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If you want to see how badly the basic D&D approach of ascending damage, defense, and hit points works if you do something other than "journey to the fantastic," even within high fantasy, try the game Divinity: Original Sin II some time. You spend a great deal of time traveling laterally, from...

OK, here's a sketch. I'm templating this on the 5e half-casters, using the 4e Swordmage as a guide. It's not complete but I think this outline should work. You meld magic and swordplay together to become a bulwark of the party. You're also some weird purple spiky thing who dresses more for...

I think 5e's easily the best edition of D&D, and there is no obvious runner up. Just being the only edition that doesn't fly apart after 8th level or so due to the LFQW problem gives it that honor. That said, I can definitely agree there are particular types of things it doesn't do particularly...

Even more pertinent is that the most popular cola in any given region is simply whichever brand achieved mass distribution there first. People will tell you they like Pepsi, Coke, or Dr Pepper best for this or that reason, but the real reason is typically "that's who managed to get into every...

Maybe the class also offers brand-name, out-of-season clothing at discount prices.

Without armor proficiency, Swordmage is going to pretty MAD. Rather than fiddle with conditional buffs the way 4e did, I'd just use existing classes as a template. There's the monk/barbarian way, or just give him better armor. What are you doing about Aegis? Given what it did in 4e and the...

At my table, if you make a roll, there are no more chances. The ability check typically represents 10 minutes of due diligence. You've done your best, and if you failed, you failed. There's no trying again with better light, or with help, or switching to detail searching, or whatever. Time to...

RIP Swordmage, Warden, Warlord, Avenger, and Shaman. We hardly knew ye. Oh yeah, and the PHB3 classes. Never saw anyone use those. I think a Swordmage could still work as a class, something with no better than medium armor proficiency, and relying on magic to modify attacks and defenses, but...

My approach is that if you say, specifically, "I look under the bed," and there's something under the bed, no roll. If you say "I search the room," you roll. I feel this rewards clever players without punishing less clever players with good stats. I have a player who takes a both-and approach...

"Traps? When would a DM ever want to put traps in a dungeon? We don't really need mechanics for that, do we? Fine, here's a single table...now, on to those 25 pages on the multiverse!" There are actually a surprising number of charts in the DMG that would theoretically be useful if it were at...

The exploding popularity of video games helped a lot too. Lots of people who have never played D&D have played Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, or Skyrim. "It's kind of like that, but with dice" is the easiest 1-sentence explanation I've ever given of DnD. And yes, I get the irony...

Possibly (1), DM's call. If the DM allows the rogue to proceed stealthily, then (2). I generally do not allow (1) in combat. Plenty of sources of advantage otherwise, and what self-respecting rogue isn't carrying a ranged weapon?

I don't think that's so far off (COD is actually similar in that it offers a wide variety of modes and builds to suit a decent range of play styles). That said, the main thing DnD has going for it is that it simply is The Roleplaying Game. It defined and continues to define what the hobby is...

Man, I have tried, but I'm just not enough of a ruthless taskmaster. I think all my ruthlessness gets absorbed in preparing ambushes.

There is, absent environmental or status effects, only one way to lose or gain line of effect on a target: Moving. If you can't see your target in your current spot, you have to Move out of it. The rules in that case are once again unambiguous. Move happened before Attack, so when you make your...

I said I started running harder encounters in response to player slowness, not the other way around. I could name the specific individuals whose presence quadruples play time. If they're not there, we move a lot faster and get a lot more done. I've learned such fights are a waste of no less...

If the attack has already happened, damage has already been rolled. The d20 roll doesn't represent any particular moment in time. In melee, it doesn't even represent an individual strike of the weapon. No attack, no peeking, drawing your bow, or aiming. They didn't feel the need to specify...

You don't remain hidden unless you have the Skulker feat.

In the case of a hiding spot where you can't see out without moving out, such as a Fog Cloud or Darkness, your Move is what broke your cover, and I rule the same way. In cases where I'm explicitly allowing an attack from a hiding place, the assumption is some combination of camouflage...

Choosing a target and aiming doesn't happen before the attack. It's part of the attack. No need to see when, exactly, in the attack sequence, your head emerges from cover precisely enough for you to be seen. In relation to the d20 roll, its effects apply after resolution. Hiding doesn't...