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Uhh...kill the cleric?

The simplest method would be to give a minor (+1 or +2 bonus) to melee attacks made after moving at least 1 square. You move and your opponent has to readjust their defenses based on your new line of attack. Hopefully, their readjustment is slow enough that you gain enough of an advantage to get...

Yes, hit points are intentionally cloudy--except when they're intentionally cubey. They're awesome that way. I don't understand why gamers need mechanical effects to tell them what a 'hit' means. One of the advantages of hit points is that a hit can mean whatever is convenient at the time. They...

As a saving throw represents actively resisting a spell effect, my view is that the target knows they are being "magically assaulted" and needs to marshal their (in this case mental) defenses to thwart the attack. The target knows they are the target of a hostile spell. Since I always let a...

Kewl magic swords.

I'd say consider the following: Landmarks. Make the empty room a navigational aid. The big dragon skeleton. The three-headed demon statue. The really really smelly room. The room with "The Cake is a Lie" written on the wall. This is especially useful if you're doing a confusing OSR dungeon...

That people don't understand gaming is more important than jobs and kids.

It's hard to tell a rollicking good yarn without contrivances. DMs should be shameless in arranging matters for the most dramatic impact. I like to give my players free reign to go and do what they want. They can pick their quests and goals based on what they feel is most important or most...

Actor + Charlatan + Changeling: Don't see this as OP. If you allow changelings into the game, expect them to do changeling things. Imitating a voice is already taken care of with the changeling polymorph. Actor probably helps with cadence and other quirks and it does give advantage if the DM...

I'm not a powergamer. I had a Pathfinder character I couldn't be bothered to level up for like 3 straight levels because, man, does Pathfinder have a ton of feats. Way too many to actually read through. Leveling in PF is as much fun as doing your tax returns. I can see the appeal of...

I think there's been an over-reliance on skill checks in the WotC-era of the game and its most egregious with stealth and perception. It's a natural outgrowth of the d20 skill system so I can't fault WotC too much for it, but I think the rules-writing, DM-advice and official adventures could...

I also feel they made ranged combat too strong in 5E. The fixes I'm trying out in my new campaign are: 1. Not included Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter and Spell Sniper. 2. Ranged attacks have disadvantage if you've moved, are moving or are going to move on your turn. If you've already made ranged...

Yes! Any monster's statblock can be immeasurably improved by giving it laser eyes.

Isn't the box scenario a rather pointless argument? What does the "hide" action get you when you're in the box? You're already unseen and your location is known since your opponent saw you entering the box. You can become unheard and I suppose otherwise undetectable, but how does that affect...

3 hours. If we're lucky. Mainly because of work and kids not wanting us to have fun...

I can't believe I'm getting involved in this mess, but here goes: The big hang-up is RAW for when hiding ends. As per the rules (Hiding Sidebar, p177): "When you try to hide, make a Dexterity (Stealth) check. Until you are discovered or you stop hiding, that check’s total is contested by the...

My dragons tend to dangerous monsters rather than big bads, faction leaders or even treasure keepers. They are far less intelligent than D&D dragons and driven more by emotion than reason. In some settings I've made them the personification of the Elemental Chaos--living, crazed engines of pure...

Looks pretty simple and straightforward mechanically. You might want to change "build points" for fortress vendors into gp values so that everything runs on the same values. Its probably not necessary to introduce a new term. I can't really comment on the prices or the balance issues since we...

I'd randomize availability based on rarity by making a roll. The players ask for an elixir of health you could roll a d20. On a 15+ one (or perhaps 1d4) are in stock. Or you could say a vendor always has x number of consumables in stock per month/week and randomly generate the list. Certain...

Have you thought about max Str & Con for small characters, rather than a penalty? Cap them at 15 or something. That way players don't have to invest a lot to get a decent stat and creates build flexibility, but they will never outshine a Medium race in these areas. I'd dropped the additional +2...