Recent content by THEMNGMNT

Fair point. The Alexandrian blogged that it's this close to being a sandbox. I think you could make it one pretty easily by ripping out the metaplot and mixing in whatever elements you like from the new Forgotten Realms GM book and the older Legacy of the Crystal Shard.

Are these all linear campaigns? I wouldn't say so. To me, Tyranny of Dragons is a linear campaign. Tomb of Annihilation is not. Nor are Tomb of Annihilation, Princes of the Apocalypse, Rime of the Frost Maiden. Storm King's Thunder and Dragon Heist are written as linear adventures...but they...

Welp, this just got me to subscribe to his Patreon.

A fantasy RPG without ability scores could be lots of fun, and I would definitely try it. But it wouldn't be D&D. Ability scores aren't a sacred cow. They are a core design pillar of the game, at least since third edition. I've always felt that skills in D&D are just okay. I would be...

Session 4 with my son (age 6) and daughter (age 9). He's playing a dwarf rogue, she's an elf cleric. Gobs of fun. They went to Cave D, the goblin cave. Freed Vrix the dwarf, killed two goblins, and got the goblin boss to run away. (To return later, naturally!) The fighting was intense, with...

At least all the ones started by Zardnaar!

I too recently came across Knave. Its take on gear/wounds is brilliant. I'm in the process of hacking together Knave and Shadowdark because I do want SOME kind of character progression outside of gear.

My next 5E campaign will start players with Constitution score + rolling the class hit die or taking the default increase. Then no Con bonuses as they level. That keeps hit points higher in Tier 1, but lower in Tier 4. Which fits the power curve of 5E better.

Oh, don't even get me started on "themed spell lists". I ran a 1-20 level campaign with a shadow sorcerer...and guess what? Sorcerers don't get shadow spells. That character felt soooo shadowy every time she cast polymorph or meteor swarm. [Facepalm] I am almost literally dying for D&D to have...

Monk subclass probably works if the spell slots<>focus points ability was moved down to level 3. Spellguard Paladin feels very niche, both thematically and mechanically. This isn't quite the right take. What I really want to see is a Swordmage. The Paladin chassis is sooo close. Haven't looked...

Addressing the actual content of the post... This feels like a half step toward the actual solution. Essentially, he's 1) turning low level spells into cantrips, and 2) limiting the prepared spells to a reasonable number. I'm down with that! What feels off to me is that he introduces this at...

I too sometimes experience cognitive dissonance when Mearls says "Here's what's wrong with 5E!" But in Mearls' defense, his job with 5E was to make the game with widest possible appeal to players past, present, and future. It wasn't to slay the sacred cows and "fix" problems that have...

I don't know the exact answer, but it really depends on their accuracy and damage output. If they can hit reliably and do meaningful damage, then they are worth calculating. If you're keeping low attack bonuses and damage output from the monster as published, then they are probably not worth...

I've played about 75 sessions of 5E with characters in Tier 3 and Tier 4. DMs complain about how high CR monsters don't hit hard enough (which is facts) but it's also true that low CR monsters don't go down fast enough. For example, you would think that a CR2 ogre would go down quickly to a high...

Crows' combination of gear, skills, and basebuilding also sounds like a good framework for a post-apocalyptic scifi game. I mean, that's kind of what Mutant Year Zero already does.