Recent content by Scott Christian

That's fair enough too. It's just if you have one-on-one time to explain it to the player, they seem to do really well. But, it is hard to explain over and over again how/when/where certain spells work. But you are right, both are elements that could be improved with a simple caster.

That is awesome. How easy did you find it to port? How did it go for the players? Did they already know those modules?

There has been a lot of discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of 5e D&D lately. So, I thought it might be good for us to understand each other's experiences. To do this, maybe we should share an overview of the 5e (2014 & 2024) D&D campaigns we've DMed or played in. A simple chart like...

This is exactly why DPR or battlefield control or buffing or defense can't be measured. All that happened is people looked deeper into what combat is, noticed other variables, then decided to do the same thing with those as earlier people did with DPR. That's it. That's all they did. But every...

@Snarf Zagyg Thank you for explaining this in a way only you can. There have been so many debates on "balance" that it is impossible to count. The +1 argument is real. This hopefully helps DMs and players understand that the number of variables in a game diminish the "true statistic" many keep...

I have been thinking about it, and when we talk about a simple casting class, the spells should be looked at more than the class progression. That is the "confused player during combat" piece that I see. It happens much more often than "confused player while levelling up."

Sure. Break/lift/jump.

It's left up to the skills the player wants their character to focus on. If they are great at persuasion and performance, yet terrible at athletics, then odds are the player is describing their character as charismatic. If they are great at sleight of hand, and terrible at persuasion and...

I am really sorry to hear that. I have been lucky. All my DMs (all six of them) over the past twenty years have been spot-on, as have been most of the players. I feel lucky. Hopefully, your luck will change, and you'll roll a 20 with your next DM.

Yes, it does. Thank you for the detailed explanation. I appreciate you taking the time to detail the difference.

In our city, we have an entire industry for paid DMs. It is all in person, and the locales vary from the library, to the game shops, to breweries, to smoke shops. To my knowledge (I was asked to be a DM but can't be due to time restraints), there are about a dozen DMs. It's $25 per person for a...

Players adding to the fiction, especially setting, is not player-driven? I'm definitely listening. It's not. And that was why I asked the question and have several other posts positing that player-driven is the same as simply playing with a good table. They are the same. Now, rulesets can ease...

I will say this, when I run my system, there are no ability scores, just skills. That said, these skills can seem to mirror some of the "classic" abilities. I am not sure there is a way around that. I just liked the idea of not tying an ability to your class. It makes the character development...

That's fair. Although Rime starts out sandboxy with Ten Towns, but then definitely gets on the linear path later. And Tomb is definitely sandbox, but with little work, it can become very linear.

I know this is a bit out of the box, but I would go to the bar (or whatever hangout you prefer), have drinks or tea or coffee, and discuss your character. Have fun with it. Tell your ending. Have others tell your ending. Enjoy some good food. Laugh. Toast. Listen to some good music if you can...