Recent content by TwoSix

Ooh, ability combinations. I'm a sucker for character creation systems that focus on hybridization.

Abeir is the Bruno of settings.

I mean, it definitely depends on the game, and in a lot of ways it depends on the content of the initial releases after the core. (Although plenty of games are one-and-done and don't need supplements.) As an easy example, I think one of the first books after the 3.0 release was "Sword and...

Number one rule of practical optimization is "Understand your GM and make them happy with your build choices."

I'm a big fan of using stat replacement, especially for Dex, to open up non-Dex focused options for builds. Also a big fan of giving save proficiencies in not-main stats for a more well-rounded save profile.

The Laserllama Magus can replace Dex to AC with Int to AC, but it can't stack them, so even with the Blade Dance bonus it doesn't get crazy. Ignoring magic items, it can get to Breastplate (15)+2 Int + 2 Shield +1 Fighting Style + 3 Blade Dance = 23 AC. Very solid, but nothing gamebreaking...

Socs and Greasers. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

A lot of people don't know that Art Modell tried to move the Browns to Nova Scotia, but Canada refused to take them (because it was the Browns). Baltimore was the the sadly accepted fallback choice. A lot of people also forget Bill Belichick was the prime minister of Canada for one day, before...

I recently has to make a 14th level replacement character; I was thinking about illusionist wizard but I realized Illusory Reality would simply be too painful to inflict on my DM. Mirage Arcana + Illusory Reality is just so broken, and that's not a term I generally use.

Everyone loves to mention the 32 year Stanley Cup drought, but no one ever mentions the 32 year World Series drought or the even-worse "Canada has never won a Super Bowl".

Forgotten Realms, Magic: the Gathering, Dragonlance, Ravenloft....in the end, it's all just Planescape to me. :)

Honestly, it depends on the PCs for me. If the PCs lean towards acting altruistically, I tend to draw my NPCs with brighter, sharper lines. Obviously good people in need of saving, obvious villains in need of smiting. If the PCs lean towards apathy or villainy, the world is in much more...

What does "counts as" even mean? Is there a formalized recognition process, or some place that actually tracks this? Is there a recognized arbiter? Or is this purely about determining some kind of colloquial meaning?

Exactly. It's not the GM's jobs to know what a PC can do; that's the job of the player. I would say it's best practice as a player to loop in your GM about abilities you have that are outside the norm or might require some GM adjudication when used. Don't introduce a weird ability to the GM...

In terms of creating an avatar persona, and then making decisions in the game based on my interpretation of how the created persona would choose? No, I don't do that in other games. I will sometimes make decisions based on objectives other than winning. Like "I want to keep the game...