Search results

My personal happy starting spot is 5th level. I'll run a campaign with 1st-5th right when an edition comes out, but otherwise I never bother. For my group who have played multiple systems for multiple decades, that feels like playing the video game tutorial. You need to do it once, but only...

7-12th level is where my knee-jerk reaction is to mid-level. Why that range? It brackets 10th level, the literal midpoint of the system. Beyond that, it can't be too wide a spread and 7th level spells don't "feel" like "mid-level" to me so it can't go up to 13.

I'd say re-introduce the staff-sling. Adding another 2-3 feet of moment arm significantly ups the power, so take the damage to d6. And let the staff act as a cudgel in melee. I would also say lead bullets should get a boost over stones. They have less air resistance, hit a smaller area and...

While technically the same as the OP, "spotlighting" feels materially different in nature. One is avoiding their weaknesses, the other is giving their strengths a chance to shine. "Oh no, there's no PC cleric, guess I shouldn't use this necromancer adventure" Vs "Hrmmm, the fighter hasn't...

I'm pure A. I leverage published components maybe 25% of the time, but mostly I keep the mechanics as-is and rewrite the plot. Mechanics changes are generally to fix something dumb, The other 75% of the time the NPCs have resources appropriate to whatever they are and they use them in a way...

It's interesting. I feel like it needs a lot more fungi, oozes, puddings and slimes as the "crops" or "livestock".

"Mwahahahahah! It shambles about once more! It veritably oozes meta-recursion as a years-dead thread on necromancy is reanimated! A triumph!" - faceless necromancer

A PC's "weight class" is a set of numbers on a page compared to another page with a different set of numbers. Erase a number on the second page, the one next to "CR", and replace it with a lower number. Ta-da. We just got a new set of scales. Encounter balancing is always something of an...

When I see if players want to be in a game, I have the basic world events planned for 18-24 months of game sessions. I don't revise those based on party make up. I revise them based on player agency. And honestly, when the NPCs tailor their actions to the party, it is generally NOT to the...

I don't thinks martials are ineffective in 5e but they seem boring at many points. At every level, full casters get 1-2 notable new spells. Martials tend to hit stretches of "just more of the same".

I would rather buff martial more. 5e has significantly fewer spell slots than previous editions. A 3e caster could have 4-6x spell slots of all levels. Yes, they could cast multiple wishes/miracles each day. And a 3e sorcerer had more spells known than a 5e wizard can prepare. Plus a...

Really seems like a job for druids. No metal shields or armor,shillelagh cudgel in hand, and claws/fangs & summons the rest of the time. Except for the fact the druid planted it. You think the wizard is opposed to armor? They need their canned-meat-shield. Druids are more likely to drop...

The occassional zombie outbreak, a goblin horde ot just a thundering herd of charging herbivores are good places for fireball to show its value.

Biweekly for 6-7 hour sessions. (Clarification: the version of "biweekly" that means "once every other week" I assume the "twice a week" form of biweekly is captured by "more than once a week")

It is a +25% hp increase, inline with the troll. That 1hp may seem immaterial but to a low level character it is the difference between a Magic Missile killing kobolds 50% of the time vs 25% of the time. Or a dagger/dart/sling.

Sure. If your barbarian gets lucky that's great. Our fighter failed his save and began beating the wizard like a rug with Action Surge. The Raksasha was hiding behind a minor illusion. When the fighter finally made his save, the Raksasha used minor illusion (no verbal components) to draw...

You know, the Yugoloths could be devils and demons who ceased to be Lawful or Chaotic and their physiology changed to match their new alignments. (Which fits with a fallen angel becoming fiend) Maybe a devil wants to break contracts or a demon wants to actually stick to a plan. Yugoloths...

I like the 2025 Raksasha because it is less powerful than 2014. The 2014 one was game breaking. Let's review: The 2014 Raksasha "can't be affected or detected by spells of 6th level or lower unless it wishes to be. It has advantage on saving throws against all other spells and magical...