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D&D would be much better if ability scores were abolished wholesale. Fold everything into a single proficiency bonus where you either have it on a given roll, or don't. Skills, saves, attack rolls; any time you pick up a d20, all you need to know is whether you're proficient and whether you have...

Asking whether fiction or mechanics is more important is like asking which is more important to a car, the wheels or the engine. You need both or you're going nowhere. And if they aren't connected solidly, you're going to break down in short order.

A 5-minute short rest, usable twice per day, has worked just fine in my group for years. It's dead simple and it resolves a bunch of issues (mostly, but not entirely, to do with warlocks and monks). I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but I don't think most players would give a crap one...

In principle, #2. In practice, steps are often skipped when there's no need for them. A player about to sneak past a guard might go ahead and roll Stealth without being asked, because they know I'm almost certain to call for a Stealth check and why not save time? If for whatever reason I decide...

I agree, that would be my ruling as well. I might allow a trigger such as "Six seconds have passed since I was knocked unconscious by injuries, during which I have not received any magical healing or medical treatment." I'd have to think about whether "X time has passed since event Y" should...

Surviving on the front line doesn't make you a tank. It just means you don't need anyone else to tank for you. The monk is much more combat-oriented, and specifically melee-oriented, than the rogue. If it isn't able to defend itself from melee foes, it can't fulfill its basic function...

As I said earlier in the thread, I think monks should only tank on a limited basis; probably at a ki/discipline/focus cost. They should be primarily skirmishers. But they still need the defensive capability to survive on the front line, and ideally that capability will fit the theme of the...

I certainly wouldn't argue with that. I was just noting that it doesn't raise significant balance issues to hand out animal friendship at will. The warlock proves there are a lot of magical/mystical abilities in D&D that really don't need to be confined to slot-limited spellcasting or...

They should just bite the bullet and accept that trying to shoehorn four full caster classes (plus a couple of partial casters) into a single arcane spell list is a terrible idea. They're already being forced to make a bunch of class-specific spells; so now, instead of picking from one spell...

Same way we have a warlock invocation that lets you cast silent image at will, without overshadowing the wizard who is limited by slots when casting that spell. Many utility spells are primarily limited, not by casting resources, but by opportunities to get good use out of them. Animal...

If you're talking pure movement rate with no other abilities, sure. But that doesn't mean you can't design a class around mobile defense. You can either tie an AC boost to movement, or make it easier to get out of attack range: Ability that lets you move places your enemies can't (e.g., up a...

Others have already offered most of the advice I was going to give on how to handle the unpredictable; so here are some thoughts on making players a little bit more predictable. 1. When you present them with the goal for the adventure, be clear about it. And I mean spell out every goddamn...

I like the idea of renaming the condition to "sickened," which fits disease, poison, and a variety of other causes. If a condition and a damage type have to share a name, they should come together whenever possible. Things imposing the condition should include at least a token amount of damage...

Agreed. IMO, the monk's toolkit should make them pay ki for doing a) spectacular moves and b) things outside their "core playstyle." So if you want to stand there and tank, you can do it, but you're burning ki and you can't keep it up for long. If you want to dart in, hit hard, and zip away, you...

How do they work in Elden Ring?

One thing that would improve the system a lot would be to rethink the idea behind the schools, more along the lines of M:tG's color pie. A color in Magic is not defined by a single "function" -- each color can do many different things, and most things can be done by more than one color. At the...

The schools of magic should have been scrapped several editions ago. They have never done a good job of covering the full scope of D&D spells. WotC can keep them as the names of the wizard subclasses if that's what it takes to appease Tradition, but I wish they would quit trying to shoehorn...

Here's my cut at stealth and detection rules: General rules: Creatures within 300 feet see you if you are in bright or dim light, unless something completely blocks their line of sight to you. Creatures within 300 feet hear you when you move or do something noisy, unless something blocks or...

I think Jeremy glossed over an enormous amount of detail in that interview. There is no possible way their spreadsheet is as simple as you're making it out. Imagine a system which treated the paralyzing claw of a ghoul (save DC 10, an easy save for most PCs) as equivalent to the paralyzing...

Somebody did the math on that and found it was still much too strong at high levels. I haven't checked those calculations, but they fit with my experience playing a warlock under this house rule from levels 11-15. Two short rests per day was plenty -- I had no trouble at all keeping up with the...