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We are making the switch. Currently we have no plans to import bits of the 2014 rules... but that may change depending on what we encounter, and we will certainly have some house rules, we always do. And I'm with @Belen on usability in DDB, it's a hot mess right now. The search feature has...

I should be more excited about this than I am. Lorwyn is a really cool setting that should lend itself to D&D well. But... eh. Something about 2024e has sapped my enthusiasm for new D&D material.

Yeah, it was called 4E. It didn't go over well, and WotC clearly learned their lesson.

One diamond can power unlimited castings. There's a high one-time investment, but after that, the marginal cost is zero. (Well, zero plus a 9th-level spell slot. In most worlds that would be worth more than the diamond, but not this one.)

Just because somebody brings up a complaint now, doesn't mean it wasn't an issue before. The medusa/gorgon thing bugged me when I first encountered it 37 years ago, and it still bugs me today.

The Clone spell means anyone rich enough to pay for the material components every 50 years or so is essentially immortal, and those who can afford it more often won't even show signs of aging. Transportation is far more advanced than even our world. The Gate spell can move everything from...

While I have no strong feelings on "race" vs. "species," I strongly disagree with this as a general point. The choice of names is a huge part of game design. The exact same mechanic can be super intuitive or utterly incomprehensible depending on what it's named. And where RPG design is...

I would follow Mearls's idea and merge most bonus actions into regular actions. So barbarian rage is an action that also gives you a full round of attacks. Rogues get an extra action each round, which must be Dash, Disengage, or Dodge. Et cetera. This would reduce the design space some. For...

That last item is the key. Combat presents meaningful decisions. Each round, you make choices about where to move, which resources and abilities to use, which opponents to target, which allies to buff or heal, etc. Many of the die rolls in combat could be eliminated and it would still work. For...

Unless I'm misunderstanding the changes, the role of "foes who might become allies or friends" is exactly where NPC orcs are likely to end up when the Monster Manual comes out. Now, if they take it to the point of excising any suggestion of orcs ever being hostile or evil, then I'll be on your...

What is that niche, exactly? I personally find undead make the perfect "kill on sight baddies," because they can fill almost any such role you need them to. They have a ton of mythic resonance, they can show up anywhere from the deep wilderness to the heart of a great city, and they span...

It's more about the "canonical" portrayal of orcs in official material. For most of D&D's history, that version of orcs was not based on Mongols or Romans; it was much more like indigenous tribes in various parts of the world -- or, more precisely, like the stereotypes of those tribes that were...

As far as orcs go, it's not all that hard to replace them as Generic Baddies without replicating their issues. Those issues arise because orcs live in tribal societies that look an awful lot like human societies, and adventurers heading out to kill them and take their stuff looks an awful lot...

The biggest thing right now is just gaining that fifth paladin level. At that point, you have a decently optimized build already: paladin with a 2-level fighter dip for Action Surge. I assume you picked compatible fighting styles? (That is, you can use them both at the same time?) The middling...

Little-known rule: Raising your Strength score above the maximum allows you to go back in time and change your action when you blow an Athletics check.

It isn't always that clear-cut. Suppose I plan an encounter with the expectation that it should be X difficulty; but either I make a miscalculation or the listed CR for that monster is off (as has been known to happen), and the combat is either way harder or way easier than I intended. If I...

They support combat scenarios more complex than simply "kill everything that isn't you." For example: 1. The good monster is an ally (not a summon or pet, an actual ally) that helps the party. 2. The good monster must be rescued or released. Once it is, it helps the party. 3. The good monster...

Do you plan to keep both items? If you know what you're going to be facing and have an hour to prepare, you can swap in the item that will serve you best against that foe. But you still need to decide your standard loadout for when you don't have the time or recon to tailor your gear to the...

Ability scores. And I don't mean the current set of six. I mean the whole mechanic. They are a blight on the game, especially since 3E when they became integrated into absolutely freaking everything. Imagine how much simpler it would be to learn and teach the game, how many options for...

There is also the fact that a lot of us have ADHD and modern life is more or less designed to aggravate it. If I'm going to get through a book at all on the first read, it will be by triggering hyperfocus, which means I'm going to plow through it at maximum intensity. The way I appreciate the...