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Not intended as a pejorative, really... did it come off that way, or did you read it that way due to other conversations you've had? I love video games, and a couple of friends of mine are in video game design. I also played more 3e and 4e than all of the oldschool editions combined, by a wide...

As is always the case when someone complains about something being changed/added/expanded/etc, on some level, they must know that the thing they like still exists and isn't being changed. The change is just an option. Doesn't stop me from complaining about all the terrible unnecessary changes...

I've always enjoyed alternate systems, and Savage Worlds is one of my favorites. I still run a heavily modded version of it, and play in a far less modded version. I largely left D&D after about 2 years of 4e. In addition to Savage Worlds and my homebrew versions of it, I started running an...

I would argue that damage and HP can affect BA, just not as directly and obviously as attack/defense. My argument for this is long, so bear with me (if you care.) In general, damage does not actually keep up with HP. I think this is intentional. The basic way people see HP is: At low...

Absolutely. Like I said, it's an overpowered house rule for a few reasons. At my table, I actually do allow a sort of low-key variant of it: TWFers can use their Action for a variety of things and still make an "off hand" attack with either weapon as a bonus action. Most significant/commonly...

Technically, wherever the mace was, he could not use his bonus action to attack; two-weapon fighting says that when you use your action to attack, you can then make an off-hand attack as a bonus action. So that sort of invalidates your question, from a rules perspective... it's just not an...

Dave, I like some of what you've done here. Adding spells, some neat alternate attcks, bonus action movement, flexibility... a lot of that stuff is pretty cool. But I think the fundamental sensibility... over-inflating damage with flat +20 modifiers, boosting HP values into 500+ and so on... I...

I think you're mostly right about the fire aura, I still haven't had time to crunch the numbers to compare. I'll try to spitball it out right now, but I'm still away from book so bear with me as I use open resources online. Key point: you are wrong about Death Burst, it still factors into the...

Absolutely, but as I think you know, this is different from the request at issue because those kobolds were not Infernal Kobolds of the Adamantine Fist (CR 14). They are just kobolds. And they will ruin your day. It's easy to run monsters in this way in 5e, and, in my opinion, more fun than...

You don't need to be generous with anything. The rules for determining CR clearly state how AOE abilities like the fire aura and death burst are calculated. Away from book right now, so I will post again when I can give you some page numbers to ensure your calculations are accurate.

Always a treat to see updates here. Hands down the best sci fi D&D supplement I've ever seen, for any edition.

Yeah, Valdier, the reason I was questioning you is because I had run the numbers on a few monsters I'd seen cited as having incorrect CR (such as the Balor or the NPC Mage) and in each case the CR checked out as long as the math was done with the assumptions laid out in the DMG. It's fine to...

I'm curious about this... can you give a more detailed example? Like... what age Blue/Green dragons had miscalculated CR, and how was it miscalculated?

Beautifully put, Hemlock. Currently playing a Dwarven Cleric/Abjurer that is probably... Neutral Evil, at a guess? I don't cleave too rigidly to alignments. He likes the party quite a bit and defers to them most of the time, shares his loot, etc. But if someone is causing problems for his...

Sounds like a good start. Give him a bunch more support. Forget zombies, this is a super-necromancer able to maintain 4 simulacrums. Give him a pack of of 100 ghouls, or a Vampire bodyguard with a horde of vampire spawn, or the ability to call dozens of wraiths out from the tombs around the...

I'm confused... I would normally expect a DM that has taken a party through 20 levels of 5e would probably have 5e encounter building down pretty well. So... is this a case where you have been thrust into the role of DMing an existing party? Or is this a case where you guys have recently...

Do you have the DMG? I recommend starting with the encounter building guidelines in there, and the XP budgets listed, to determine challenges. Use CR as a guideline of what to include when meeting your XP budget, not as the primary determining factor.

For what it's worth, I do basically agree with this. I don't think the problem is quite the way you tend to articulate it, and I don't think the solution is necessarily what you're asking for... but yeah. High level monsters should probably have a larger suite of abilities/spells/etc. to add...

Yes, because representing that ability via a one-size-fits-all numerical statistic is... unrealistic. In the hands of a competent DM, a couple of Goblins can be more dangerous to a level 1 party than an Ogre... e.g. in a dark warren with lots of hidden spaces, that the goblins know well and the...

All CR is a measure of is: ability to deliver damage, ability to sustain damage. That's basically it. If a monster can live long enough to deal enough damage to maybe kill a party member of X level, then that monster is CR X. CR rather explicitly declines to attempt to gauge most monster...