Recent content by Paul Farquhar

Better to look at what other people have done, and examples from myth and literature than rely on the PHB text. It has been mentioned before that 5e is a superhero game in a fantasy skin. In a superhero rpg it’s up to the player to create an origin story that explains how their character got...

It’s really a classic “nature versus nurture” debate. And as usual, the truth is “a bit of both”.

And D&D has had push factors since 1st edition (since the original creator was a classic jerk DM). A lot of the changes in 5e have been aimed at removing push factors.

1st level is a game construct, not part of the world. There is no reason to suppose a 3rd level character was ever 1st. It doesn't. Because it's a suggestion, and one specifically aimed at new players who have no experience in writing character backstories.

As I said, class fluff is suggestions, not rules, which is why so much of it is contradictory, and there are a great many different ways to fluff a warlock. But the 2024 rules also say (slightly paraphrased) "If you are not a new player you should start at level 3".

It's a plot point in the Mandalorian TV show that no one, not even scientists, can identify Grogu's species. It seems likely that the species is virtually extinct. As for Yoda being a public figure, that's really not the case. He interacts with public figures, but never makes a public speech or...

Weekly: The thing they don't make any more - shows where each episode is a self contained story, and there are 20+ episodes per season. And continuous soap operas.

Bigger than the "just go to the movies" audience, since that audience doesn't exist any more. But not big enough to make the movie profitable. It will do well on Disney+, but I doubt enough to make back it's budget.

That’s pretty much the opposite of what actually happened. The Stanford Prison Experiment showed that pretty much everyone becomes a jerk when given power over others.

Don't worry, Larian made the same mistake...

The think about most jerk DMs is they believe they are not jerk DMs.

I’ve never really understood what people who work in offices do!

Mechanically, sure. Lorewise, it's loose enough to include the 3.5 version. The warlock in NWN2 is entirely compatible lorewise with 5e warlocks. And if you read through the rest of the text, there is plenty of stuff that contradicts that and/or presents alternatives: "the Great Old One might...

Anything you do on your turn is, shockingly, on your turn. Anything you do on some else’s turn is not on your turn.

And the players can (and should) walk away and find a new DM.