Recent content by jmartkdr2

By that definition, arranged scores always includes a dump stat (unless all of your scores are the same.) If that’s basically always happening, how is that a problem for the game? 5e definitely works, and works well for more players than every other edition combined, so I really don’t see how...

Is there any way to arrange scores without dumping one? If I have the following set to arrange: 18 17 16 15 14 13, then I must put the 13 somewhere - is that a dumped score?

One other dnd design element that makes high-damage builds more effective is the way resources recharge between battles. That means you have the most resources at the start of the fight, so you can do your strongest attacks in round 1, which is also the round where doing the most damage is most...

Semi-tangentially: I usually imagine low-strength high-dex characters as being not un-muscled but small; they could throw their weight around but they don't weigh much so it doesn't do anything. So grappling isn't really a good use of an action.

Is Fluttershy hiding in the back?

Keep sacred flame for a backup option, but other than managing spell slots it should work pretty well. (I have a similar build on the shelf stacking celestial warlock and gold dragon sorcerer, adding Radiant Soul and Elemental Affinity to agonizing blast for triple Cha to fire bolt or...

One Idea I had a log time ago for anime 5e was adding a "Parry AC" that you an use instead of base AC. It was roughly 12+weapon;s key ability modifier for simple weapons and 13+ weapon's key ability modifier for martial weapons, although you could also do something based on armor proficiency...

DnD has never really had a good way to mechanize the idea of “how scary you look,” which means the intimidation skill has been pulling double-duty for a long time now. Scary-ness really shouldn’t be keyed off charisma, unless you’re a sorcerer. It should be based on things like strength, gear...

One method I’ve heard of for this is tiered rolling: Put your ability scores into three tiers: A (important for the concept) B (shouldn’t be dump stats) and C (whatever). For A tier roll 5d6 drop two (or 2d4 + 10 or something equally generous). You’re druid will probably be wise and tough...

I would say a 14 in your primary attack/spellcasting stat is probably the minimum - the number is more important for weapon users, but I suspect a fighter with 14 str to start would be fine. The main reason you rarely see that is most people put their best score in their attack/spellcasting...

If we are not having fun, the question of”why aren’t we having fun?” becomes relevant, does it not?

This is where my logic takes me - the risk may be very small, but there's no upside to rolling that can't be achieved other ways without adding that risk. (caveat: I'm assuming roll-and-assign here, where you're really just rolling to see what your base power level is. Even then, it takes a...

Getting away from ability scores, I think Damage Reduction could help a lot with figuring out the fictional difference between AC and HP. One houserule I've used privately in the past is "first impression score" - a number that indicates how impressive you look to people when they first see...

My last two have been "everyone rolls as per the book (4d6d1 six times) but each player can use any of the rolled arrays." Results in slightly more powerful characters but that's good because it makes us feel free to try odd stuff we might not have done with more restrictive stats.

Hmm. I think you still need warriors and mages and such, but we need to arrange them totally differently? Warriors are broken out by fighting style: no general "fighter", but specific classes like swashbuckler, knight, assassin, gladiator, etc. Rogues as in skill-focused non-combat classes...