Recent content by Var

Has anyone put any thought into the very minor change to Smites that no longer requires Melee Weapon Attacks like the 2014 version, but Attacks with Melee Weapons? Even though we lost ranged weapons like bows and crossbows from the last playtest, throwing weapons are still fair game for Smites...

Sidenote - I do like the utility that Smite working on Melee weapons opens up. Thunderous Smite on throwing weapons to ground a flier in particular. Yes opening DS up to Counterspell changes the dynamic. But also streamlines it. Having only one Smite per Turn isn't really all that problematic...

The current framework forces Paladin into STR builds or Hexblade dips. The latter being stronger for on paper optimization regarding pure damage output. Let's ignore if that's optimal or not and just consider that these are the bottleneck that all other options will be gated by. Smite only...

Small thing to note - with Smites open to Unarmed and Ranged, Paladin Multiclass requirements should probably be amended to STR/DEX + CHA to allow Dex builds to be viable. Easy enough to houserule, but why not make it official while we're at it. Probably should be considered on all Martials...

Erm please explain to me where a person with normal cognitive ability draws the parallel to black people and Orcs? Wouldn't have ever occurred to me to draw that comparison by myself. From my personal point of view you have to do that on purpose in bad faith, doesn't matter which side you're on...

Well the Romans were a scourge to about any culture who would have liked be be left to their own devices but had the misfortune to live in vicinity of the Mediterranean. Sure the survivors got a technology boost if they didn't end up dead or slaves, rather big if though. And I'm fine with the...

Yeah man, no internet at the time. Has it ever occurred to you that you might be over interpreting a simple lack of effort to flesh out the orc society and eastern humans in the LOTR universe? He build a pretty big world and didn't have time to flesh out everything in detail, some stuff is very...

Yet it ignores the both more closely related direct human analogies, who are in itself definitely problematic by today's standards. Looks entirely like someone swooping in in a different time period complaining about stuff that wasn't a problem during the author's time. Yet he was somehow...

Well maybe because my 8 INT Dwarf Fighter never had an education that promoted inclusiveness and hating all Orcs and Elves would be where he starts his adventuring career. Maybe he learns that pointy ears and big teeth don't make you a bad person along the way. But that's the roleplay part in...

A lot of mental gymnastics going on here to make those points "work". How are Tolkien's orcs racist towards Asians, if the Harad, Khand, Umbar as well as Eastlings exist? You know the in universe people of non European ethnicity who threw in their lot with the bad guys. I'd understand if the...

Well looking at IRL humans, you're a sentient creature and hugely influenced by the environment you grow up in. From that you forge yourself an oppinion ond going from there your free will kicks in. DnD's alignemnts are pretty weaksauce in how rigid they are and how badly they express the...

This is about as far as you can overanalyze things to make it look like they suit your point. Pink haired female gnome main tanks are a WoW meme. No downsides on that there, half duration on certain CCs actually make gnome warriors pretty much optimal. And your main tank is porbably not going...

Gotta say you make a good point both ways. It's 5E we're talking about. Ofc it's going to be optional, huh. Kinda escaped my notice till now... whoops. I'm all for more content, guess the people jumping the bandwagon will be disappointed how the changes are going to be options rather than...

Since he is pretty active on Twitter and a person of color, I'm just making a ballpark guess and claim he saw a good bunch of tweets from other people of color. Looks too me like he saw one too many "kill all pigs" posts and was trying to be a decent human being. Don't know if you remember how...

Ditching alignment altogether is the way to go. Calling a force of nature like a demon "evil" is a misguided attempt to apply human values to something alien without a concept for emotions of kinship, love and kindness. Cats kill for fun, are they evil since they lack a moral compass? I'm okay...