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The new blue dragon is awesome. I love the slender, serpentine look.

Elixirs are a really nifty way to push back against the 5-minute workday, particularly if you make them a little harder to come by than BG3 does. Though I would probably retool it into a one-shot item that provides a buff to the entire party -- that way you don't have the elixir-drinker keen to...

On the survey... I was pretty harsh on the Bastion system. I did try to make clear that I support the idea of a stronghold mechanic, but I really don't like this implementation of it. It's way too fiddly and also way too focused on having everything feed back into your adventuring power. IMO...

I didn't even notice the schools, but "poison is necromancy" makes perfect sense if you think of the schools as character themes rather than mechanical functions of spells. Does this spell feel appropriate to a necromancer? Then it goes in necromancy. Whether it specifically involves draining...

Tolkien obviously drew heavily on Beowulf for "The Hobbit" -- I mean, Smaug basically is Beowulf's dragon. He flies, he breathes fire, he hoards treasure, he is roused to fury by the theft of a cup from that hoard, and he is slain by piercing his vulnerable belly, by a foe whose home he had...

It is absolutely not "universally held" in the fandom that the black arrow was magical. Maybe in your bit of the fandom, but not in general. "Never missed" does not mean "cannot miss." It only means that, in the limited number of shots he had taken with it over his life, Bard personally had...

You can't vote strategically here without knowing how everyone else is voting -- otherwise, as @Amrûnril points out, you may well push a "needs iteration" item up to "ship it as-is." And since ENWorld is very unlikely to be a representative sample, we have no way of knowing how everyone else is...

Death knight conflicts with a very nasty undead monster, but "reaper" is perfect IMO. Bonus points if you can convince your DM to let you wield a scythe (with glaive or greataxe stats maybe). Grim champion? Pale knight? Deadlord? They could work, but none of them are as simple and evocative as...

Why not? I mean, seriously, why not? The ability to scale up a beast's statblock would be useful to DMs as well as players; sometimes I want the PCs facing a giant wolf from the elder age instead of a regular wolf. And once WotC nailed down the basic formula for adjusting beast stats, it would...

This. As far as mechanics are concerned, the nonhumans in D&D (at least, the PHB nonhumans) have been humans in funny suits for five editions now. They got a handful of odd little tricks, and some dinky modifiers that didn't take you out of the human-normal range unless you rolled incredibly...

The notion goes back to 2E as I recall. (Maybe older than that, but 2E was where I first encountered it.)

Question 1: There are no ability scores. You have a single proficiency bonus, which you either have or don't on any given roll -- no other modifiers. If your proficiency bonus is +6, and you are proficient in Stealth, then your Stealth check is 1d20+6. If you aren't proficient, it's a straight...

Necromancers as they stand suffer from a some significant play hassles: 1. Any necromancer worthy of the name commands a horde, not a singular undead servant; but tracking a bunch of undead minions can slow battle to a crawl. On top of that, it presents major balance challenges, where fights...

It's also possible that sales have slowed in anticipation of the 2024 edition. IIRC, there was a similar effect after the announcements of 4E and 5E.

That would make sense. On the other hand, it's still a substantial nerf to a spell that wasn't exactly topping the list to begin with.

The cantrips that got improved were the ones that sucked*. With the rare exception of acid splash, I don't think I've ever picked a single one of them. Some of them got improved... ahem... a bit too much. And the nerf to shocking grasp is just weird, I have no idea why they felt that spell...

First, shield is notoriously one of the best 1st-level spells in the game, ranging from "very very good" to "absolute no-brainer must-have" depending on playstyle and level. So this is not exactly making the case that the new blade ward is fine. Second, even if shield weren't borderline (or not...

Thoughts on the cantrip changes: Acid splash: I like this change. You still won't often get more than two targets, but once in a while you'll be able to blast three or even four. It's now high on my list. Blade ward: This seems a smidge too good. Disadvantage on a melee attack as a reaction...

Reading through the Bastion rules... 1. I love the idea of adding stronghold rules to the game. Definitely needed. Not sure about the name. 2. Not thrilled by the "magic item acquisition" function. I appreciate that they require DM approval, but I still don't think permanent magic items should...

To the (valid) distinction that OP is drawing between realism and verisimilitude, I would add a second: True verisimilitude vs. "stage verisimilitude." I believe that D&D aims for the latter, and that this is the most workable solution to the challenges involved. True verisimilitude is where...