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I've done a lot of different ways of doing backstories over the years. Now I just say...a player can have as much back story as they want, and I promise not to pay attention to it.

Yeah, my tongue was pretty far over in my cheek about WEG's truly excellent D6 system. But one of the things I like is that there's a disconnect between the numbers, and what those numbers have to mean, as it were. I think part of the problem is, the human NPC's in the monster manual also have...

So you want to play D6 Fantasy then?

Another option...since d20 already knocked Rolemaster down and took its stuff, rifle around in its pockets and get the rule they missed alongside the pocket lint and leftover chewing gum... As DM, pick two stats to apply to each major mechanic and average them. Attack Bonus: Strength/Dexterity...

Easy fix. Only use stats for attribute checks, and for everything else--class based abilities, attack bonuses, and spell DC's; just use a +3 bonus at 1st level, upgraded to +4 at 4th Level, and +5 at 8th (and topping out there); So all fighters will start with their +5 attack bonus, every...

At this point I'm inclined to just let players have the stats they want...with the understanding that they can't take a stat they couldnt' but buy in point buy. Does this mean that a player could start with a human character with all 16's? Sure...and that's not a bad thing. Try it...you'll...

I picked Barbarian, but I think I'm gonna opt for Swashbuckler rogue. Because resource management...feh. Because sometimes I'm Fafhrd and sometimes I'm the Gray Mouser.

That's a tendentious definition and not one I would agree with. Level has always referred to experience. Experience can equate to prowess...prowess being defined here as fighting ability, though I think I used it earlier just to mean ability to pull off impressive physcial feats, but it's not...

You're absolutely right; in fact, his physical prowess might even be greater in the Tower of the Elephant, he is, after all, a young wastelander at the time and not a king, but his experience, his "level" is much lower. He has, and I quote "really good stats and attitude".

Conan grew from a punk kid to the king of Aquilonia. In Tower of the Elephant, he's pretty much nothing but really good stats and attitude. Fafhrd was a high tenor mama's boy. The Gray Mouser was a tiny sorceror's apprentice with barely the strength to hold a sword much less fight it...

I'm really more into old edition D&D these days, and thought of one... Max hit points; I'm not saying I'd quit over it, but it would be a contributing factor. If I wanted ineffectual evocation and whack-a-mole bags of hit points, I'll just play modern edition thanks.

And yet, it's repeated, in several places that the dwarves aren't up to fighting the Dragon, but a human Hero would be. And, in Fellowship, both Aragorn and Boromir are called on to perform feats of strength that their smaller (dwarven and hobbit) and wussier (elven) companions could not...

I can't even link it to Bombadil. He doesn't use Holy light to banish the wights. He lets the sun in. Besides, it's his songs that transmit his power in the books. Never mind that clerics in D&D turning undead don't create light, holy or otherwise (maybe they do in modern versions). If one...

Yes, the party of dwarves and hobbit kind of look, if you squint sideways, like an adventuring party. But it's not like group of interesting characters going on a quest is unique to that book. An aside I do find interesting; the Hobbit is pretty clear that neither dwarves nor hobbits are...

Yes, the dates fit much better that he could have read it. But is The Hobbit really what we're talking about here. Even if Gygax first read the Hobbit as a child (entirely possible), and it sparked his love of fantasy, it's very clear that his fantastic vision was modified more by what he read...

I find myself in agreement with the way Ilbranteloth does things. Not every character class has to represent a "job" somebody can have in the D&D universe. We don't need Orders of Paladins to have paladins. We just need one guy (the PC) the gods have chosen to bless with those kinds of...

Gygax could have said that Lord of the Rings was formative to his reading, but I don't see how. He was born in 1938. The Lord of the Rings was not published until the mid-50's. And worse, Gygax was American, LOTR was not generally available in the US until Ace books bootlegged it in...

And strangely enough, the Type VI demon has really low hit dice compared to his underlings. Not so fearsome after all!

I'd say the biggest modern influence on 5e is gaming itself. Game design is less a discussion about emulating an outside medium (fantasy literature) and more about emulating the emergent elements of fantasy gaming...for better and for worse. An outgrowth of that is a move to look at popular...

A 1e orc with 8 hit points (max for it's hit die) would be considered powerful. Most orcs would have 4 or 5 hit points. Still enough to have a 50/50 shot at surviving the first sword blow, but not likely to withstand 3. They were about par for a 1st level fighter with no above average stats...