Well, the subsystems for wildshaping and animal companions in the 2014 PHB suck balls. It's some of the worst stuff in that whole book.
The designers of Level Up clearly understood that there's a problem here, but instead of replacing it completely, they chose to just tweak it a bit to...
I didn't even know he worked there.
I recognize the name and face because for a while he was in a bunch of youtube videos about roleplaying. I'm fuzzy on the details, and can't recall seeing him for several years now.
It seems totally necessary if you trust the reviews of 2024.
Those I've seen who have really dug into it, and not just done a flip-through, agree that PCs have gotten some power creep, and that monsters hit harder to compensate.
You have to "make an attack". Which I assume means to use some ability classified as an attack, thus not just a friendly tap on the shoulder.
But sure, personally I would rule you could use it that way if you thought it was worth it.
You mean "Arden". C&S has a very different vibe from Arduin.
Though bizarrely enough, the dinosaur thing is true. "Saurians" was a sourcebook featuring dinosaur-riding lizardfolk (did GW nick the idea from here?). How that was supposed to integrate with the assumed realistic-apart-from-magic...
Ummm, my definition of a "solo" monster is just that it's by itself in a specific combat encounter. Not that it's necessarily a hermit living all by itself in the wilderness. Most of the solo encounters I've seen in published form have been inside dungeons.