D&D General What are your Pedantic Complaints about D&D?

Rabulias · Jul 16, 2019

Celebrim said:
No, I'm pretty sure it was published by Mongoose in their Encyclopedia Arcane series. But I don't own it and can't tell you how on point it was.

Mongoose had Encyclopedia Arcane: Crossbreeding by Johnathan Richards, which matrixed D&D 3.0 creature types (e.g., a Giant crossbred with an Elemental resulted in an Outsider).

Nutation · Jul 16, 2019

Aebir-Toril said:
What are the silly, odd, or unusual things that bug you more than they should? What irritates you about D&D?

Geometry, the way that 5E killed Pythagoras and took his stuff. a^2=b^2=c^2. Also, fireballs that are cubes.

akr71 · Jul 16, 2019

1. Languages by race. Why does my Tiefling who grew up in a human city automatically know Infernal? I would say Background has more bearing than who your parents are. My in-laws are french, but they raised their daughter (my wife, duh) to speaking english in the home. English is her first language and she doesn't really consider herself bilingual.

2. More language nonsense - bring back max # of languages knowable as a function of your Int score. 5e is all about stripped down and easy to learn so your Int modifier seems to make the most sense.

3. Weapon Proficiencies. Again I like the stripped down, easy to learn aspect of 5E, but I think there really could be a third tier here. In fact I would go so far as to say weapon damage could be based on the character's proficiency. Simple weapons do 1d4, Militia weapons do 1d6, and Martial weapons do 1d8. Go up on die size for two handed (including versatile), go up one die size for heavy.

4. Finesse & Ranged Weapons. Adding Dex to damage is a big nope to me. Dex mod for to hit rolls - sure, but not to damage, except in rare cases.

Blue · Jul 16, 2019

Monayuris said:
Agree with potions. I also don’t think you should be able to pour one down an unconscious character’s throat. Most of my players seem to think that is a thing.

aco175 said:
What do you mean, this is not a real thing. We can not have been doing this wrong for 30 years.

As a side note, your players are right. It's right in the PHB under the description of Healing Potion (pg 153). "Drinking or administering a potion takes an action.". This is also echoed to be true for all potions in the DMG, page 139.

Tony Vargas · Jul 16, 2019

Don't mind me, I'm just being pedantic...

akr71 said:
Why does my Tiefling who grew up in a human city automatically know Infernal?

"How the /Hell/ is it you speak Infer-"

"... oh, nevermind, answered my own question, really."

Blue said:
"Drinking or administering a potion takes an action."

But it doesn't specify if that that's oral route, IM, naso-gastric, IV, topical, suppository...

generic · Jul 16, 2019

More pedantry:

1. My level 3 Tabaxi Monk can run 240 feet in six seconds (Feline Agility, Dash, Dash). That means that she's moving 40 feet per second. At third level, my lowly Tabaxi can run faster than the fastest Human being ever recorded, at a blistering 27.2727 mph in one turn, accelerating at an unbelievable rate. In one second, she goes from 0 mph to 27.2727 mph, accelerating 1.24 Gs in one second. One second. That's faster than a Cheetah.*

*In terms of acceleration from zero.

Celebrim · Jul 16, 2019

ccs said:
I suspect that the orcs penchant for eating the elves dramatically reduces the odds of this crossbreed mix.

In my homebrew, Orcs (well, goblins) eat elves precisely because the crossbreed mix doesn't work and elves can't be enslaved. They are a very practical people and want to put everything in their environment to work. Food is the best usage an elf can be put to.

Blue · Jul 16, 2019

Jer said:
Please don't ask this question - someone may post a diagram and then I'd need eye bleach. The warforged thing already has me needing brain bleach.

When a mommy gnome and a paladin love each other very much, they hug and 9 months later a rapier is born.

Blue · Jul 16, 2019

Imaculata said:
I've got one more:

You roll a die to hit, but you don't roll a die to defend, unless it's a saving throw. I've always felt there's a lot of missed opportunity there regarding how dynamic and strategic D&D's combat could be. It would probably also become way more complicated, but it just feels like something is missing.

Atk Bonus + d20 >= Def Bonus + d20

is the same mathematically as:

Atk Bonus +d20 -d20 >= Def Bonus

d20-d20 is a bell curve. So it really changes the odds and the differance that a +1 make depending on where it is in that curve. If your attack and the defense are the same, the first +/-1 will grant a 5% bonus. But if they aren;'t the same, +/-1 will offer smaller change. And asymetic changes - if your attack is +15 and the defense if +10, a +1 will offer a smaller bonus then the -1 would a penalty. (And vice versa if the defense is higher.)

Not saying this is bad, but people are used to the linear target numbers and bonuses of D&D.

Richards · Jul 17, 2019

Seramus said:
Wait. How do potions work? You drink them, and the effects usually happen immediately... which is much faster than digestion or letting it enter the bloodstream. And do people puke after drinking the really foul ones? Or does the liquid just vanish?

In my current 3.5 campaign, one of the PCs (the gnome) has an uncle who brews potions. He's known for frequently taking shortcuts, which often results in much cheaper potions that have some drastic side effects. One such batch of potions of cure light wounds tasted so nasty you needed to make a successful DC 12 Fortitude save to actually drink it down (failure resulted in balking that round, but you could try steeling your nerves the following round), and then once you had actually consumed it, the following round you needed to make another successful DC 12 Fortitude save or spend the round helplessly vomiting it back up. (But you still got the benefit of the healing.)

We call those types of potions "Winkidew specials" after the NPC uncle, Winkidew Dundernoggin.

Johnathan