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Jack's attention is quite diverted by the illusory tale of the polar bear he artfully weaves for the three children. Thankfully, his companions have their wits about them. Alma is able to engage with the half-elven woman pouring over a journal, bonding in shared scholarly eccentricities. "A...

My fav approach to cantrip limitation is Beyond the Wall: Make spellcasting check when you use a cantrip. If succeed, you cast it fine. If you fail, either you cast and exhaust your uses of that cantrip for the day OR you let the GM come up with a miscast complication.

Been ages since I ran piratical D&D, but the dwarven mage made absolutely awesome use of flaming sphere in the nautical combat and drove off attacking pirates. But to get to that point, they had to survive an arcane gated boarding party (arcane gate comes into range roughly same as regular...

One thing D&D almost never handles well is stun-locking mitigation / soft counters /making it engaging. You mentioned increased mobility in 5.5 combats? I think that's in incredible win. With your experience running 5.5, what do you attribute that to? Because it would seem to be antithetical to...

Yes, true. There’s always blur over at late/end of editions. The explosion of NWP was distinctly associated with 2e. I was more coming at it from the concept of updated clones - for example, OSRIC does not include NWPs afaicr.

From what I remember of playing lots of 2e (with questionable adherence to the rules), when it comes to distinct mechanical features of 2e, there are only two that stick in my memory… Nonweapon proficiencies involving an eclectic mix of “stuff you can just do”, stuff that interfaces with...

If it’s going to be a rigorous system - and not an ad hoc “let’s make it work” spirit of cooperation - then a class based system is what makes sense to me. I believe Grim Hollow has examples of this approach.

Sorry to see you go Happylace! But I completely understand. Stay safe and good luck with everything on your plate.💜 You’re always welcome at my “tables” I will have to puzzle out what to do with Alma and the other retired PCs still with party, but that’s a good problem.

Justice of the Weald and Woe is one I was adapting for a villain that could make an interesting ranger subclass. A stealth-focused, bow-specialized, poison-using, tree striding (like a dryad?), unusual magic using ranger seems like a niche apart from the Arcane Archer and distinct enough from...

Love it. Years ago we used the language “save…AND THEN die” to describe this sort of telegraphing doom but giving players a chance to avoid/prevent/mitigate/use to their advantage before it happens. A simple example is poison as quick damage vs. ongoing/escalating/time-delayed damage. I love...

Greed? Ah, we've been expecting you.

Amazing! I love Adam Rex, that art is phenomenal. :) Wish I was into 2024 D&D, because there’s so much good art.

I’m going to hold off on posting for a week or so to give folks a chance to catch up

GM POST Clyde exhales and for the first time the rattling in the innkeeper's chest is no more. Sharindlar's grace has taken away the ailment plaguing him. Blinking away tears, he exchanges a look with his daughter Marta. She immediately notices the change in her father's countenance – the color...

Clyde, though weakened, has keen weathered eyes as he sizes up Oskar. After a pause, he nods to allow the examination. "I figured most of your kin would be retreating to the Dwarven Valley... seems like every day I hear of a dwarven family packing their bags. You're certainly traveling against...

My experience is D&D's initiative system fails to scale up well for larger groups – even if there's inevitable increase in handling time with more players, the initiative system really exacerbates that. My read is that the more an initiative system is about individual thinking (as opposed to...

Marta offers a weak smile and goes about scribbling in the accounting ledger, before she realizes she doesn't know Oskar's name to enter it in the ledger. "Your name, master dwarf?" She swallows and falls silent at the mention of her father's illness. "A-a- cleric?" Her eyes widen as if...

Physical labor like lifting up snow-buried rafters with a rock bar... that would take time. Doing so in the midst of a snowstorm... that would take endurance. And no reports of lanterns or suspicious activity, they likely were working in the dim light that smothers all of Icewind Dale... that...

As far as emulating the old version in the new edition, I think you did a great job! However, I question the underlying design framework of magic resistance in all editions (and legendary resistance, for that matter). Basically, super cool monster defenses are only interesting so far as they...

I asked that question and McGibster shared their answer/experience already: D&D (2024) - Is Combat Tedious on Purpose? (Links to exact post)