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I kind of like to think of your game stats as giving you characterization that one should bring out in play. It's part of the unique kind of fun of TTRPG's, honestly - there's a REASON this hobby resonates with so many theater kids, and one of the big ones is that it scratches that performance...

This was actually 3e's strategy - bonus types. In practice, we just got a lot of different bonus types.

I'm kind of a critic of skill systems in general, so to me a system that is ranked more by tiers is a little appealing to me. :) But I think that "you can't get much use out of another +1" isn't a great way to stop people from investing another +1, in part because of how immensely satisfying...

We roll dice to find out what happens. If there's no chance of failure or if the outcome is already clear, we don't need to roll dice. So, if the player gives me a persuasive argument and puts that in the mouth of a PC, and there's no real chance that the NPC doesn't believe them, I don't need...

This makes me wonder about the disconnect between the progression math and the player psychology. Number Go Up is tried and true game design for progression, but what if D&D focused a bit more on horizontal growth instead of vertical growth? That is, you get new abilities that are about the...

Evil druids need minions, too. And, it's useful when you've got a corrupting effect that's like making all the squirrels into murderers or something. Swarms of rats also feature prominently in my Snow White / Dark Souls game at the moment (y'know, Disney)

Man, if there ever was a thing tied to genre expectations in D&D, it's the boomstick. For that reason, I think a diversity of answers is probably the best. I'm a big fan of your proposal here. In 5e terms, we'd maybe load your firearm as part of a short or long rest. Works real well. But...

Use Pokemon types! :LOL: "I hit you for 12 points of bug damage." I tend to like an 8-10ish system that expands on the core four: Earth Fire Air (thunder) Water Light (radiance) Darkness (necrotic) Ice Lightning Mind (psychic) Body (force) You could use the 13 elements of Kingdom Hearts: Void...

I like putting former PC's in embarrassing outfits, making them beg on city streets, ensuring that they had a messy breakup with their love interests, giving them horrible scars and at least three infectious diseases that are highly visible and involve various kinds of pungent oozing. If their...

I mean, it's just "typical D&D demon vibes." The tactics action as written is a good idea, but pretty generic - any warlord-esque character could have abilities like that. If they want to lean into the monster's unique place in the game, lean away from generic. Give me demon general. Give me...

I love the idea of working psychic damage or fear or some betrayal-charm effects. Turning the well-ordered army into a screaming mess of terrified backstabbers is exactly the kind of thing that would make a marilith smug. This also lets you differentiate her (and demons in general) from the...

Yeah, I don't think she should make herself a chaotic stupid berserker. I think she should make the chaotic stupid berserkers in her employ more "effective." And I imagine effective, to a demon, is destructive. Even to their allies. A demon general doesn't want to minimize casualties to...

The different weapons struck me as clunky, too. I'm already rolling 5-6 attacks, don't give me four different calcs! I like the addition of a command action, but I'd like it even better if it was more demonic. Demons don't follow orders. They don't do tactics like mortals do. The marilith...

It can vary with the campaign. In my Radiant Citadel campaign, we ended most sessions with a long rest because that episode was over and the start of the next session is a new episode. In my new dark-souls-meets-snow-white campaign, I'm keeping close tabs on the resting (there's a bonfire...

I'm OK with the alchemical savant feature at 5th level as a damage boost. It's main function seems to be making your lower-level spells hit harder, and so it makes it worth it to spend your actions doing alchemist-y things like spraying poisons and acids and fire everywhere. It's probably weaker...

Games don't always work that way. Death is a pretty standard and unsurprising mechanic in a lot of games, even games with strong narrative tendencies. Games don't have to have death, but it's not exactly radical to suggest that they can have death, and that this is a meaningful distinction from...

At level 14, I had... Half-plate with a +2 infusion (17 AC) +2 from Dex modifier (19 AC) +2 from a shield (21 AC) +1 from the Repulsion Shield infusion (22) And +1 from a replicate item cloak of protection (23) And then could down that elixir for another +1 (24) This is probably not...

I think this does vary between editions and even campaigns. One of Eberron's impactful design elements was that there aren't high-level NPC's, for instance (contrasting your Elminsters and your Mordenkainens). While in AD&D, mid-level spellcasters are common enough in general that you can pay to...

The artificer overall looks weaker on paper than I think it is in play. The subclass feature at 3rd level needs to carry the bulk of the playstyle vibe, but none of the subclasses have the power budget to spend on much more than "it's a slightly different weapon attack" and alchemists don't even...

Having played an Alchemist artificer from LV 3-13, I think my XP might be relevant. :) If you're looking for a fix that isn't too radical, the best way to do it is to pump up their potion powers. All artificers are half-casters (so spells aren't your main firepower) with a class feature that...