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Well the stealth rules were in the playtest documents by the end, although I don't remember when they made their first appearance - certainly a year before release. Maybe we were too busy worrying about class balance to explore them in full detail. That said, I prefer the 5e light rules than...

Are you suggesting that 5e was untested before release? What were you doing for the two years before it came out? The lore is unfinished yes. A combination between not having the staff and time to create more than they need and a lack of people who would buy it maybe. It would be interesting to...

I have played in two evil campaigns with a fair amount of success The first required us to be childhood friends who had grown up in a city together (Luskan) and then been forced to leave. This created a strong bond between the characters, both in their background and the fact that they needed...

'And they think they have it hard' said the prone snake to the prone giant slug

Yeah its about 1 point of damage per hit difference without feats. Its the usual suspects that extend those numbers though. The tactical benefits of Shield Master (sword and board) or Tavern Brawler (no shield free hand) are great fun but overshadowed by the pure damage output of GWM, Polearm...

I assumed a two handed sword or maul doing 7 points on average, with great weapon fighting taking this up to 8.3. Add the +5 Str and its up to 13.3 on a hit. With a 65% to hit and 5% to crit its just over 9 damage. I didn't include the usual GWM feat as there are lots of varying factors. I...

After 11th level use of war magic becomes far more conditional. If you want to do pure damage then 3 attacks is the way to go. A maxed out two handed sword fighter is doing about 9 points of damage per attack (assuming 65% hit rate) and so could expect do to about 27 in a round. The same fighter...

I think at the level you have picked for this example you are absolutely right, that most spellcasters will easily make room for a 3rd level fireball as opposed to a scaled up 1st level burning hands. However at higher levels, at least in my experience, this doesn't continue. A fireball may well...

We allow this for levels beyond 20th instead of granting a feat or boon per level. I guess it works at lower levels too

We tend to prep higher level spells as utility spells and use lower level spells for damage and combat effect, which we scale up as needed. So I guess you can say we do it quite a lot. For example a 5th level wizard might learn and prepare fly rather than fireball, and use shatter as their...

Hardy unplayable, you just can't use reaction spells unless you take the warcaster feat - basically shield and counter spell. Everything else works out just fine, even if occasionally you skip the odd opportunity attack. In fact sword and shield is probably the best option if you plan on using...

Although it may be presented that way, the end threat of PotA is far from an elemental apocalypse and is certainly not world threatening. Its more like a local problem that could build over time. Besides, none of that is even apparent really until the party is pretty deep into the adventure and...

Agreed. I was just referring to the OPs second post which referred to going sword and board

Its also worth noting that the shield spell becomes hard to use with a real shield as you don't have a free hand at the right time. Maybe later with the warcaster feat but in general I don't like that one since it doesn't help with spells that need a material component

I ran Grazzt against 3 prepared 20th level characters in our ongoing campaign and he lasted fairly well with his two Marilith companions. I made good use out of sanctuary so the party had a very difficult time trying to attack him (I played up the whole he's so beautiful you cant bring yourself...

What I do is only provide a limited range of the feats available to be taken at first level. Basically anything that states or implies that it makes a character a master or expert in something is out (crossbow expert, heavy armour master etc). This leaves the underused feats like the armour...

Its only just started but Mike Shea's new video podcast should be pretty good for DM advice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULaopY2EMwk

We require a stealth check to ensure the opponent doesn't know where you are - not as a hide action but just a move silently check

Just for a bit of current reference from a recent novel. Death Masks written by Ed Greenwood includes Elminster as you can imagine but also a detailed storyline about Mordenkainen from Oerth in none other than Waterdeep (basically him and El are old friends). I think its fairly true to say that...

I would go for EK7 if you fancy using a cantrip like booming blade, thunderclap or swordburst, followed up by a weapon attack as a bonus. Otherwise EK 11 for the 3 attacks. Saying that, you don't need to decide yet. Just start taking wizard levels and see where you end up. If you do go EK 7 and...