Familiar Ground

WotC has updated some much needed items from the Player’s Handbook, Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide and Martial Powers.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/UpdateJuly2009.pdf
A few of the changes include:

Rain of Blows – two attacks at 1[w] with a third attack if you meet the prereqs (no need to hit).
Righteous Rage of Tempus – only adds the crit bonus damage rather than [...]

Free RPG day is this Saturday, June 20th.
What does that mean?  It means you can visit most game stores around the country and they’ll have free swag for you provided by various game companies, including WotC.
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090617
WotC’s contribution is an Eberron adventure by Keith Baker.
Here’s a list of participating stores:
http://www.freerpgday.com/stores.htm

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Here is a short list of encounter powers in 4e that I think need fixing.
#5 Unicorn’s Touch (Arcane Power, Swordmage Utility 6) – This power allows healing without using any healing surges. Surgeless healing isn’t supposed to be that common at these levels, and most healing powers like this at these levels usually only work [...]

WotC has released for free their Quick Start Rules that was included in Keep on the Shadowfell.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090428
Also available is the actual adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell and the Character Builder program that will allow you to build up to 3rd level characters.
It’s a great way to introduce new players to the game.

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I have a section on the site where I’ve placed some downloadable freebies for D&D. One of them is a section called Print and Play maps.
Basically, these PDF documents are simple drawings in black and white that you can print out on regular paper and arrange together so you have a grid to play [...]

So WotC is coming out with Arcane Powers, a new supplement for the game detailing various things of importance to Wizards, Swordmages, Bards and other classes using the Arcane power source.
One of the things that will be described in detail are the rules surrounding Familiars.
How does this impact the story?  Well, it won’t…much.  [...]

     What is character optimization? Character Optimization is configuring the mechanical elements of a character build in accordance to the rules (both system rules and self-imposed ones), so that your character can best perform its given role. Some people use the term min/maxing to refer to the same activity, but some view that as having [...]

So Wizards of the Coast just released a new iteration of their Game System License.
Here’s the link.
Basically, this document will allow other campanies to use certain IP and trademarks for profit as long as they follow WotC’s rules, including the D&D logo.
Sounds good right?  However, there were a few clauses in the initial document (released during [...]