Recent content by Alkavian

I would suggest the "elite" prisoner be some form of celestial being. Perhaps the wizard/warlock was performing bizarre experiments on the being to extract some form of cosmic essence. Attempting to achieve a form of immortality outside the typical lichdom/undeath route? Maybe trying to bend the...

My 24th level Barbarian/Ranger took 4 years to reach that level. I was still in the Army at the time and we had a lot of time in the barracks to play many sessions a week. Often we'd play a couple hours every other day after work. This went on the first two years....with the last two years being...

I rule it that Darkvision gives 60' of visibility (shades of gray only) into darkness treating it as dimly lit. So if you have a torch area illuminated brightly 20' with dim light an additional 20'. The character with darkvision sees the entire area as brightly lit...with 60' of dimly lit...

I've had two characters reach 20 level. A barbarian from 3e that made it to 24 with the epic level handbook and a psion who made it to 20. It takes a long time, and we always start at level 1. The average level reached typically is between 11-13. High level play is fun when you've been with your...

My typical campaign usually is meant to run levels 1-20. But the overarching campaign tends to be cobbled together from a couple 2-3 smaller adventures which span 5-8 levels. My current "campaign" has a desired end state, but I do not focus on that far down the line because the party is level 2...

I would avoid a stat bump and proficiency bonus. Granting advantage means the item can benefit anyone using it (making it more useful in a broad context). I think this is important when you consider the mechanics of 5e and the relative rarity of magic items in general. If you want your...

^ Ditto. Seems to be just group dynamic combined with player optimizations.

I would certainly like to see more 'bit' modules. I homebrew most of my own campaigns. I would likely never run HotDQ or other such modules. I prefer to build the overall story arc myself (though I might be in the minority with that). I would LOVE to have small adventures that are campaign...

Our group is currently: Half-Orc Ranger Dragonborn Paladin Dragonborn Sorcerer Halfling Monk I've found that the halfling shines quite a bit with the 'lucky' racial trait. Re-rolling 1's is awesome. Also the advantage versus poison and fear for the stout sub-race is great. I do not think that...

My own games typically exist in a homebrew setting I call "Forelorn". I use specific racial deities from the shared multiverse such as Tiamat, Lloth, or Garl Glittergold, but I also have some core pantheon deities which cover broader bases than specific races. I use the "great wheel" concept for...

You could give players (behind the scenes of course) resistance to bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage for first two levels. If that goblin crits for 2d6+2 averaging 9 damage. They take 4. They will still feel the hits, but their squishy hp won't be impacted as greatly. You are also not...

On average I think about 2-3 per long rest is about right....assuming you have a busy encounter schedule of 5-9 encounters. Our group is just starting out and 2 seems to be the norm on short rests at the moment.

In context of the rules as written I do not see a problem. The trickster is playing to a design archtype your player finds fun and creative. I would suggest letting that player enjoy their character and wait to see how it will impact the overall game. Remember that accomplishing a task at range...

Do I fudge rolls? Sure. Rarely it becomes necessary for the sake of the situation. I don't generally pull punches on things that the player's instigate. If I make a grievous error in a challenge I may make minor alterations to compensate for a mistake I made so the players don't suffer for it...

As a general rule for paying for spells I use the following method: Take the level of the caster who is providing the service and compare against the following baseline modifiers - Lvl 1-5 = 10gp, Lvl 6-10 = 20gp, Lvl 11-15 = 40gp, and Lvl 16+ = 80gp. Take that gold piece value and multiply it...