenger to pursue his chosen enemy or discourage other enemies from attacking him.
- One at-will power allows the Avenger to move toward the enemy he last attacked should it move away from him. Several powers also allow the Avenger to teleport to a space adjacent to his enemy.
- The Avenger also possesses powers focused on keeping other enemies away from him while he battles his chosen target. The Avenger can choose powers that make it harder for others to hit him as well as powers that damage those that approach him. Some powers allow the Avenger to teleport himself and his chosen target to another nearby location, and some cause other enemies to teleport farther away, isolating the Avenger's target.
- The Avenger can also focus on weakening his enemy or making it harder for the target to escape. One power allows the Avenger to pick an individual and instinctively know the individual's location at any time, even if the individual is on another plane.

If people were less interested in not being "insulted", and more interested in learning...

Seriously, I have friends that teach high school English, and I was a manager at a place that hired high school and college kids for counter help, and it is a horror show. I helped a friend grade essays a while back (and this was a level 2 class from a "good" school), and the level of illiteracy in a senior English class was amazing.

As to the job applications I had to evaluate...

I asked one applicant "You're in college? Really?". Her application was horrid.

When I was a kid, all of my peers were, in fact, "geniuses". Being an honors student has that perk. And we had Atari and, later, the NES, and we did resist playing on them all day. Believe it or not, we had computers, too. And television, VCRs etc...

But, what we also had were parents interested in what we were doing, parents who bought us books, parents who insisted we go outside and play.

And, yes, back then, very few kids who weren't decent students had any patience to play...

I was an Honor Student myself, but seeing as I graduated High School in 2007 the title may not be as meaningful now as it was when you were in school.

I'm not saying that you are wrong in that there is less of a focus on learning in modern society. My problem is that you are characterizing entire generations as being intellectually deficit and citing personal anecdotes as evidence. If previous generations were morally and intellectually superior then what happened to cause current generations to decline sharply in levels of education? Why did the children of superior parents, parents who emphasized learning and self control, fail to impart the lessons they were taught to their own children?

I guess I just don't appreciate it when gamers use elitist arguments to explain why their preferences make them superior to others and feel that it is more detrimental and inflammatory than it is constructive.

Face it, we're in a dying hobby. Books don't have flashy bells and whistles, and, when you see threads like this, you start to think that kids today don't have what it takes to fully embrace the hobby. No amount of pampering first level characters in the rules is going to change the fact that our society is less literate, less patient, and less willing to have to learn something to play a game than they were 30 years ago.

Oh, that's nice, the "kids today are too stupid to play TTRPGs" line. I'm sure when you were a kid all of your peers were geniuses and would have had the willpower to resist the evil temptations of the XBox had it been around then.

There probably is some truth in what you're saying, but whenever someone espouses this argument it just seems so insulting.

I have come to realize that, despite being fun to play, 4E is not exactly what I'm looking for in an RPG. I'm planning on picking up another RPG (probably Call of Cthulhu), but as I have a lot of time on my hands this summer I thought I'd start a little project.

While I'm not crazy about 4E's power system I do like a lot the game's underlying mechanics. I like having Fortitude, Reflex, and Will as saves. I like that a Bull Rush is a Strength check versus Fortitude. I like that characters don't have iterative attacks that encourage them to stand in place. I like that characters have many options that allow movement of themselves and enemies. I like ongoing damage, save ends effects, rituals, and spells that can be used per encounter in addition to the more power once daily spells.

At the same time, I hate how artificial and limiting the power system can be, especially for Martial characters. I hate powers that cram wildly disparate effects together, such as a sonic attack that lets allies in the area move. I hate powers like Positioning Strike that give you the power to control exactly how someone reacts to you pushing them. I hate powers that require me to perform mental gymnastics to justify how they work. I hate that powers that you wouldn't think would cause physical harm, such as illusion spells, deal damage.

Basically, I feel that 4E has wonderful mechanics, but that the game world is designed to fit those mechanics as opposed to the mechanics being intended to model the game world.

My idea is to take some of the 4E mechanics that I like and use them in a way more similar to 3E. There's a good chance that this project will fall apart and I'll just give up on it, and even if I did somehow finish it I definitely don't plan to ever sell copies of it. I would like to put in online in PDF format, though. The finished product, though being a fusion of both 3E and 4E, probably wouldn't be compatible with existing material from either system as I plan to mix in some of my own ideas as well.

So, could I get in hot water if I ever did finish my homebrew system and put it online?

I can't help but wonder how much more content could have been put into the existing Pathfinder modules if they had been made for 4E. For example, a 4E version of Karzoug's statblock would probably be 1/3 the size of the existing 3.5 version. The space saved by using smaller, simpler statblocks could be used for more content.

Consider your site bookmarked!

Here's a rundown of the adventure's battles:

- A single wolf.
- An assassin vine.
- A black bear.
- A charmed wizard and a nixie.
- A giant bombardier beetle.
- A rival adventuring party and the "wooden protector".

As you can see, only one of the adventure's encounters includes more than two opponents (in fact, most of them are solo encounters!).

I also just realized that the adventure-as-written intends the PCs to hand over the five magic items they acquire in exchange for their freedom and one magical dagger. Now I need to figure out a reason for them to keep the items.

At first I planned on converting Rise of the Runelords to 4E, but I think I want to start off with a shorter campaign. Now I want to run a Falcon's Hollow campaign using the various modules that take place in and around the community.

I'm starting off with "Into the Haunted Forest". I've decided not to award experience for this adventure, but the players will obtain magic items that will be upgraded throughout the campaign. They'll also encounter the Company of the Black Banner, a group that I'm hoping to incorporate into other adventures.

I didn't really run into this problem when I started converting Burnt Offerings because of the wide selection of goblins in the Monster Manual, but many of the adventure modules set in Darkmoon Vale feature encounters against a small number of monsters, such as a lone bombardier beetle or assassin vine. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should expand encounters like these?

Thanks for the clear answer!

I've been wondering about this for a while: the Paizo staff has said before that one of the reasons they did not convert to 4E is because it would keep them from telling the kinds of stories they want to tell.

What exactly do they mean by that?