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I find player's hp ranges to be okay. I find monster hit points to be about a third to twice as many as I would prefer. Monsters being big bags of hit points is one of the major causes of the pillow fight feel of many 5e combats.

Baldur's Gate 9 Blackmoor 13 City of Brass 11 City State of the Invincible Overlord 8 Free City of Greyhawk 12 Lankhmar 8 Sharn 12 Sigil 10

Barbarians are, by their very nature, interesting.

Get rid of rapier Get rid of "full plate" Make "plate mail" a thing again, and take D&D back to the 14th Century!

Hard to sum up briefly, but the SIEGE engine is the "core mechanic" of C&C. It's basically the D20 vs DC, but arrived at differently. Everything is an ability check, with a difficulty modifier of 1 on up to infinity, roughly corresponding to level--like a spell cast by a 9th level wizard is +9...

Can't believe I forgot it...but it's so big it deserves its own post instead of a stealth edit: Castles & Crusades: The SIEGE Engine.

D&D--searching takes 10 minutes per 10' square searched. It's even worse when the DM doesn't know the rules (most of them) that players have a 1 in 6 chance (2 in 6 chance for dwarves) of detecting a trap (and even if undetected, then traps only have a 2 in 6 chance of triggering). AD&D--a few...

He's very careful in what he says...he says a majority of players don't USE feats, not that they don't play in games that allow feats. He's using the fact that lots of builds don't revolve around feats to minimize their importance to those that do. This feels like a half truth; or he's...

As an archetype, the religious zealot is pretty much the opposite of what I consider, "a good time". That sort of archetype is the kind of thing I come up with as madman cultists...not jolly, fun loving adventurers. Not only do I not want to play it...I don't want to play in a game where...

an adventurer subclass that eliminates the short rest dependence of the fighter (I can think of a few different ways to flavor it, but I would prefer something like a "adventurer" or "mercenary"--a nonmagic flavored second take on the champion. the Vagabond Barbarian--for the barbarian that...

Anyone else find it interesting that Drizzt's "look" has so solidified over the past couple decades? Going back to his depictions in the 80's and 90's, his look, his clothing, his weapons (especially his weapons) varied depending on the artist. They were all "Drizzt" but they all weren't the...

Let us know how it plays out, if it gives you the feeling of "low fantasy" you're looking for. Got some interesting ideas there.

Not a fan of current trends in fantasy book cover art, but it's arright. I'm two or three series behind on the Drizzt saga, but kind of interested to see where it's going in the 5e age, when WOTC isn't driving a metanarrative. Who's publishing these books these days?

It means I'm probably going to get a headache from rolling my eyes.

Even more basic. Change the combat rules. Take all those juicy special maneuvers in the feats section and make them combat options. Then make the fighter the best at doing them. Then figure out weapons; either make them full on abstract, or give them interesting properties, preferably ones...

The thing about weapon proficiency in early editions was it was a suspenders and belt issue. Differing combat ability was already baked into the combat matrices (or THAC0 if you've forgotten what 1st editioners really used), and then proficiency just layered on top of that. A magic-user was...

What most others have said. Players play rogues to do the improbable with ease. They're supposed to auto succeed at most skill checks, just like the barbarian is supposed to auto succeed at most strength checks, and the wizards spells are supposed to work. Upping the DC's to make it "more...

I already find 5e monsters to be big boring bags of hit points. Why would I want to make that problem even worse? The 6 to 8 encounter "work day" is boring and you should scrap it. Quit trying to fit your adventures around it. Find a different solution. Only the fighter and the warlock...

one good move to get a more sword & sorcery feel to your game. Stop calling your campaign "Greyhawk" or "Forgotten Realms" or whatever else. Name it after your characters. Call it the "Chonicles of Rathgar & Felix" (or whatever name your characters pick) or "Tales of the Dark Company" (or...

I'm not in agreement with the designers' take on the division between "high fantasy" and "sword & sorcery" (just like I've never understood their claim that Eberron is "pulp"). Ultimately it's not about the prevalence of magic. It's about focus. Sword & Sorcery stories are personal. Even...