4EMOD: Introduction

I played 4th edition D&D before it was released. I loved the At-Will, Encounter, Daily, and Utility power set up from the beginning, and tried making it work in 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons, with varying levels of success. I pre-ordered all the core 4th edition books, and played a campaign jumping between all the different spread of levels. So when I tell you that I love 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons I want you to get my full meaning. I truly love 4th edition. So when I say that I've designed a series of house rules for 4th edition, I want you to understand three few things:

1. I do not think standard 4th edition is a bad game. As a matter of fact, I played 4th edition "by the books" for three years before I even started to imagine house-ruling it. 4th edition is a very well designed game, and playing it "straight" is extremely enjoyable.
2. Most of my house-rules are inspired by the errata published by Wizards of the Coast, as well as Essentials and later design stuff that they did. Anyone looking at this stuff should know that this isn't me going "WTF WY DIS GAME NO WORK???? WERE'S MAI GOD-WIZARD??" I played the game for awhile, read what Wizards said about their own game in the errata, the interviews... I did my homework first. For a long time. And when the designers of a game themselves say the game isn't perfect it certainly makes me feel less arrogant for thinking I can make a set of good house-rules. 
3. That being said, some of my house rules are not mentioned in errata, and even go against the notion of the game itself. 
4. These are not entirely tested house-rules. The fact that they're based on the official errata doesn't mean they're perfect.

I'd like to dedicate this series of house-rules to the folks of the former At-Will, the people who gave me the courage to work on what I'm going to start posting. We'll miss your presence in the 4th edition field, guys. You were amazing.

I'll start posting my house-rules this Thursday, starting at one of the basic assumptions of the game: ascending math. Tune in on Thursday!