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Given that HP scales linearly with level, damage should too, at a similar rate. It's the only way to avoid HP bloat, and progressively longer and longer combats, at high level. Well, either that, or abandon scaling HP with level, which is a good approach, but one that wouldn't feel like D&D...

The OP is absolutely right that absolute measurements like "feet" or "squares" have no place in a theater-of-the-mind system. The problem is that D&D has never been a theater-of-the-mind system. Not really. It has always been either a miniatures game with ruler measurements (early D&D used...

Never really understood why Psionics should be so controversial, or why people should expect it to be so different from magic. Just seems like another fluff for magic, to me. I do understand, of course, what a complete and utter mess it was in 2E and before, and that gave it a bad rep, but by...

I will not start playing D&D 5E unless there is a combination of modules available that does what I want. I will not start playing on the "promise" that the game I want will be released at some point in the future. Consider what happened to many of the "promises" made for DDI. I do not think...

It either needs to provide (in at least one combination of rules modules) a significantly improved evolution of 4E, or new, revolutionary take on D&D. The tepid rehash of pre-4E D&D we've seen so far is diametrically opposed to what I want.

The wizard? Yes. The fighter? No. The 3E fighter is effectively just as locked in by build choices as the 4E fighter. There's not much meaningful difference in terms of versatility between "take a feat to not be utterly hopeless at doing X", and "take a power to do X". Except that the former...

These statements are all about the importance of balance and best practices for attaining it. It's the part of the video that says "perfect imbalance requires just as much careful design as balance". Those are not descriptions of "perfect imbalance", they're just some of the concerns that go...

I don't think this concept applies to D&D. The argument in the video is about fostering a metagame, but there can't really be a metagame to D&D, at least not the type they're talking about. The video should not be construed as a justification for imbalance in PnP RPGs. The video's arguments...

How about true Vancian casting: * Even the most powerful Wizards have only a few spell slots * Spells are rememorized between adventures by returning to the Wizard's home library * A "Wizard" is not a guy in a robe who is hopeless at pretty much anything but casting spells. He's a guy that's...

Varying party size in 4E is trivial. You just have an XP budget per player per encounter. And the treasure system scales as well. I can't really speak to modules (since I've never used them), but considering how simple 4E encounter design is, it has to be trivial to adapt the printed...

The approach to Daily abilities does not seem meaningfully different than previous editions. Assuming a given adventure-length only works if there are strong mechanical reasons why the party doesn't rest as early and as often as possible, and D&D has never had that. Leaving it to the DM to...

Except that 5E is being explicitly described as many possible games, through combinations of modules, of which all fans of previous editions will find a game to appeal to them. Should I not judge them on the expectations they've laid out for themselves? I'm saying that to have a new D&D that...

The DM is inherently a world builder, storyteller, and arbitrator. Not a game designer. It is entirely possible to play (good) RPGs entirely with rules as written. And it's entirely possible for game designers to create rules that handle situations that they did not forsee. With refluffing...

OK, so they're not expected by level anymore. Fine. But this doesn't preclude including them in the balanced encounter design rules. So now the DM has to do the game designer's job, and figure out how to balance the game whenever he wants to include magic items? That does not sound like a...

It's a lot harder to break a pile of sheet metal and bolts, than a Ferrari. But that's only because the bar of what we would call "not broken" is much higher with a Ferrari, than a pile of metal. Reduce the Ferrari to a pile of metal, and we'd call that a broken Ferrari. 4E is only easy to...

Same here. I do a lot more searching for older editions. I already know 4E. The D&D vs. Pathfinder comparison is pretty deeply flawed, because it excludes any searches for D&D that don't include an edition. For example: Insight search shows that D&D, dnd, "Dungeons and Dragons", and...

AD&D doesn't have balanced encounter building rules. It is completely left to the DM (or whatever tables the DM decides to use). So magic items don't "break" anything, because there's nothing to break. If we don't have encounter-building (or at least adventure-building) rules in 5E that are...

What I think they're going for in DnD Next is very different than mundane armor in previous editions. I think they intend to spread the cost range across many levels of expected wealth. To make upgrading your armor type something you do as you level, over the full course of leveling...

There is a good, mechanical reason to prefer one form of armor over another. The cost. Cost should be a balancing factor. I think it's enough to have armor categories that are balanced, price-point-for-price-point, with each other through stuff like AC bonus, DEX bonus, check penalties, and...

First, why should that be desirable? Why is it bad for gear to matter? It's a huge part of fantasy. And those past editions of DnD they're so keen to recapture. But second, they are going that last step. The system is designed without magic items. It'll be balanced (or at least, they'll...