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One thing about threads like this - positions become polarized and extremes are taken/assumed. At the table, A DM who insists on the standard D&D play loop, but is permissive about it and works with/for the interest/fun of the players and a DM who allows a degree of narrative fill-in from the...

Certainly see your point, but there are usually good ways to ensure powerful allies don't become a big crutch. One good one (though since I generally have the same players, I've only been able to pull this off once) is when the players ask the powerful mentor to solve their problem, but the...

Warding flair is decent but not nearly as good as shield, except you can use it to protect others. 1. Unlike Shield, you must declare before you know if the attack hit, meaning it can be wasted. 2. It only works against one attack, so gets much less useful at mid-higher levels. Interestingly...

Nick, for a monk, is good enough that taking the weapon mastery feat at 4th will always be a strong option. Giving Nick to a monk, for free, at first level? That's a lot, you're essentially giving the monk an extra attack, and since the monk can substitute their martial arts die for damage...

That's a neat monster. And CR 8 is more than appropriate for a 6th level party unless they are underpowered or severely depleted. If it's presented as a solo, then it needs a bit extra (even at CR8) such as a legendary action or 2. Something portrait appropriate, like sucking a foe in.

Is it clear and obvious? I tend to see the line as a bit blurry, as I see both your and @pemerton 's points. I tend to come back to the following example, which I had always thought fairly straightforward, but it has a lot of opinions (example is 3e because that's how long ago I posted the...

Really? Other than the one poster who has, shall we say unique, views on handling his players, I can't think of anyone HERE (someone, somewhere maybe) who would think doing that to their group was ok, let alone fun. But then, maybe I'm being optimistic.

One of the biggest annoyances of my group going online because of the pandemic was that one of my players always brought the absolute best selection of beers, really good stuff that wasn't easy to find. I think that alone, heavily, influenced the move back to in person fairly early!

The railroad is the rest of the adventure combined with stuff like this. I don't use the term railroad lightly, usually preferring linear or some other term. But when the module actively deceives the players into thinking there are choices when there are not? That's a railroad. The module is...

Actually Dragon Heist has whatever the term would be for a fake sandbox (I guess that would be a railroad?). It LOOKS like the group has choice in how it wants to Maneuver, order of approach etc but in reality the order things must happen is completely fixed. In fact, Dragon Heist has one of...

Reducing damage in any attack not just ranged ones, was an excellent change.

From what I've seen those weren't play reports just impressions. When 3e came out there were MASS outcries about how OP the monk class was. They were very, very wrong. And looking at the class, the dependence on one central resource (called focus points, now) has been lessened, but not...

Why not do a basic mage? CR 6 and add some construct immunities (except maybe vulnerable to fire and/or slashing because portrait). Then add an ongoing animate objects spell to add difficulty. If the group is a particularly tough/competent level 6, upgrade to an archmage with some construct...

As a constant misser of "obvious" adventure hooks, I hope they really ARE obvious! I've noticed what DMs think are obvious and what players think are obvious are often orders of magnitude apart.

You've seen one in play then? Because the math I've seen shows they're good now but certainly not OP. And the little bit I've seen played (low level, through lvl 3 so far) doesn't show OP at all yet. Still don't think they should get weapon masteries.

New to the thread, so have no idea what twists and turns it's taken. But as to the OP: As near forever DM, I LOVE getting to "just" play. As a matter of fact, I love taking the low IQ muscle, so I can just have fun being in the group and hit stuff when appropriate as opposed to think too hard!

Wow, I don't think I have EVER had that happen. IME when players want to meet the king, they want something from the king.

But he's mastering his spells which he gets MUCH better at than the eldritch knight. Sacrifices must be made. Paladins are part martial and don't get near the spells full casters do. Exactly, at a MUCH slower rate.. Casters get enough toys. It's great martials FINALLY get something to...

Casters have all sorts of ways to do "cool effects." Monks now have plenty too. Haven't seen that at all. Weapon masteries are something martials get to have their own cool thing. Casters don't need it at all. Monks now have decent amounts of cool things to do, they don't need weapon...

This depends HEAVILY on what the expectations of the group are and what the group knows/expects from the DM. If the group was looking forward to a completely different/different type of adventure they could rightfully be irritated. Real world example of a switcheroo: Friend and I signed up...