pemerton's latest activity

At a lot of tables, the GM doesn't control things by anticipating the maths. The GM controls things by intervening directly, fudging...

How is a fiction where a wizard has more or less resources than the other more believable? How does having 4-6 spell slots versus 2 or 3...

I dont think point is that sales means design is good as such. Ultimately I reject what I think is your underlying premise, that a...

No, they said nothing about good design. There argument is that there is not a strong reason to change course if what you are doing is...

To add to Parmandur's post: Looser design and looser maths makes it easier for the system to drift, and creates more room for GM...

Those weren't really magazines, but I haven't forgotten about them. The three Annuals and the Yearbook will be counted in part five of...

If it's something I commonly saw in GURPS in the 90s (the Lucky advantage) I have problems considering it "modern"

Encounter math certainly matters to WotC...tight math, however, is a different story. The current 5E math allows for the game to work if...

I didn't say anything about design being good or bad. I talked about WotC's reasons for doing this or that. I don't see why WotC has any...

Is there not...? Do they...? I think it shows whether WotC perceives a major concern among their plauer base on this front.

1. Practically yes. The medicine skill and per-encounter powers like Lay On Hands means that post-battle healing is cheap(and in battle...

Abilities meant for use outside of combat can either be used at will or have some built-in limitation. For example, a Void Elementalist...

This sounds similar to 4e D&D, where the maths relative to a given level of play is pretty flat. The rationale for level-based...

That's not the read I'm getting. One group wants attrition of offensive power throughout the day*. You use a fireball on those 8 orcs –...

Yes. This isn't controversial, is it?