Recent content by Ellsworth

Thanks for the input, folks! I appreciate it. Lots of good ideas here.

In our campaign, the party has acquired a house and a couple acres of land that they intend to use as a home-base. As DM, I would like to provide them with opportunities to improve and add to the house (e.g., convert it into more of a stronghold/keep, add walls, library, stables, crafting...

I stand corrected. :)

I haven't thought of HP as being conditional. Nice observation. However, the condition you propose may not be completely accurate per RAW. "Your character’s hit points define how tough your character is in combat and other dangerous situations." (PHB 12) The "dangerous situation" condition may...

I’m not necessarily looking for an answer from the rules, rather how other DMs handle this; homebrew, RAW, RAI, etc. I’ve been making contextual rulings on the fly, but due to some disagreements I’m inclined to start using the RAW for cover in the DMG: “To determine whether a target has cover...

5e: Clerics and paladins don’t have to be religious. “Not all divine powers need to be derived from deities. In some campaigns, believers hold enough conviction in their ideas about the universe that they gain magical power from that conviction. . . Just as druids and rangers can gain their...

Thanks for this bit of D&D history, Mr. Ward! Your post brought back childhood memories of reading that book for hours on end.

Thanks for this bit of D&D history, Mr. Ward! Your post brought back childhood memories of reading that book for hours on end.

It may have already been mentioned, but a diplomat sounds more like a background than a class to me. A diplomat turned adventurer sounds pretty cool, and useful.

I like it. However, your post simply combines and rephrases what others have said in this thread, but that's a good thing. The situation you describe here is essentially the same as both sides (bandits and party) taking a ready action before the party opens the door, then attacking...

Lots of good arguments here! Thanks, all. Keep 'em coming. I'm not necessarily a "by the book" kinda guy, but after reading it again, I think the PHB may clear things up in one sentence: "Any character or monster that doesn’t notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter." I...

I just realized my reply to your post was a re-post of the spoiler. Oops. Fixed my post too.

Is it considered a combat encounter if one side is aware of a threat but the other is not? Shouldn't a combat encounter proceed when both sides are aware of a threat? If the side that is aware of a threat loses initiative, what would be the course of action for the side that is not aware of a...

Great example, but isn't that a spoiler?

These were my thoughts at first as well.