Search results

But the hitpoints are ok? How about number of spells, or save bonuses? The games numbers are pretty arbitrary in most cases, and the level system is a way to both build and gauge relative threat. You either end up assigning high armour class to high levels, or building creatures "logically"...

No, I'm saying that bit I suggested is likely the "core" that is being described as completed, whilst most of the rest is up for grabs and more likely to change due to feedback in play testing. I have no real interest in either defending or attacking the designers. At the moment I'm thinking...

The "core" they are referring to is probably just D20 checks with advantage/disadvantage, the six stats, hit points, AC and class/race/background/specialty build structure, plus the basic unaugmented combat rules. Most of the "how to play" document is core, most of the other documents are not.

With that approach to design the consistency is with level and xp as opposed to stats and feats. Really all the stats, feats and other fiddly bits are just proxies for level in any case. There's no actual self-consistency, just a lot of detail. Sometimes the detail is fun. I used to love adding...

Good idea. Make it ~15 (so that value is worth having), and exclude the stat you applied your class bonus to - because you already get all the "skills" inherent in your class mechanics for that one! However, the bad news for this idea is that the skills and stats are going to be separated...

Sounds like a challenge! :cool: I would suggest that a weapon generalist could gain a specialism benefit that represents that choice (going beyond Fights-with-all-weapons to benefits from fighting with multiple weapons). In which case, you can "specialise" in generalisation! 4E in fact has this...

This. Dragons don't lair in pleasant places, on the whole. A few miles of rotting swamp, or burning desert, or unscalable volcanic mountain, are no barrier to a dragon, and keep the pests (adventurers) away. These sorts of wild location often have their own denizens, that need to be tough or...

I changed them to humans with greatswords just recently, after someone mentioned that they didn't allow Dwarves to become Intoxicated ;) The current implementation is in Perl. I'm moving it to Ruby - because I am moving to Ruby professionally, and it's good to have a goal when learning new...

I think you are in a "could DMPC" situation here. But have you considered adding a "pet" or loyal servant as a long-running NPC? I'd suggest loyal to whole group, and maybe something that gets discovered/rescued in the first or second session . . . Non-human allies or pets can fill useful team...

Chaotic Shiny - Pantheon Generator . . . semi-serious. You can get a wider view on how a pantheon might be described by taking a good look around. I quite like the domains system, as it allows a DM to create their own thing. My own world has this (feel free to raid into your design/view)...

I'd like to see Int be a solid choice for second stat for any class where it is not a prime stat. That means having some benefit to go along with it, that would be useful to a wide range of characters. But not over-powering when granted to characters who have Int as a primary stat. Not so sure...

The PC should be effectively Columbo in any murder-mystery ;). They have an inherent feel for who did it, but still need to get the bad guy to reveal their hand, so they can deal with them in front of witnesses. Introduce complications for bare-faced accusations against high-ranking NPCs. These...

This sort of thing IME is just as likely to happen with "favoured NPCs" as DMPC additions to the party. The main difference being that a DMPC is around for more of the story, so there are more opportunities for even an otherwise level-headed DM to slip up. IMO, signs you should not run a DMPC...

The old bonuses from specialisation are now more than covered by fighter's better attack bonus and allowing Combat Superiority to add to damage (amongst other things). The latter is also quite complex. I don't think there is space for favoured weapons any more, unless some feats or fighting...

I'm not a fan of "handed down by angels" magic. I prefer channeling to be available due to purity of soul and true believing. So a secret demon-worshipper would have to "fake it" - pretend to pray to the good guys, and secretly be stealing life force from somewhere so that the miracle heals...

Actually I think a more valid argument against the dump stat -> 25 with a magic item being unfair, is that it was dump stat; pretty much everything that character does (and that player wanted them to do) is not related to the stat, so the magic item is not likely to be of interest. There are...

I agree, but have to start somewhere, and that is with the simplest scenarios. I see the current simulations as a small step forward from simplistic "DPR" and "number of rounds on average" etc calculations already used to assess PC/player choices in a lot of technical discussions. I'm currently...

Yes, that's the gist of it. But it would be good to have a solution that steers back to fun and genre-relevence, as opposed to player/PC punishment. As a DM, I guess I don't enjoy "we've found some treasure, now let's do chicken impressions" in the same way as I don't enjoy "lets pause the game...

This bit is quite close to re-inventing the 4E Skill Challenge :cool:

I want it remain recognisably "D&D" in the rules (whatever that means to the majority of players). To the extent that I might look at the end result and decide not to play it - but I'll be happy that its there and "being D&D" for everyone who does. I think the six ability scores, classes...