Recent content by Benjamin Olson

A multiverse is what you create to form a shared continuity of existing properties. Nobody wants a multiverse just for a multiverse's sake. I would suggest that Big Game Company is just kneejerk following trends without understanding them, and that they'd be happier if we started with just one...

In 5e the answer to "Shield or other 1st level spell" is basically always "Shield". Every argument for why Shield is less optimal on X build basically just argues it down to only being the best pick by a little rather than a lot. The only reason to not choose Shield is that you are bored of it...

I mean, it's not if they have some sort of sci-fi solution to trivialize the vastness of space. But it's a schelp beyond most people's comprehension to haul a meaningful amount of anything even to the next star system over, much less to a distant one, under any propulsion method conforming to...

That was about what I was imagining. It gets bonus points for the fact that Simon and Doric are the characters who have gotten less spotlight time and who seem to have more character growth ahead of them, so the cheaper option also feels narratively justified.

My suspicion is that the talk of a sequel "needing to be cheaper" is probably really about trying to convince stars, directors, etc. to take a pay cut if they want another outing (or at least not expect a pay raise). And Chris Pine's reported $11.5 million to headline the ensemble does seem to...

I mean 75 million is roughly the inflation adjusted cost of the original Star Wars... which seems like a fairly reasonable cost for something that requires fantasy sets and costumes and lots of special effects. It's all the movies that cost 2-5 times that and don't look any better or more...

To a normal businessman the main things Musk got out of acquiring Twitter was an established user base and an established brand. He alienated and drove away the one and has now abandoned the other. So more or less a complete loss. He could have bought some bargain basement Twitter-clone for a...

Unless the various leveled features can be usefully described on those little bits of line, I think an area of lined space for writing "features" freeform would be more useful. I mean I know from experience helping hundreds of kids fill out the "features" section for 5e D&D characters that just...

Personally I'd go straight to the sources. There are excerpts from a lot of historical fighting manuals and other sword texts at https://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm, but I've only glanced at them. I'm sure the internets have other such troves. Whether diving straight into primary sources makes...

Really I consider putting scores you didn't roll on a character sheet a form of fudging numbers. Oh, sure, they're average... but you didn't roll them so they don't count. So, yeah, you should always roll scores for Monks... just like you should for every other character.

It also, I believe, establishes the nature of Pike's relationship with his father. While some 90s Trek shows regularly threw out character stuff like that and never thought about it again, that seems unlikely with this one (if it never gets further development it's only because these seasons are...

The crossover episode is really a heck of a thing. I liked it quite a bit, but I am more astonished than anything else, even being well aware it was coming. As a Strange New Worlds episode, they pulled off an impressive feat. If there was a weak point it was simply that, even though of all the...

I would read the spectral mind ability as applying to the normal distance and targeting of a spell, and the "other creature has to be within 5 feet of you" prerequisite in the main text of the spell as an additional more specific requirement for the specific spell. I don't think it's necessarily...

Oh it's our annual gator-powered necromancy to argue that everything is natural or whatever. See you all sometime in the Summer of 2024 when totally new user Yetanothergator starts it up again out of the blue and insists yet again that Maxperson has conceded some sort of point.

I think the minimum score to multiclass out of a class should be eliminated. As funny as the idea of being too stupid to give up wizardry is, I don't think it makes things more fun, and all the other "low score means you can't switch to another class" cases make even less sense. I think it's...