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It's a fair point that giving mechanics a mechanical distinction benefits only the players, not the fictional characters in the campaign and how they see the world. And yet... Most importantly, the game is for the players and not for the fictional characters. As a DM if I care most about the...

I don't understand the backlash either. Yes, the name "Dragon+" got our hopes up a bit, but did anyone really think it would contain 50 pages of gaming articles? It's not like they've called for submissions or anything. In this issue there was an interview with Ed Greenwood that I found mildly...

Isn't it? 2E introduced the single-class bard, which stayed through future editions. 3E introduced the raging barbarian and sorcerer, which stayed through future editions. 3.5E introduced the warlock, which was a big hit and stayed through future editions--and this was a major departure from...

This is really excellent work. I never played Dark Sun, but this makes me want to give it a try! And the bard conversion is really creative. I *think* the poison use is enough to make up for not having spells... at least, it's enough to make me willing to play the class, and it's great to have...

So far, only setting-specific rules: no dragonborn, no sorcerers, all warlocks are genie pact (efreet=devil pact, djinni~fey pact), tieflings look mostly human, dwarves are denser than water and have disadvantage on swim checks. We're eight sessions into a new cinematic campaign, and so far...

For me, if psionics doesn't introduce a unique mechanic, then there is no good reason to add a psionics ruleset. As everyone agrees, you can make a perfectly acceptable psion out of an enchanter wizard or a sorcerer bloodline, plus some fluff. As a player of a game, I am looking for options...

Of all the "Wishful Thinking" products that have been proposed on ENworld... I would RUSH to buy a hardcover book "Worlds of D&D" with ~32 pages of conversion notes per setting for FR, GH, Eberron, Athas, Planescape, Dragonlance, Al-Qadim, and whatever else they decide to throw in--even...

I think the future will arrive much more slowly than Yaarel predicts, for several reasons: 1. We're reaching the limits of material science to supply infrastructure for supercomputers. R&D is underway of course, and so far Moore's Law has been upheld, but I think we will soon reach the point...

The way I read it, at third level you get 2 spells that must be enchantment/illusion, and 1 spell that can be any school. At 8th, 14th, and 20th level you are learning your second spell that can be 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level respectively, and these also can be from any school. So by 20th level, 4...

Kuo-toa have sticky shield and pincer staffs, but don't do much damage individually. But they excel at separating the party, and can foil a lot of attacks against them. For example: Step 1: Organize into squads of 2-3 ordinary kuo-toa and one with a pincer staff. Step 2: squad closes with...

An important NPC from another faction nearby also accidentally joined the meld, and the myconids need the party's help to locate them in the psychedelic landscape and extract them from the meld. If they are not successful, the NPC becomes a vegetable and the myconids send them off with thanks...

I agree with Mike. Psionics should absolutely have different mechanics, limitations, and consequences than arcane or divine magic. Playing a psion needs to feel very different from playing a wizard, cleric, or warlock, and there are lots of ways to accomplish this: tie powers to a...

There's lots of good advice here. I just wanted to start by saying that the story outline is interesting and should make for some very memorable scenes. Good luck! When I'm designing an adventure, I usually have a small handful of "set piece" scenes like your castletop encounter with Dracula...

I agree that the 5E design philosophy precludes low-to-mid-level PCs from true mastery on the d20 range. The expertise class ability gets you part of the way there for Bards and Rogues. Maybe you could also introduce a feat that grants mastery in one skill where you are already proficient. I...

I can't really agree with this! There are several levers to pull when designing a "special powers" subsystem, and all you need to do is make sure that the different subsystems appeal to different styles of play. So far, in the core rules, we don't have much variation on the spell slot theme...

I think the core of your idea is interesting, but I would be less generous. Something like this: You can improve your proficiency in any weapon, skill, tool, or saving throw by spending gold and downtime on training, gaining a bonus that cannot exceed your potential proficiency bonus...

They wouldn't be worthless if the hit were sufficiently devastating, but no edition of D&D has given heavy crossbows that punch. ROF 1/2, damage 1d20 might be a reasonable tradeoff. Or possibly 1d10 damage and an armor-piercing mechanic (e.g. ignores piercing resistance, +2 to hit vs heavy...

Wow, this is getting deep. :-) It's been an interesting conversation. I think the spell/alignment interaction has also become more problematic because D&D has evolved from a PRIME + outer realms cosmology to a MULTIVERSE + outer realms cosmology. Consider: the alignment system sprang from...

It's my favorite version so far. Shouldn't making a potion in a short rest use a point from the craft reserve, if you don't want to drink it right away? It could use some thought/playtesting about the extent to which this class bends the concentration limit. It was smart to make certain...

Well, I see two possible differences that prevent simply reskinning the existing spell mechanic from other classes: 1) In HERO terms, the artificer's spells have the obvious accessible/inaccessible focus limitation, while everyone else's spells have the incantation and gesture limitations...