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You seem to be fixating on 'greatest archer', so let's clear that up right now. Whether Robin Hood's reputation as the absolute greatest archer in history grew up in the 15th century or a little later I'm not entirely sure; and certainly there is no way to compare Robin Hood to archers in other...

The earliest ballads, such as Robin Hood and the Monk, generally don't depict Robin as the 'rob from the rich, give to the poor' social justice warrior. He is more of a hard-edged hood, sometimes comically so. If you can read Middle English (it's not very hard for someone who likes books, like...

I'm actually a professor of medieval history, so yes, I've read the books... in the original Latin. How many medieval Latin manuscripts have you consulted for your work, mate? From the fact that you characterize him as giving to the poor -- which the earliest ballads do not -- I am guessing...

All power to you then. As I said, not trying to start an edition war.

I can. 5e is undoubtedly very successful financially, and I certainly can't argue about that. But I find the 5e rules to be vague (stealth, 'rulings not rules', etc.), underdeveloped (armor, weapons, theater of the mind combat), and simultaneously shallow but unnecessarily complicated. At least...

Yes, Mentalism is magic, but it is a very psionic-type of magic with mechanical differences from the other forms. In the new RM edition for example, there are no penalties for 'casting' a Mentalism spell without making any gestures or sound. In 5e terms, Mentalism spells don't require verbal or...

I like what Rolemaster has always done/is doing with Psionics: they are an entire third realm of spellcasting (beyond what DnD calls Arcane/Divine) called Mentalism. They have Mentalism half casters (the Rogue-ish Nightblade and Monk) and full casters (Mentalist and Lay Healer). Mentalism works...

Am hoping that the Out of the Abyss errata means we are finally going to get a Roll20 version of that very good module. But I know I'm clutching at straws.

I like the summons. Very cool. The tatoos seem ripe for abuse though. Permanently giving a character AC 18 (without even needing a shield) is a bit much.

Yes, you make a good point. I think the designers just kind of jumped off the deep end with the Hexblade.

This was a very interesting article; thanks for that. I have to agree though with those who argue that 5e's multiclassing rules are not much of an improvement over what earlier editions did. The 5e rules are very complex for a system that is trying to be simple. And the Hexblade really does...

Great, so his +3 bonus goes up to a... +3 bonus? Sorry, just couldn't resist that one. In regards to the idea that this might be the 'real life' or 'fantasy vietnam' Achilles: there is actually a word for that in Classical scholarship. It is called 'Euhemerism'. The name is taken from the...

I understand what you're saying, but you're really not getting close to the myths if you have an Achilles who really could not do the sorts of things that Achilles actually does in the Iliad. In previous editions, it was at times just not possible to create a legendary hero like Achilles using...

Yes, this is exactly what I was getting at when I brought up the Rolemaster Mythic Greece supplement. Since that is a pretty obscure reference, I will explain: The highest stat characters could normally get in Rolemaster was 101 or 102 (since it was a percentile system).* But Mythic Greece...

Ok, sure, but my point is that if they are great heroes... why do they have the stats of minions? Any average PC Fighter will start the game with equal or higher stats than Achilles. By level 8 or 10, most will have a 20 in their primary attribute, while Achilles is still stuck at 16. So even...

For context: The average Black Earth Guard (humanoid mook, CR 2) from the Temple of Elemental Evil has a higher strength than Achilles. I know this is just for fun, and the constraint is you have to start the heroes using the standard point buy. But that might be the problem. Achilles was not a...

Yes, and what a Fashionable Male too! Note though that he actually won the Strongest Man in Denmark competition in 1983, meaning he must have had at least a 20 Strength. This Achilles, on the other hand, would look more like Paul Blart.

I don't; DnD does. Str is the ability score that governs both your accuracy (to hit) and damage. It is by far the single most important determinant of melee combat ability until very high levels. Leaving a legendary Greek hero at local-mall cop level strength is mystifying in such a system...