Recent content by Joe Liker

If you have a trusted group of players who you know have all bought into this philosophy, that's great. They have earned a degree of extra freedom beyond what the default rules allow. But not everyone has the luxury of playing with such a group. I have played with (and continue to play with)...

This is a very good point. If I ever have a player who decides to play a crossbow fighter build he found on a charop forum, I'm definitely going to consider enforcing encumbrance rules a little more strictly than normal.

It is important to note that the bonus does not stack with the beast's normal AC. You either use your unarmored AC (based on Dex and Wis) or the beast's normal AC, not some combination of both. (So sayeth Crawford.)

That's your prerogative as DM, of course, but I believe you're overreacting. Dipping into monk sets the druid back a level in his shapeshifting CR, not to mention his spellcasting. In general, "crap like this" has drawbacks that people don't consider when first presented with an "OP" new...

There is never a NEED to spend the resource. It is 100 percent optional, even for a mixed sorcerer. The only difference is that the mixed sorcerer has a 100 percent optional option that the double sorcerer does not. When a bunch of people are telling you you're not making sense, it might be a...

LOL because you don't know what a strawman is. You can't just pre-emptively mention the flaw in your argument and magically make it off-limits in the discussion. It's still a flaw, and your argument is still ridiculous.

By this logic, the sorcerer class would be just fine if we removed metamagic entirely and only allowed them to spend sorcery points on spell slots. Think of all the sorcery points you'd save by not mucking about with those silly metamagic options! I don't think you'd find a lot of supporters...

An area that is lightly obscured due to a darkness effect is by definition NOT in direct sunlight. So no, the drow would not be penalized while in that area.

We only worry about extra weight when it's an obvious problem, such as finding a huge mound of copper and silver coins that need to be rescued. By a certain level, that's not terribly interesting anymore, so I give them a way to sidestep the problem, such as a magical bag or a set of scales...

It's interesting to note that the lion's share of these positive experiences have everything to do with the creativity of the players and/or DM, and nothing to do with the writing or production value of the product. That said, bonding through adversity is a real thing, as is Stockholm Syndrome...

Well, even I wasn't going to take it that far! I only intend for full immunity to kick in for an hour after spending the sorcery point when casting a spell of the appropriate type. The rest of the time, it's just resistance via the dragonborn trait.

I directly quoted a post where he said his group did not enjoy "downtime" activities or building buildings or basically anything other than combat and character advancement. I wasn't trying to disparage anyone's play style; I merely referred to the play style he himself described. I certainly...

If better gear is literally all you care about, then presumably you will spend your mountains of gold to employ a network of information gatherers and sages to help you find more gear. They might even be able to help you track down specific items if you pay them well enough. It's functionally...

A friend of mine made me aware of this peculiar trend in Gygax-bashing, and I was frankly astonished. I think it's unfortunate that the Internet know-it-alls have taken a few instances of malapropism and exaggerated them to such an absurd degree. "Forward/Foreward," for example, amounts to...

The racial resistance was ostensibly balanced against other sorcerers' racial traits. Giving one sorcerer fewer ways to spend Sorcery Points than other sorcerers is not a savings. It's a penalty. The end result is an incentive not to double-dragon, which is the opposite of what should happen...