Recent content by Zelc

TLDR: try using 4x(d4+1) drop lowest, add +1 to the three highest scores below 15. Ability score increases are a significant way in which characters progress in 5E. As a result, the maximum score you can achieve through the default array and point buy is 15 unmodified, or 17 after racial...

With such high stat distributions, I wouldn't be surprised if the Paladin does better than the Fighter. The Paladin has better usage of extra stats than the Fighter does, and (while it doesn't matter at level 5) high stats negate the Fighter's advantage in extra ability increases. The other...

The spell isn't called "Best Friends Forever". It gets you a friend that you'll either backstab in 1 minute or hopefully never see again.

Actually, I'm curious. In 5e, what are the expectations on "the arcane caster of the party", and how much of that can't be fulfilled by the Sorcerer? We can use levels 3, 7, 11, and 15 as benchmarks.

Fair point, but it's still usually easy to distinguish between the classes. For instance, Wizards vs. Warlocks or Fighters vs. Paladins. Wizards rely on more heavily lvl 1+ spells and have more flexibility and power in those spells, while Warlocks rely more heavily on cantrips and their spells...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfxIoJgSMeU The Sorcerer vs. Wizard thread brought up something I've been thinking about. I don't think the role of the Sorcerer is well-defined. Fighters are good at hitting stuff and taking hits, Rogues are good at skills and hitting stuff, Wizards are good at...

IMO the Sorcerer is very different from the Wizard, but the presentation doesn't make the differences very clear, and the mechanical differences are diluted. I think a big problem is the Sorcerer is designed from an RP standpoint, and not a mechanical standpoint. The Dragon Sorcerer and the...

If you're worried about trap options among melee weapons, I once made a revised set of melee weapon stats to remove them. Granted, this doesn't address your specific concern, but it adds more differentiation among the weapons. If you use this, you should probably nerf Dueling or buff Great...

You can calculate the probability of rolling any result on an individual die as follows: In order to get a result of 1 or 2, you have to roll a 1 or 2 first, then reroll a 1 or 2. Thus, pdf(x) for x = 1 or x = 2 is just 2/s*1/s where s = the number of sides on the die. In order to get a...

As printed, GWF adds +1.33 damage on 2d6, +0.83 damage on 1d12, and +0.8 damage on 1d10. With your change, GWF adds +1 damage on 2d6, +0.75 damage on 1d12, and +0.7 damage on 1d10. If you change it to "turn any below-average roll into the average roll", it adds +1 damage on 2d6, +1.25 damage...

Think of (dis)advantage as replacing those finicky +/- 2 bonuses. You get advantage for attacking someone prone in melee. You have disadvantage attacking someone you can't see. Etc.

One alternative is to change the difficulty of areas over time. For example, you could tone down some of the more difficult areas in PotA by reducing the number of enemies, or reducing the hit points/AC/damage of individual enemies. This is easily explained as the cults getting stronger over time.

That's a nice document! I was also thinking of starting the dungeons at the same difficulty and adding more difficulty over time, reflecting the cults gaining strength. This means removing some cultists from the later dungeons or adding cultists to the earlier dungeons. I haven't looked...

... I just didn't care about differentiating them :p I was fine leaving them as the same weapon. As for the longsword vs. battleaxe, I wanted a 1d10 weapon and a 2d4+versatile weapon of each damage type. Since Longswords and Battleaxes are both slashing weapons, one of them ended up getting...