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Well, a Ray of Frost goes up to 2d8 damage at level 5 and even higher at level 10+, plus it lets you use your magic ability modifier, which is probably 2 to 4 points better than your Dex. As a 10th level wizard, I'd much rather have 3d8 with a +8 to hit than 1d8+2 with a +5 to hit. Plus, it's...

The biggest challenge I've noticed is figuring out when to call for a skill/attribute check. Because the math is so flat, pretty much every check has a substantial chance of success or failure. In 3.x, mid-to-high-level skilled PCs will auto-succeed on checks of moderate difficulty. In D&DN...

I prefer to have the players role and use character initiative to divide PCs into 2 or 3 groups that all go at once (with monsters going in between). IME, you waste a lot of time running through the initiative order player-by-player. -KS

I would reverse the sidebar. I think including damage cantrips (roughly as is -- but with much more variety) is the right default solution. That's supported by my sense that more people prefer them than dislike them. (I know that my gaming group thinks they add to the game.) But - as data is...

I'm not sure I think there are choices that characters "have" to take, but I think it's a reasonable design criticism to complain that one choice is tactically superior to all the others. Sure, not everyone cares about balance, but plenty of people do. (I won't speculate about whether that's...

Agreed completely. I see the biggest failing of the article is that - with the exception of the royal politics adventure - most of the examples were very similar. Without further detail, it's all just killing monsters. We already know that higher level characters fight higher level...

I too would prefer it if the great weapon fighting style that didn't employ a "damage on a miss" mechanic. (I think the mechanic would be OK as a feat or higher level fighter ability.) But as an example of advocacy, the OP effectively demonstrates the dangers associated with hyperbole and...

I have also found that in-combat healing is just less important in D&DN than it was in 3e or 4e. My recollection of AD&D and 2e was that it was common for the fighters to have enough hit points to make it through most encounters without needing healing. In 3e and 4e, my experience was that...

Agreed. And just as significantly, PCs can defeat significantly more powerful opponents if they are able to get into an advantageous situation. Let me tell you, when the PCs are able to get surprise and attack from hiding, it's huge. Not only do the PCs effectively get a free round of...

Our modern real world has a much higher population density than a typical D&D world and most people in a typical D&D world don't have cars, trains or other modern forms of transportation. It's a good article, but the lack of any sort of comparison between D&D maps and historical cities was an...

I would be perfectly happy with an intro game first, but that's mostly because I'd like to see WotC take as much time playtesting the game as possible. I liked that WotC spent the time fine tuning 4e, but the rapid accumulation of errata made the published books very difficult to use. 3.5...

Agreed. We've had this mechanic for a while, but at least 3e (and in a different way 4e) mitigated the non-ability check version of this issue by providing hefty skill modifiers. Now that we're stuck with tiny proficiency adjustments (the lucky rogues and bards exempted), this problem shows up...

I don't have anything to add to your PF-related questions, but that sounds like a terrific campaign setting. -KS

This strikes me as one of the better rethinks we've seen in Wandering Monsters (and maybe the best). I think they recognize a real issue with sphinxes and came out with new creature story that hews closer to the mythological source material than the traditional D&D material does. I think...

I'd like to see a rule for "climbing on" replace grappling when the target is larger than the creature initiating the grapple. Grapple just doesn't make sense for larger targets. I’ve been grappled by halfling sized people and it definitely doesn’t reduce my speed to zero. Similarly, the...

I'll probably go back to drawing maps free form (using whatever scale is appropriate for the scene) and use miniatures to help the players understand relative position, but I don't see myself counting squares again. -KS

We'll have to look at it, obviously. But from what I hear, this system looks very interesting: 1) When it comes to dynamically calculating a druid's animal form combat stats, I think zero calculations is a really nice number. Sure, you can calculate out your combat forms ahead of time, but if...

I agree that the existing proficiency bonus doesn't do enough, but I think increasing it by a small amount only helps so much. The objective is to prevent silly disparities. I wonder if a better idea is to grant proficient characters an extra d20 (like advantage, but ideally stacking) on...

I think Klaus and Repsesper are both correct in spirit, and this highlights the inconsistencies with the current skill rules. The DM guidelines clearly suggest that a roll on a given challenge could be appropriate for some characters and yet not for others. At the same time, the DM guidelines...

I like the simple rule. Sure, it's not that hard to have a flat-footed AC on the character sheet, but each additional number of the character sheet adds complexity. My less rules savvy players were definitely confused by having three different ACs (regular, touch, flat-footed) on their...