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That last item is the key. Combat presents meaningful decisions. Each round, you make choices about where to move, which resources and abilities to use, which opponents to target, which allies to buff or heal, etc. Many of the die rolls in combat could be eliminated and it would still work. For...

Unless I'm misunderstanding the changes, the role of "foes who might become allies or friends" is exactly where NPC orcs are likely to end up when the Monster Manual comes out. Now, if they take it to the point of excising any suggestion of orcs ever being hostile or evil, then I'll be on your...

What is that niche, exactly? I personally find undead make the perfect "kill on sight baddies," because they can fill almost any such role you need them to. They have a ton of mythic resonance, they can show up anywhere from the deep wilderness to the heart of a great city, and they span...

It's more about the "canonical" portrayal of orcs in official material. For most of D&D's history, that version of orcs was not based on Mongols or Romans; it was much more like indigenous tribes in various parts of the world -- or, more precisely, like the stereotypes of those tribes that were...

As far as orcs go, it's not all that hard to replace them as Generic Baddies without replicating their issues. Those issues arise because orcs live in tribal societies that look an awful lot like human societies, and adventurers heading out to kill them and take their stuff looks an awful lot...

The biggest thing right now is just gaining that fifth paladin level. At that point, you have a decently optimized build already: paladin with a 2-level fighter dip for Action Surge. I assume you picked compatible fighting styles? (That is, you can use them both at the same time?) The middling...

Little-known rule: Raising your Strength score above the maximum allows you to go back in time and change your action when you blow an Athletics check.

It isn't always that clear-cut. Suppose I plan an encounter with the expectation that it should be X difficulty; but either I make a miscalculation or the listed CR for that monster is off (as has been known to happen), and the combat is either way harder or way easier than I intended. If I...

They support combat scenarios more complex than simply "kill everything that isn't you." For example: 1. The good monster is an ally (not a summon or pet, an actual ally) that helps the party. 2. The good monster must be rescued or released. Once it is, it helps the party. 3. The good monster...

Do you plan to keep both items? If you know what you're going to be facing and have an hour to prepare, you can swap in the item that will serve you best against that foe. But you still need to decide your standard loadout for when you don't have the time or recon to tailor your gear to the...

Ability scores. And I don't mean the current set of six. I mean the whole mechanic. They are a blight on the game, especially since 3E when they became integrated into absolutely freaking everything. Imagine how much simpler it would be to learn and teach the game, how many options for...

There is also the fact that a lot of us have ADHD and modern life is more or less designed to aggravate it. If I'm going to get through a book at all on the first read, it will be by triggering hyperfocus, which means I'm going to plow through it at maximum intensity. The way I appreciate the...

So, before reading the outcome, my reasoning: If the specialty plate is being made to order (i.e., a driver sends in an image plus money and the state prints a plate with that image), then it's pretty clearly a First Amendment issue and the Sons are in the... well, not "the right," but the case...

In my favorite Christmas movie, a down-on-his-luck inventor brings home a magical new pet for his son, who learns important lessons about life, love, and proper feeding times. And we discover the amazing story of a dad who risked everything to give his family a Christmas they would never forget.

In chess, the ability for pawns to move two squares on the first move was a kludge introduced to speed up games. En passent was added as a kludge on top of the kludge, to preserve some elements of the older style of play. In 5E, two-weapon fighting comes to mind. The use of a bonus action, the...

My overall opinion is "Meh." There are a number of nice little improvements, but nothing that knocks my socks off. Meanwhile, the complexity dial has been cranked up a couple more notches, and it was already higher than I liked. Some "fixes" ended up breaking the mechanic in question even...

Okay, fair point. I should have said a spear, as long you can make it without jamming up at every corner. The main point was that swords are designed for fighting humans, not monsters, and the longer blades are specialized for particular forms of human-fighting. There's a reason nobody hunted...

Because the fighter gets to make twice (or three times, or four times) as many attacks. And has more hit points. And better AC. And so on, and on, and on. If all combats were settled by each player making one single d20 roll... then yeah, the fighter would and should get a much higher bonus...

The obvious weapon for a dungeon crawler is a pike. It combines long reach and thrusting action (because you'll often have limited space preventing you from taking a swing); a pike is perfect for holding back a monster in a narrow tunnel. Your sidearm would be a short sword, something to use at...