Recent content by hbarsquared

Were there really references to Critical Role (Fresh Cut Grass) and Diminsion20 (Jonathan)? I saw the movie, just flabbergasted 8f this was intentional!

In my opinion, "species" is as charged of a word as "race" when comparing free-thinking beings. Honestly, I would prefer the word "Ethnicity," (add to the poll?) over either. With that said, I prefer Ancestry, Lineage, and Heritage. I love the concept of Dwarf with a hint of orc, or Elf...

As much as I love the discussion (and the civility of everyones' posts!), and hearing all these perspectives and really good points.... This is a PLAYtest. It doesn't matter whether we "like" it or not, or if we think monsters should be equal to PCs, or if we like swinginess or danger or any...

With the first playtest document out for the next iteration of D&D, the most important question arises... What do we call it?!? There's also these important changes: Capitalizing all rule names Defining a d20 Test Calling out "Repeatable" in every Feat No half-races No background "Features"...

In my mind, "backwards compatible" means that a 10th level elven fighter frpm 2014 can play at the same table as a 10th level fighter from 2024. They might feel different, but they can PLAY IN THE SAME GAME, which is really what's most important: that a group of people can sit down at a table...

I've long-since pre-ordered and very excited about the book. Haven't read the preview, but thought I'd comment in the business decision. This approach of releasing content for free (for a limited time, I assume) is a great idea to bring new users to DnDBeyond and WotC, as well as get people...

I miss Kender Ace. Could have been tweaked, but it was a fun little race-defining feature. Taunt is fine, and there are obviously mechanical benefits to skill proficiency and frightened immunity, but that's also boring. Much prefer the first try.

The right answer is for the DM to ask the player, "Are you sure...?" and to do what is fun. Assume the player is going to be effected by the damage. But why not an Arcana check, or allow the player a saving throw with advantage against their own spell? And give the player a chance to decide...

Love this pass at Dragonlance, and love the direction of character creation. I'm glad initial ASIs are getting completely divorced from races. Give me a couple iconic, unique, memorable abilities, not some generic +1s. I actually want to see something like this at character creation: Just a...

I love magic and spellcasting. But I would love to see more non-magic classes and subclasses. Fighter and Rogue are really the only two non-spellcasring classes. The monk is distinctly "magical" with ki, and all but the Basic Rules barbarian subclasses distinct magical special abilities. I's...

I was actually just putting this together to ask for advice! I've been doing some theorycrafting of an inquisitive rogue, planning her for all 20 levels while also considering playability as she progresses. Rhundi is a "private eye" type character, a bit of a skill monkey with an arsenal of...

Don't forget damage type. Sneak attack damage is of the same type as the weapon that makes the attack. So, a rogue with chill touch, eldritch blast, fire bolt, and/or ray of frost (I know they're from different spell lists, but feasible through feats/multiclassing), can deal several d6 of...

Since most dice sets have only one of each die, I often need to roll 1d4+1d6+1d8 to generate stats.

Another vote for Adventuring Academy and Brennan Lee Mulligan. Not exactly the best "DM advice," per se, but very insightful about the industry and the culture/philosophy of D&D and TTRPGs.

Keith also had a few Dreaming Dark articles on his old website Ask the Dreaming Dark.