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Not really. "Clear wording is better than unclear wording, and both can let the DM decide, and therefore Mearls is wrong when he says unclear wording lets the DM decide" isn't a cohesive argument, as I'm sure you can appreciate. If you aren't 100% behind the restatement I offered upthread, then...

So you think Mearls is wrong because the ambiguous rules don't "let" the DM decide, they "make" him decide. Whereas clearer writing would "let" the DM decide. Is that right?

It's obvious that there are methods other than rules ambiguity to force a DM decision. How does this make Mearls wrong when he says that the ambiguous rules text is a call to let the DM decide?

I don't understand/disagree with this. Ambiguous rules require rulings. The need for a decision is implied by the non-specificity of the rules. One can detest that style of rules writing, and still appreciate that it accomplishes the intended goal--letting the DM decide. I'm assuming you've...

I might be confusing a playtest doc with the final rules... ...but I'm relatively sure that this is up to the DM. However, IIRC the DM should know what the consequences of failure are before calling for the roll; and if there really is no risk of failure then s/he should not be calling for the...

Yes; a great many people find pixel bitching tiresome regardless of game, medium, or edition. The solution, I think is pretty obvious: whatever your exploration method, don't hold players responsible for pixels. Personally I run with a rule that players are only responsible for named nouns. If...

If it's the bbeg, you'd be in your rights to give it legendary actions. Otherwise, I would take advantage of bonus action spells to draw out the counterspell. I would definitely not allow the spell to be ID'd before it was cast without a readied action and an Arcana check.

I'm allergic to cats and I like 5e.

With respect, I disagree. I find that video gamers (young and old) have no problem spotting when "play to find out what happens" gets violated by QTEs and other scripted events. They instantly know when a single-player level doesn't have enough branching pathways. Open world and sandbox games...

I really like that idea.

I would go for a nice, balanced background that serves as a prerequisite for your dragonmark feats.

If you'll forgive me for looking a gift mouse in the mouth, have you considered updating the list with short 4E/pfsrd-style spell descriptions? Like, say for guiding bolt: "On hit, inflicts 4d6 radiant damage and gives advantage with next attack." Because, if you're not, then I'm seriously...

Actually, I just remembered: the escapist vids don't play on ios devices without a sub. Probably what happened here.

Say what? I'm not a member in any way, and this vid works fine for me, same as all other escapist videos.

Yeah, all of this. As it is, the spell section is nearly unusable. I would really love to know what they were thinking with this layout direction.

I think it's very simple: there are risks associated with propitiatory formats, which aren't associated with non-propitiatory formats. Some people will be unhappy about these risks, because the emerging industry standard is to not ask customers to undergo these risks when they purchase an...

Point of order: actually, 5E's disengage action is weaker than the withdraw action in 3.x. (5E allows you 100% movement; 3E allowed 200% movement.) The advantages of 5E's disengage action come from the change toward threatened zones away from threatened squares (note, now you can escape monsters...

I recently did an old one warlock with an acolyte (of helm!) background. The way the dice came up, he was NG and wanted to do anything to protect his temple from outside threats...

I think it was a rule of three where I saw a quote that stuck in my mind. "In 5E, the threat doesn't end just because the encounter does." That, in my experience, is the key difference between 3E and 5E encounters: it's relatively common for a party to get in over their heads, throw down the...

I'm a little surprised Morrus FP'd that: there's no way that thing is fair use, since it copies out the text of every 5E spell verbatim. (Mouse's own spell sorting spreadsheet is also on the FP, so I'm sure he's got it covered either way!)