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    Worlds of Design: Barbarians at the Gates – Part 1

    Horse archery didn't begin or end with the Mongols. The Mongol empire held on little more than two centures; didn't conquer fortifications with horse archers (although their armies heavily featured horse archers - something like 60% depending on era and location). Predecessors and successors...
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    Worlds of Design: Barbarians at the Gates – Part 1

    Yeah, that's a myth. Horse archers were great at skirmishing, raids, harassment, and annoying the enemy until they foolishly broke formation. They were worthless at taking or holding fortifications, outclassed by unmounted archers, and could only really function in open terrain (not...
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    D&D 5E (2014) How do you handle secret doors?

    Perhaps I was unclear in the post - these clues are either placed in a larger description full of other details; or what the players glean from a successful skill check (e.g. perception or investigation). The players then need to describe how they search and what they do to uncover specifics...
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    D&D 5E (2014) How do you handle secret doors?

    Not really, IMX; if you get rid of those it tends to result in PCs carrying chests or even wagons full of torches and oil. Kinda like the whole crates full of arrows thing. That said, I think it's fun to play up / dramatize the dimness of "dim light". "There's a grunt from the shadows and a...
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    D&D 5E (2014) How do you handle secret doors?

    There kinda is an established procedure? Secret doors are precisely what passive perception is for. On rare occasion if I feel it's more fun to let the PCs have a chance to find or not find a secret door, I'll roll randomly behind the screen using the highest perception bonus for passive...
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    D&D General War! What is it Good For (in your campaigns)?

    The presence and function of war in games I run varies quite a bit. Most often it's either a set of background obstacles or a story arc - something that takes a few sessions before the plot moves onward. That said, it's pretty easy to adapt warfare into a set of concrete encounters and/or...
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    AD&D 1E What are examples of "gotchya" encounters from Gary Gygax?

    Here's one for you: I seem to recall a room in Castle Greyhawk with a number of narrow, cylindrical shafts in it. When the PCs in all probability try to investigate they become magically compelled to throw their most prized magical item down one of the shafts, where it is irrevocably...
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    D&D General What does "magic" mean? [Read carefully, you can't change your vote]

    The word is context dependent. It could potentially mean anything supernatural in one context...e.g. "This Anti-Magic field shuts down anything that's magic(al)". But in other circumstances it can be used specifically to describe spellcraft or item enchantments...e.g. "I am skilled at magic".
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    D&D 5E (2014) Don't play "stupid" characters. It is ableist.

    I would tend to encourage people to play stupid characters. And autistic characters. And ADHD characters. And characters with low-status or high-status backgrounds. And socially inept characters. And in-crowd characters. And characters with all sorts of personal challenges. Roleplaying is...
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    D&D 5E (2014) What is your least favorite class in 5E?

    I had to go with cleric. Not because it's a bad class - but because there's only a very few ways that I personally know how to roleplay an individual focused on faith without it starting to feel incredibly samey; with maybe slightly different window dressing.
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    D&D 5E (2014) FeeFiFoFum *splat* goes the giants

    Thing about giants is - they have huge achilles' heels. arhm
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    Yes. In my particular parlance a "deific force" being a diffuse primal, mystical, spiritual, symbolic and/or elemental concept that has deific or god-equivalent powers. Consider: A cleric devoted to something like "Love", the Jedi and "The Force", a religion revolving around spirits existing...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    Feel free to look it up yourself. I provided the reference. I'll presume you know or are capable of looking up how square brackets are used in quotations in the English language if that's a point of confusion.
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    It literally says straight out in the PHB that that's exactly how they get their powers, kid. As I mentioned in the post you quoted. PHB, p64 under heading Power of Nature, 1st paragraph: "Druids revere nature above all, gaining their spells and other magical powers either through the force of...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    That is all true, but I'm not entirely certain what point you are trying to make? Eberron - Somewhat distant or vague deities, but still clerics, druids, and obviously divine magical effects. Example: The Undying. Dark Sun - There are elemental powers that grant divine magic. Druids get their...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    That's hilarious. You really should try reading about the Druid class before writing anything about their beliefs, empowerment, or how inconsequential it must be for them to violate taboos. Druidic powers have ALWAYS been based on religious beliefs. In 1e, druids were a cleric subclass. Even...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    Wrong. You tried to bring up some people's willingness to violate taboos when in distress IRL as somehow being significant. In a fictional, magical world where we have powerful magical forces and individuals who derive magical powers from their religious practices, it is idiotic to presume that...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Can your Druids wear metal armor?

    Vacuous argument. In real life, we don't have obviously interventionist deities (or sets of spiritual beliefs) that regularly grant people magic powers.
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    D&D 5E (2014) RAW: Can druids wear studded leather?

    Ooof, mea culpa. Seem to have confused similar threads with recent threads :(
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    D&D 5E (2014) RAW: Can druids wear studded leather?

    True, but a crafter with only cantrip-level magic could carve a properly shaped bone, wood, or stone bead; cut a tiny slit through which to insert said bead; and then cast mending to repair the slit.
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