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I really hope the designers find enough room in the DMG to include both an expanded version of the (gold-based) Stronghold rules from the 2014 DMG and an expanded version of the (abstract-currency) Bastion rules from UA. Then tables could pick whichever of the two rules modules works best for...

I think even the weeds got left behind at least 10 pages ago.

Those would be great names for the as-yet-unreleased Franchise rules. I can't wait to add 5th-level Musso and Frank branding to the Franchise Location I've been building in the background for four levels now. But if we're going to pretend we can only use proper nouns because no other...

I'm saying a credit card company shouldn't be allowed to trademark "Credit Card" as the name of their credit card with rewards. Their credit card with rewards should have a distinctive name that isn't just "Credit Card" (though it could certainly include the words "credit card" as part of its...

Of course my reaction to what I read is on me. Every reader's reaction to what they read is on them. I'm intentionally using rules terminology copied-and-pasted from the UA, verbatim, to demonstrate how misleading that terminology is when used in a sentence. The fact that we're ten pages into...

You beat me to the punch while I was typing my last message. Yes. Renaming the special facilities is all it would take to address the concerns I was raising in the OP.

Thank you for making my point for me. Buildings called stables (lower-case s) and pubs (lower-case s) can be purchased with gold. Special facilities called Stables (capital S) and Pubs (capital P) explicitly can't be purchased with gold, per the UA. That language is the problem I was calling...

That's literally the complaint I made in the concluding sentence of the OP. You just quoted it for me: "Stables and Pubs shouldn't be de facto magic items which exist outside the gold-piece economy." As in, "Things named for everyday objects [Stables and Pubs] shouldn't be priceless...

I can't speak for the whole thread, but my OP is based on a willful refusal to accept naming conventions that are divorced from reality (including both real-world and in-game reality). I stand by my opinion that priceless, level-gated special facilities shouldn't share names with generic...

Good to know. Having never ridden a horse, I've always just hand-waved it as "special saddle" and called it good. Knowing how involved it is, I'll probably just stick to stretchers, sleds, and wheeled conveyances when devising in-game contingency plans. I'll reserve the special saddles for folks...

I'm inclined to agree. The syncretic nature of the English language seems to me like one of its fundamental features. As in, take that away, and you're erasing large swaths of English-language culture.

Well, if evil orcs were the only ones wearing turbans, it could certainly be perceived as offensive. But if plenty of other people are also wearing turbans, I see no reason why an evil orc couldn't also wear one.

The English language word "shaman" is certainly derived from a word used in Siberia, but as far as I can tell, that word is "samān," not "shaman," and it might or might not be indigenous to the area. It could also be a loanword from Pali, as spoken by early Bhuddist missionaries in Central Asia.

I ask because I'm genuinely curious about the debate over the word shaman: Is calling religious practitioners all over the world "shamans" more or less problematic than calling religious practitioners all over the world "priests"? Is it the existence of an umbrella term that people find...

Speaking of which, am I the only one who sees a mounted mini and doesn't immediately assume the mounted figure is able to walk unassisted? I've played in so many games where PCs have had to haul around a dead/paralyzed/petrified/unconscious party member, I just sort of assumed seasoned...

At first, I thought the Bastion system was completely unrealistic because no amount of gold can buy a Bastion. But your observation made me realize the Bastion system is just modeling the U.S. housing market.

Yep, something along those lines was what I was thinking. The idea (in general, not specific to anyone's implementation) is a bit kludgey because Species and Ability Score Increases aren't designed around those assumptions, but it works in a pinch. Maybe add that a character who ends up with at...

If you want a quick and dirty way to combine two Species, there's also the old Gestalt rules option: you get all traits from both of your Species. If you have only one Species, you get some extra Ability Score Improvements. Reduce or remove the Ability Score Improvements from Backgrounds as...

Multispecies hybrids in the real world can have traits not seen in either parent species. Crops and livestock are routinely crossbred on farms in order to develop desirable traits not found in non-hybrids. Edit: I can't seem to add a link, but you can read more if you search for "heterosis" on...

The rules declare "special facilities" can't be bought for gold, and player characters can't add a "Stable" (with a capital S) to their Bastion prior to 9th level. The problem is ultimately one of terminology. A "Stable" (with a capital S) is a rules object that has properties a stable (with a...