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Too much rationalization for a distasteful D&D game mechanic. I have no problem with insane monsters and Beholders do worship an insane god, I just view the Beholder (like Dragons) as one of those core D&D creatures that should be extremely scarey. Them doing random stuff makes for them being...

How do you know that a Shield is supposed to work with Mage Armor? "Armor Class (AC). Armor protects its wearer from attacks. The armor (and shield) you wear determines your base Armor Class." "Mage Armor: Armor Proficiency. The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell...

Yeah, that's bogus. Only Wild Magic Sorcerers or Int 1 or so creatures should do random stuff. Everything else should use the best ability for the situation (assuming that they do not want to conserve resources).

I don't think most people are this smart or this cunning. Many players take the best options they can find. It's human nature. People are competitive. Not every player is that way, but many are. A DM gets a tough encounter wiped out by the PCs in short order. It happens. The DM then starts...

The strike simultaneously clause of one spell should not indicate how another spell works unless the actual rules state so. Spells like Scorching Ray do not indicate that they are non-simultaneous for the "at the same time" clause of page 196 to be recognized. Nothing in Scorching Ray or...

Looked at a different way: If you need an 11 or better (50%) to hit: The first advantage die changes it to a 6. The second advantage die changes it to a 3. The third advantage die changes it to a 2. If you need a 9 or better (60%) to hit: The first advantage die changes it to a 4. The second...

He could wade through the pool of acid at full hit points or run through the wall of fire. He cannot at one hit point. He is not still functioning at 100% effectiveness, it depends on what the player wants him to do. In the real world, a wounded soldier can still read. There are some things...

Is there a gold star for answering this extensive plethora of questions correctly? :lol:

Why? Players already meta game decisions on every single aspect of character features, abilities, and mechanics. What makes hit points so special? It's human nature, even for those roleplayers who purposely try to ignore that stuff. It's a game. Players should typically make PC decisions based...

I was discussing TPK-like encounters. So who is doing the strawman now? Your kobold example here is random medium encounter, not random deadly encounter for 20th level PCs. Apples and Oranges. And caltrops? Are you serious? Is every encounter in your world in a simple 10 foot wide corridor...

Always? No. The vast majority of the time? Yeah if the party has a Wizard who can teleport. And I was actually referring to the concept of a TPK encounter where the players are expected by the DM to run instead of actually engaging. I'm not a big fan of such encounters since like I said, the...

And what I am trying to point out is that without full hit points, a PC is not at full combat ability. His defense is extremely hindered. At one hit point, his defensive combat ability is almost nonexistent. Yup.

No it doesn't. The fastest Wood Elf Rogue/Ranger in the party with mobility and Longstrider and bonus action Dash (max distance 165 feet) is still going to be caught by an Ancient Red Dragon that can fly 80 feet and breath 90 feet and can also cast Longstrider or Dimension Door or other movement...

I don't know of any player playing a Fighter with 1 hit point that will rush into a group of foes or charge a Dragon. 1 hit point is significantly different than full hit points, and it definitely changes the decisions of a vast majority of players of any class. In my mind and many players...

It depends on the Fighter build and it depends on what someone means by "better at fighting" (which can mean offense, defense, and/or the ability to be attacked more often so that the rest of the party isn't). Sure, those Barbarians are not taking a lot of damage, but a Battlemaster Fighter...

I answered "intuition and feel", but I really do follow the DMG guidelines (checking against the guidelines after I have designed the encounter). Too weak of an encounter is a waste of gaming time. Too strong of one will often result in at least one PC death (regardless of popular opinion here...

I use: http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder to double check. Way faster.

Although I understand that POV, mechanically it works exactly like a heal, so in many players minds, the Fighter is healing himself. Err, why? I don't mind the boost, I just mind the way it was mechanically done. Course, I kind of disliked the entire 4E Warlord rally the troops heals too (and...

So far, I only created the chain 3 NPCs deep (well, technically, 4 since Szass Tam is an eventual given, but there will probably be a few between the current BBEG and him) and the first from HotDQ was killed off when I was still a player instead of the DM. But, once necessity rears its head...

Perhaps. Course, Drow magical items (historically in D&D) tends to stop being magical the first time it is exposed to sunlight. The same might be true for their poisons for some DMs. Instead of it being mundane and real world-like, Drow stuff tends to be more supernatural (i.e. magic). Course...