Recent content by mearls

Lack of time, really. Were I to hack 5e for better high level play, I think I'd try to build content for both DMs and players. So maybe something like this: Classes go to level 10 as normal For level 11+, the DM picks a campaign style and the classes get features that speak to that 5e as...

That's correct. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest in my mind is that the work needed to play and run the game goes up significantly, but the enjoyment of playing the game remains the same. More work for the same amount of fun.

I think that's the key. Adoption isn't as important as having the option to adopt. If someone runs the game using the core rulebooks and has no problems, they can just keep doing that. Ideally, if they have an issue there's a product or expansion that solves it for them. If the boss monster...

The idea that players will optimize the fun out of a game is an old one. For a TTRPG, the design challenge comes in finding ways to give DMs the tools to keep their games fun. If the DM is bored, the game probably ends. Competitive games have solved that adjusting the environment. A video game...

That's a cool idea! I love this idea for promoting creative play. I could see an ultrafast creature that you can't target until you have reduced it speed to 60 ft or less. Conditions might reduce its speed rather than affect it while it is in that mode. You can encourage creative play and novel...

In looking at 5.5 and playing it, there have been some adjustments to the math. I think it the spreadsheet balance is consistent, but the in-play experience is a bit different: Monsters hit harder if you use the 5.5 MM, but healing is massively buffed, so they cancel each other out IME. The...

In a lot of ways, the job of a game designer works like this: Guess Get it wrong Adjust And you keep doing that until you are more right than wrong. Then you release! But it gets better. The audience keeps changing, so your game is probably wrong in new ways within a few weeks of release. I...

Wow, that is the most elegant expression I've ever seen of the core tension in 5e. Having played a lot of AD&D and B/X (via OSE) in the past couple years, I think that the main failing of 5e (and that's relative - the game obviously has done very well) is the mismatch between AD&D play patterns...

The Dying Earth RPG has social combat and little to no physical combat. You all play rascals, con artists, and criminals who use social skills and wit to trick NPCs (and other PCs!) into deranged scams, obviously terrible ideas, and unhinged get-rich-quick schemes. The high point of the sample...

For folks who don't like the new lore, it's a small part of the book. Outside of the PDK entry, it's not (from what I have read so far) a foundational piece of the setting. I think it does a good job of trying something new without complete rewiring the setting. I think the writers were aware...

I see it like this: The Krynn thing is background detail. I can't see it ever coming up in my game. I actually like leaning into the gem dragons. It lets me position the PDKs as sitting outside the traditional metallic vs. chromatic struggle. I like that it introduces a third faction in that...

Yeah, I think this gets lost in thinking about the change. It's the key driver to making them bigger players across Faerun. IMO FR struggles a bit with being too regional. Having more global groups helps give it more of a cohesive feel (again, IMO, YMMV, etc).

It measures threat. Encounter building works like this: If monster and PC levels are equal: 4 minions per PC 2 troopers per PC 1 champion per PC 2 PCs per elite 4 PCs per solo Monsters also have XP values so you can mix and match using the DMG encounter rules.

I’m working on an alternate Monster Manual as part of my Patreon that breaks monsters into roles. Some roles are meant to outnumber or equal the party in size. Their hit points and defenses are based on at-will damage. Monsters that the party outnumbers base their hit points on the characters’s...

I bought them and am happy with the set. The cost per maps is reasonable. I just used the digital version of the ruined keep map in my game today. If you own the DMG on D&D Beyond, you can see the Beadle & Grimm versions in the Maps app. I have two complaints, and they are very minor: The...