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Not gonna lie: I love rays and I love treating them as attack rolls -- pointing a finger at the baddie and trying not to miss. Furthermore, critting with a ray is just about the greatest thing ever. I think 3e was where the designers settled on using ranged [touch] attacks for everything...

I'd like opinions about how spells should be balanced in 5e, treating as given the basic structure where spells automatically increase in power by casting them in a higher level slot. Namely, should we aim for spells that are balanced solely based on what slot they end up using, or should we...

OK, the 12/17 playtest has our first glimpse at 5e Wish, the tricky spell par excellence. The devs are clearly trying a new way through this thicket by introducing a new approach to disincentivizing its use by preventing further spell-casting and reducing strength while also leaving the...

TL;DR: I try to express the heart of the opportunistic/improvisational rogue by introducing two new resources: wits (tactical, rounds to minutes) and schemes (strategic, hours to days and up). The rogue may maintain a limited number of both, and may introduce new ones as soon as old ones are...

TL;DR: Make number of attacks player choice by moving to a "per die" rather than "per attack" notion of damage. To make the damage scale nicely, let ability score increase the minimum possible damage on a die (ability mod > 0), or reduce maximum possible damage on a die (mod < 0) instead of...

TL;DR version: Reduce maximum hit points for short term hp recovery a la the playtest's hit dice, but treat this as an adventure resource rather than a daily resource. ----------------------------- I've been pondering the hit dice system along with many of you since the playtest rules were...

So sayeth the email I just received. It includes a link to download the materials. Happy reading and playing to all. Let's try not to screw this up, yeah? :)

The playtest starts tomorrow, and the nature of discussion here will undoubtedly change. For many of us this will be the last chance to make unguarded predictions or contribute ideas that can't possibly be construed as leaks. Therefore I really need to get these off my chest before it's too...

In the lead up to the playtest we're thinking a lot about big mechanical and thematic elements. How classes work, what a theme contains, how skills and abilities tie into task resolution, what we love or hate about hit points, etc. That's all well and good, but I want to ask a more personal...

Inspired by the recent L&L article about wizards, as well as the associated thread, I've been wondering about the interaction between wizards, scrolls, and spellbooks, particularly as it involves learning new spells. Besides the mechanics of casting spells (whether prepared, from scrolls, or...

TL;DR version: I propose a system with spell "stacks" composed of spell slots. Casting a spell of a given level expends both that slot and all slots of lower level in that stack. Each extended rest recovers a small number of slots, and when applied to a stack they are always added to the...

Along with a lot of other people on the boards I've been thinking about ways to represent skills in 5e that can be used to make training significant and skill results adaptable while still keeping the math of the d20 in a reasonable range. I think I've come up with a way that can do this...

The very necessary TL;DR version: - Split hit points into wound and vitality that do not have individually fixed maximums, but do have a fixed total. - Wound points effectively reduce maximum hp (until they are healed) - Vitality is everything else. - A creature falls unconscious when current...

This is from the DDXP live chat. There we have it, the basic elements of a character, at least at low levels. I think going with themes is a strong choice, and I'm glad these will be baked in from the start. Finally D&D will have a mechanical way to express background, outside training, social...

Well, maybe only 50% less speculation. :) This quote is from the DDXP seminar earlier today. As far as I know that's the most concrete info we've obtained for the expected expanse of PH content. Many classes were already known from explicit mention, of course. If that and Wikipedia can be...

Many potential benefits of modularization are obvious, like the ability to better match our individual preferences to the rules, settings, and people with whom we game. There is another subtle benefit that, to my knowledge, hasn't been discussed yet. Namely, the very process of participating...

811 is up. The alternate title is "When clerics win initiative."

Another thread is discussing playing 2e, 3e, and 4e at the same time, in the sense of multiple ongoing campaigns. And it is indeed an interesting conversation. But there is another way to play a bunch of editions at the same time, and that is include all the rules from all the editions in the...

Next week my group is starting a 2nd game, a FATE 3e campaign in a setting that is inspired by Stargate. Three of us are very familiar with the show, and one of us is not. However, to help us break away from the tropes and background of the show, the GM has had us play the Microscope RPG for a...

Long story ahead. I've never considered myself a particularly good improvisational player or DM. I like preparation and considered courses of action, and am generally most comfortable in that style of play. Which is why tonight's game was an amazing and challenging experience. For the last...