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One thing I wish D&D 5E had is a (better) formal system for morale checks, to see when enemies run away. I usually do a wisdom check for the enemy and just kind of eyeball it: if they roll high, they realize it's time to run, and if they roll low, they stay and fight. But this seems...

I agree. I've been running a high-level no-magic-item game off and on since 5E started, and it works fine.

Is that particular typo yours or theirs? 😲 Also, regarding the carrion crawler stat block: I wonder if that was originally a CON save (to resist poison), and then someone changed it to DEX (to dodge the tentacles) without noticing how it interacted with the condition.

When I first introduced 5E to a group of friends who played the heck out of 2E back in the day, their immediate comment was "It feels like 2nd edition with cleaned up math." They didn't elaborate, but apparently it did immediately make them think of 2E. The most recent edition they had played...

It makes sense to me. The more you automate, the less the experience becomes a TTRPG and the more it becomes a video game.

Same as falling damage, isn't it?

I have, but only among the sort of people who hang out in places like ENworld. In other words, they're fine with playing TTRPGs, but playing D&D specifially will get you side-eye in some communities.

IIRC, he was noting that they were saying "fastest-selling" rather than "biggest-selling." The original 5E PHB was a much smaller deal, so it probably took a few months to build up steam.

If you use standard 2014 rules, there are some excellent third-party monster manuals that can help with encounter design. Kobold Press (who also make TotV) have four excellent ones, the Tome of Beasts volumes 1-3 and Creature Codex. As a bonus, each of those manuals also has a Book of Lairs with...

He touched on that elsewhere in the video. He suspects "fastest-selling" is a weasel word designed to conceal the fact that it's not doing as well as they want to project.

Mearls later goes on to say that he thinks D&D may never recover and that we may be living in a "post-D&D" landscape. I would think someone who's been in the business as long as he has would realize how cyclical these trends are.

Approximately where in the video is that? Do you have a timestamp?

I roll insight for the player, so they don't know what the dice said. If it's a natural 20, I might say something like "You're very sure this guy is telling the truth." But I might say the same if it's a natural 1 and the guy is lying.

I probably should have said "specialized" instead of "unique."

I'm not sure I buy that because they actually got the anti-orc treatment. They used to have more versatility, which has now been removed. I don't know that playable vs non-playable is a factor in NPC design.

And you have to modify the stat block, which you don't for orcs. And the point of this article was how great it was that you could use humanoid stat blocks for orcs without having to modify them, and how wonderfully versatile orcs now are, which they weren't before. If modifying the stat block...

Ah, okay, if that's your definition of core, then yeah, I get you there.

Just not as many as humanoids. Orcs had a few unique stat blocks in 2014, but now they have many more. Playable or not playable doesn't really affect available NPC options. (Also, orcs are core but goblins aren't? Has this been stated, or is it just speculation?)

Okay, so what if you have a band of malevolent fey raiders but you want a special stat block for their leader, and you reach for the "bandit captain"? Same problem. Your parties never include wizards, clerics, or bards? What does that have to do with whether the 2025 monster manual is being...

I'm not saying the problem is insurmountable. I'm saying that the convenience which the article touts for orcs being able to use humanoid stat blocks has just been removed from goblins. I'm saying the design of the game is being inconsistent, giving with one hand and taking with the other. And...