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Depends. Are we talking out straight up removing an entire axis of character customization? Or are we assuming that all those traits are being pushed into free form pool of "inherent abilities" that everyone gets to pick a custom assortment from? Honestly, I don't like either of those. Removing...

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. You have to disengage almost entirely from modern life to do no business with any company that's engaged in any questionable practice. Maybe some people have the good fortune to be able to cultivate a lifestyle that is 100% homegrown or ethically...

Like calling frontliners "tanks", theorycrafting and DPR are imports from video games that mesh imperfectly with a TTRPG. When you're talking about fighting a raid boss in an MMORPG, theorycrafting an optimal build and rotation for maximum DPS is a legitimate goal. I mean, it's not a precise...

It's not a binary. Creators who completely disregard profits end up out of business and able to create nothing. That's the reality of living in a capitalist system. If you want creators to be able to create with no business interest at all, go fight for a Universal Basic Income. Maybe when we're...

It would require a full re-evaluation of the role and power budget of subclasses. Like, when mocking up character ideas, I often run into the fact that Paladins and Rogues just don't have a lot of range in their subclasses. The core features are too strong and the subclass doesn't have enough to...

The UA8 Monk is a little different because a lot of it depends on an active defense; using their reaction on Deflect Attack. This makes them very good in a 1v1, even against a boss, where they're not likely to get hit more than once or twice a round and can mitigate a lot of the damage...

"Anti-caster" is a very narrow purpose, and one that depends heavily on the DM running a specific sort of encounter frequently. And given the choice between "frontline meatshield" and "mobile skirmisher", I'll happily leave the latter to Rogues and maybe Rangers. A new flavor of frontliner is a...

Speaking of such things, with the change to the Heavy weapon trait I kind of want to play a halfling Barbarian. Halfling Nimbleness means you laugh at any defensive line that isn't goblins or kobolds. So why not grab a greataxe, Rage away, and fearlessly dive into the middle of the enemy formation.

There's always going to be a clash when we apply the term "tank" to a TTRPG character. It was popularized as MMORPG terminology by Everquest and later World of Warcraft, and in that framework a tank's job is as much about managing aggro and enemy placement as it is simple damage mitigation. So...

That's definitely a silver dragon. They're big on keeping the dragons on-model for their type, and that dragon has the back fin that goes up and over the head. That's a signature silver dragon trait.

I mean, it makes sense from a design perspective. If a good guy has a piece of the Rod, and you turn up and say you need it to save the multiverse from Vecna, they'll just... hand it over. Not a lot of adventure to that, is there. So instead all the pieces are in the hands of villains or cached...

I wouldn't say that facts don't matter entirely, but certainly a lot of people are very bad about citing primary sources. So instead you get a recap of a summery of a bullet point highlight list, heavily distorted by the game of Internet Telephone. Shorn of context and often turned around...

Rather than "highlight", would you prefer "central pillar"? It's not exciting but it's a foundational part of how weapon focused classes scale in power. Even with just the base version, it's doubling the potency of most bonuses to your weapon attack. All the math around what sort of other...

UA True Strike is different because it attacks with your caster stat. Which is an advantage for some classes, but a disadvantage for the EK. The EK can't go all-in on Int because they'll always have to make unaltered weapon attacks. It also has a significantly lower bonus damage profile than the...

The important clause is bolded. As I said, I was testing how the EK faired with the playtest rules. That means the buffed cantrips from the Bastions UA, but not the blade cantrips. If the blade cantrips are allowed, or appear in the Revised PHB mostly unaltered, they change the picture...

That's certainly a bit better, but it's still something you can't just throw in casually because there are spells that are balanced around the caster not having Extra Attack. At least, not cheaply and passively. Spirit Shroud* from Tasha's Cauldron, or Conjure Minor Elementals from UA8, add a...

I'm a day late and like 10 pages behind, but I want to examine this. A Fighter who's high enough level to do a 3d10 Fire Bolt is high enough level to get three weapon attacks. So how does that compare? It really depends. Let's consider one extreme. A sword and board Fighter who dumped Dex...

I'm sure they first had to do a lot of lawyer arm wrestling to decide who pays for what and how.

Indeed, this is something they've been obviously iterating on for years. Look at Van Richten's Guide for a snapshot of the development. It has Dark Gifts as an additional starting feature, very much like a Background Feat. Meanwhile the two new Background Features are carefully worded so as to...

Apologies if my wording was imprecise. I was describing MMO gameplay there, specifically my own, and leaving the similarities to what people are describing with 4e to be inferred. 4e is not and never was an exact copy of MMORPG gameplay, but the devs of the time were obviously cribbing notes in...