Recent content by Dausuul

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    D&D General The Player's Quantum Ogre: Warlock Pacts

    Warlocks are on the weaker side as classes go. If they're going to have extra RP restrictions, they should come with corresponding RP benefits; "you get to keep using your class abilities like classes stronger than you can do without any hassle" does not count. Only two other classes face such...
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    Roll for Effect or Intent?

    My ideal, though implementation is challenging, is "roll for circumstances." In other words: Action resolution is handled through a mix of roleplay and deterministic rules. You either have the skill to open a given lock, or you don't. The dice then tell you what complications you have to deal...
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    D&D General WotC: 'Of Course We're Going To Do' Baldur's Gate 4

    Pretty sure that's not true for any modern military. Human soldiers are expensive. You have to train them, equip them, feed and house them, care for them when they get blown up or shot. Meanwhile, drones can be built cheaply and quickly and in enormous numbers, as Ukraine is demonstrating, and...
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    D&D General WotC: 'Of Course We're Going To Do' Baldur's Gate 4

    WotC didn't make Beyond. They bought it. And games in development count for absolutely nothing. Arena is their one and only big success, set against a backdrop of failure after failure after failure.
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    SkyNet really is ... here?

    Sam Altman is head of a company engaged in a race with half a dozen rivals, where the cost of competing is measured in the hundreds of billions. I assume that every single word out of his mouth is aimed at maximizing the amount of money he can get investors to pump into his company. Some of...
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    Why do the Actors Matter?

    Oh, absolutely. The market responds to the incentives it's given by us, the viewing public*, and all the incentives right now point to "get a franchise, milk it dry, look for another." That's why I sorta-kinda want to embrace the notion of getting up in arms when roles are recast (including...
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    Why do the Actors Matter?

    Part of me agrees with this sentiment. But another part of me is like... I'm tired of how everything is franchises and remakes and reboots and dragging out every beloved old IP until the last drop of blood has been wrung from its mutilated carcass. And recasting roles is overwhelmingly in...
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    Dungeons & Dragons Shifts to Franchise Model, Dan Ayoub Named as Head

    Another executive hire from the tech industry. Sigh.
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    D&D 5E (2024) The Undead Army Necromancer is not Designable

    This is the "horde" spell I designed for a homebrew Necromancer subclass, using Summon Undead as a starting point and modifying heavily. (Not yet high enough level to cast it, but I look forward to testing it when the campaign gets there. I expect there will be a lot of balance tweaking with the...
  10. Screenshot 2025-07-07 at 2.14.36 PM.png

    Screenshot 2025-07-07 at 2.14.36 PM.png

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    D&D 5E (2024) Could the DnDNext Sorcerer be revived as its own class?

    I think the basic idea has potential, but as @Remathilis points out, there are a lot of pitfalls here. The class is thematically built around an "ultimate form," but most of its actual power is in the spells you have to cast to reach that form. The ultimate form itself is more a consolation...
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    Trailer Spaceballs 2: Not the Quest for More Money

    It may well be lousy. I'll watch it anyway. Some things you have to do.
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    D&D 5E (2024) Wizards of the Coast promises to release more “CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3” without Larian

    Only if you have enough hits to actually do that. With that, I agree. If WotC must try to reinvent itself as a video game company, the way to do it is to iterate with small teams on small projects, learn from failure, and try again. I don't think this will work, mind you. I don't believe...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Wizards of the Coast promises to release more “CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3” without Larian

    Sure, they wanted to do something else. That's fine. But you keep up the relationship and maybe down the road Larian decides to revisit the franchise. Or maybe they'd be interested in a different D&D setting and story. There are lots of possibilities. And meanwhile, nothing stops you from...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Wizards of the Coast promises to release more “CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3” without Larian

    They did find a team that worked. It was called Larian Studios. Then WotC laid off most of the folks who built and maintained that relationship, and that was that. I wish WotC would quit trying to be a software company. They're a terrible software company. They have produced an endless series...
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