Recent content by Li Shenron

  1. Li Shenron

    D&D's New Solo Player Guideline Explained

    Sounds like they couldn't think of anything more interesting than helping the single PC not to die, and to beat a few more checks. If I had a single player wanting to play the game, I'll let them play multiple PCs, maybe 3 at once. This way at least the game still offers a range of...
  2. Li Shenron

    D&D 5E (2014) Can you retry a failed skill check? How long?

    Nothing has changed over the last 51 years. There is hardly anything RAW that makes sense after a large enough amount of scrutiny and reality checks. A game rule is supposed to be usable, not perfect, and realistic only up to a certain level, but as players keep looking purposefully at...
  3. Li Shenron

    LLMs as a GM

    Sounds great. My experience was not that great tho... A couple of months ago I asked Copilot to create an adventure and run it for me as a player, directing it to use the latest D&D SRD for any resolution of challenges. Character creation (only one PC) seemed to go very smoothly, although it...
  4. Li Shenron

    RPG Evolution: What Do You Mean, "Run"?

    I don't see anything wrong with having some encounters here and there which are beyond the reasonable combat capabilities of the PCs. However, I am not usually in favour of "subtle hints" to direct the players to flee or not to fight in the first place, I prefer explicit indications. Being...
  5. Li Shenron

    Winning and losing in RPGs...

    I generally consider "winning/losing" as succeeding or failing quests objectives, but it's a range of outcomes, not a simple black or white. And it's a shared outcome of both characters and players, because while the dice rolls may determine the results of individual actions, it's the player's...
  6. Li Shenron

    AD&D 1E Atheist cleric situation...

    I am not familiar with AD&D1 rules but I assume the following is more or less the RAW: According to which, my ruling would be that they suffers from the same limit, because having no deity implies their deity doesn't make its home in the ethereal plane.
  7. Li Shenron

    D&D General You can now turn 2024 Rules off in D&D Beyond

    I don't use DDB but I think this is a good decision.
  8. Li Shenron

    Should PCs Be Exceptional?

    I very much prefer "self-made" heroes. I accept that there is some starting advantages in ability scores but IMO 5e already goes too far with that.
  9. Li Shenron

    D&D 5E (2014) Couple new Ideas, gauging interest

    I like the partner/chorus spells idea. I've seen attempts in the past at rules for multiple spellcasters casting a spell together (circle spells? group rituals?) but then you'd need multiple PCs choosing the same spell if not the same class, and I think it ends up used as an occasional NPC thing...
  10. Li Shenron

    D&D General The joys of playing a PC with low stats

    I played a couple of Wizards with low Int. In some older editions they would be impossible because of minimum Int score to cast spells at all, but there isn't such limitation in 5e. If you build the Wizard around spells that don't require an attack or offer a save (so mostly a defensive/utility...
  11. Li Shenron

    Pace in your game.

    As a DM, I don't do pacing. The players set the pace with their behaviour. Most of the times, the people I played with liked meticulous investigations, tactical combats and social interaction, and I don't see the need to fast-forward something they enjoy. Only if I see the whole group stuck...
  12. Li Shenron

    D&D General Advice needed for planar adventure...

    It sounds like you want to run the Ethereal Plane "by the book", but is it different across settings and editions. I still use the 3.0 Manual of the Planes as a starting point (the 5e DMG has much less information, some of it actually copy-pasted verbatim from the 3.0 MotP), but after running...
  13. Li Shenron

    D&D 5E (2014) What are the latest/last printings of the 2014 core rulebooks?

    I recently got a new 2014 PHB and it says 18th printing.
  14. Li Shenron

    TSR Why would anyone want to play 1e?

    I don't think so. Speed and complexity are real but what I think is, that it is very subjective that all those features are negative aspects in a game, for anyone, which is kind of what your thread title claims... although you did say the title was click-bait. Some people can definitely prefer...
  15. Li Shenron

    TSR Why would anyone want to play 1e?

    I am not familiar with the differences between 1e and 2e, but I have to say that these (other than maybe the first one) do not sound objective but subjective. Which means, to someone else the preferences may be simply reversed.
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