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Good analysis BB. To play devil's advocate slightly (although I'm not countering your post), having a list of "skills" allows for the skill system to exist, if that makes any sense. You could separate skills from abilities and consolidate, but you then lose granularity of the system. If you...

Of the issues I have with 5E, the skill list is way, way down the list. Sure you can tinker with it and make a case for one skill over another, but in general, the existing list is as good as any.

Aside from some monster entries, it's really not. The core boxed sets are not goofy at all and the setting can be quite grimdark. Races like the neogi, mindflayers, scro, beholders, etc are quite nasty and slavery is featured prominently. Yes, there are gnomes and giant space hamsters. But...

I've seen a lot of Initiative systems from D&D and other games. All have their pros and cons of course but I've come to the realization that it's a fool's errand to come up with something that provides better gameplay than d20 + Dex. I certainly don't think it's the "best" by any means but it...

Agree entirely. Saltmarsh as a home base is awesome. Tons of flavor and lots of plot hooks and NPCs. Overall I like the adventures they added. I was disappointed with Danger at Dunwater and Final Enemy though. So much potential to be reinvented/reimagined as a series of encounters and...

1. Inspiration - which saddens me; great concept, poor/lackluster execution 2. Hit Dice for healing - I can't count the number of times I've explained the rules for spending & regaining Hit Dice :cautious: 3. My players sometimes get confused with spell targeting, but that's mainly due to not...

I've thought about what a dragon-focused campaign would look like. They are the most iconic monster (it's in the name!) but battles against them are fairly rare (for good reason). But what if "dragons" are more common as enemies? The first sources that come to mind are Skyrim and Reign of Fire...

Wearing heavy armor as a Life cleric isn't for the ability to fight in melee, it's the ability to survive/tank in melee while healing and buffing your allies. That you can swing your weapon contribute some damage once in a while is just icing on the cake (and gets better with Divine Strike).

The trick with Life clerics is having the strength to make use of heavy armor. That's the biggest decision you have to make up front. Or go dwarf.

Compare to Vicious Mockery, which requires an action to cast and and a save and only grants disadvantage on one attack (with some middling damage to boot). At the bare minimum it shouldn't be a bonus action.

Dwarven Forge - My backing has waned as they have become more expensive but I went heavy in the first 3. Their stuff is amazing. Reapers Bones - Bones 5 just finished recently. You have to like to paint but you get a TON of great miniatures. Terrain Crate - Really nice terrain and scenery...

5E isn't perfect (no system is obv) but it strikes an extremely good balance between mechanics/options and narrative play. PF certainly has customization in spades but it suffers from all the problems that 3ed did. PF2 looks like it has an interesting evolution of some mechanics but the books...

I love the 3ed adventures from Necromancer games: Vault of Larkin Karr, Lost City of Barakus, and Tomb of Abysthor are great. They are great sandbox campaigns too.

I've been meaning to post in there. I haven't run it but I have some ideas I've been working on for a possible campaign. I really like Saltmarsh as a home base. There is so much you can add to it. While the lizardfolk-sahuagin conflict is interesting, Danger at Dunwater and Final Enemy really...

I am VERY player-friendly with this kind of stuff. I'll ask the player what they want to do and how they want to do it. I'll let the player choose the proficiency if they have a reasonable justification for it. I'll even grant advantage if they come up with something cool. My goal as a DM is...

Agreed. Subclass abilities (like feats) are nowhere near made equal. That's the trick with introducing a la carte choice to 5E. 5E handles a la carte customization and modularity but the abilities themselves aren't designed and balanced against each other to support it cleanly.

I like this idea a LOT, and I've been working on something very similar myself. However, my concern is that it will lead to cherry-picking. The subclasses are written with the three pillars in mind. Subglasses usually grant a combat ability first and a social/exploration ability after. If any...

I really like Saltmarsh as a home base but I'm not a big fan of U2/U3 either. I like the idea of a war between lizardfolk and sahuagin but those "adventures" are a mess. They are massively detailed dungeons for what should be a series of stealth and role-playing challenges. Anyway, I'm...

Armor as DR works best in genres where wearing armor is rare, and there are mechanics to simulate unarmored combatants (defense, parry, etc). Wearing armor then gives you DR but hinders your ability to avoid getting hit. Given D&D's abstraction of hit points and AC, I wouldn't layer DR on top...

D6 is the best Star Wars rpg, hands down, and one of my favorite RPGs of all time. What I meant is that I would treat Spelljammer like fantasy Star Wars. Star Wars at its heart is essentially a sci-fi pulp/adventure setting. With Spelljammer, you turn down the tech and throw in more fantasy...