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I'm not willing to tolerate ability damage mechanics with complex knock-on effects on PC and monster stats. This adds more of the sort of makework book-keeping that burned me out on 3.x. And simplifying the math and book-keeping is difficult to do without invalidating the entire concept. I...

In my opinion the appropriate healing model varies depending on desired game style, player preference and other factors. A game with fast combat may make KOing a PC for an entire combat acceptable to the players involved. This also means an increased death spiral if further PCs drop with no...

I think priest concepts which wander too far from the cleric archetype are better implemented as other classes that have the desired flavour and abilities, and perhaps a little reskinning. Priests of the war god that happen to be fighters and priests of the god of magic that happen to be...

How much healing in combat is a necessity, useful feature or dispensable luxury depends on how the system functions as a whole. Frequency of combats, difficulty of combats, average damage per encounter, swinginess of combat, and loads of other factors come together to determine how often PCs are...

In a 30 level scale, levitate type effects about 5th, flight with concentration about 10th, and advanced flight about 16th, maybe 20th about 20th/epic, as casual flight for everyone eliminates so much content. A combination with the emphasis on action economy, definitely. Lower level flight...

I think this is as much a playstyle issue as an edition issue. There are so many variable factors involved,(players, referee, houserules, styles of play etc) that focussing on any one in isolation is difficult at best, and can be misleading at worst. The optimum solution to typical problems...

I think Move and One Action is a good default, as it's the most accessible to new players and allows a more dynamic game than early editions of D&D. There's definitely room for a more detailed action economy in a module. One thing that hasn't been said loudly enough in this thread is the...

I'm not the person you were replying to but want to comment. 1) "Good at fighting" doesn't necessarily mean good at beating up enemies, as that works against the typical wizard strengths in most editions. Wizards can defeat enemies without beating them up. 2) If the wizard wants to beat things...

There are strong opinions on this topic. In the recent Reddit Q&A session AMA: Mike Mearls, head of D&D Research and Design at WotC : rpg said there were loud voices calling for a less effective extended rest. He also said that Because I definitely see hp damage as mostly cuts and...

The thing is counting ammo is something some players find easy, some players find hard, and something some players just don't do due to personality etc. Which means strict resource limits tend to most affect the players who don't or or won't care about such things, and in a mechanical way...

Personally, I would prefer specialist classes and limiting the max spell levels of the generalist mage, forcing a choice between specialisation and versatility. This would of necessity involve allowing specialists to be competent and useful all the time i.e. removing widespread immunities...

The issue I find with ill-defined game elements like the current detect magic is that you end up with situations where a player believes the spell should be able to find something, the referee doesn't but doesn't tell the player that, and what follows is a comedy of errors with the player...

Those who are content with abstract hit points don't need a more elaborate wound tracking system. Adding such a system for everyone is an unnecessary complication. That's not to reduce it's usefulness to those who do want such a system. But the simplicity of the hit point mechanic shouldn't...

Because I'm talking about a style of play in this case that can put story concerns over "realism" and mundane believability, one where player challenges come in different guises than hit point management. Bending over backwards to fit semi-gritty hp management to a more dramatic style of game is...

Now I think of it, the slow healing game isn't a good match for plot-based games with time limits such as "save the princess". A quicker recover game suits this sort of premise better,as the players aren't forced to choose between stopping to rest (which can be acting out of character) or...

That's negative and inaccurate language for the style you don't like and more positive language for the one you do. Which isn't a good way to win any converts, or encourage reasonable debate.. An action-adventure style of game with a lower mortality rate is a perfectly fine style of play, even...

I like encounter based design and encounter powers. I have little inclination to run a guerilla war in D&D, certainly not as a regular game. My players are casual and not into a "challenging" game either. This became clear to me in the D&D next playtest, when I realised I wanted to run the...

I want the option to be able to play 1st level D&D without it being russian roulette. Others can have 1st level russian roulette if they want. Having to start at higher level to avoid sudden death syndrome isn't an option, its a restricition that favours only the grittily inclined. Having...

Magic missile originally needed a to hit roll (something I learned only recently, was changed to auto-hit and remained so until 4e changed it to need a hit roll. It was changed back to auto hit eventually. Fireball and such spells can kill creatures even when they make their saves, and can kill...

This is the disfunctional situation, where players themselves disagree. The functional equivalent where restrictions provide a meaningful impact is when the characters disagree, and the players are willing to play the situation out and see where it goes, without disagreeing OOC. It's when...