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I prefer OGC. Anyway, does anybody here know how to convert 3.x statistics to 5e? I have a copy of Slavelords of Cydonia but it’s from 2004. The new aboleth variants in the appendix are cool, but I haven’t seen them reprinted and they’re not compatible with 5e. For reference, these are the new...

Here are some more lores from my mind palace: I watched Tensei Slime and got inspired to have monsters "evolve" into other monsters like Pokemon. For example: rot grub > carrion crawler > carrion moth > carrion dragon, or tenebrous worm > gloomwing > shadow dragon. I like to expand on the...

I guess not. ;)

I like to take inspiration from pre-D&D and non-D&D sources when reimagining monsters. Sometimes I like to mix stuff together from a variety of sources. For example, I decided to reinvent the illithid-githyanki war using other monsters instead. The illithids I replaced with a combination of...

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-and-dragons-orcs-racist/ https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/04/27/progressive-nerd-culture-outlets-and-table-top-creators-claim-depictions-of-orcs-are-problematic-and-racist/...

I looked up the aethertech used, and it's not the same thing as flux tech. Aethertech is scifi tech powered by magic crystals. I am looking for an alternative to scifi space travel.

Aether & Flux: Sailing the Traverse was a 2003 d20 supplement published by Dark Furies Publishing. It included rules for space fantasy using magitech, based on two introduced concepts of aether and flux. Although it took its name from the obsolete scientific hypothesis of luminiferous aether...

The Net Wizard's Handbook classifies magic along two axes: control and frequency. I've attached it for reference since it is a world building aid. Anyway, a lot of the arguments here seem to be focusing on control and frequency. I prefer to focus on the aesthetic of the magic. The arguments...

So I was discussing the article "breaking out of scientific magic systems" in another thread. The title of the article is misleading, as it isn't about the scientific method or the philosophy of science as it would apply to fictional magic systems. The article describes the contrasts between...

The Net Wizard's Handbook mentions something like this when it categorizes the design of magic systems along axes. The model you're discussing is called "magic is an art," which is distinct from "magic is chaos" and "magic is a science." I've attached it here since there doesn't seem to be an...

To try another explanation... compare East Asian fantasy. Fighters can channel their own life force to accomplish impossible feats through sheer training. Animals and household objects turn into yokai when they live long enough. That’s examples of breaking out.

Here’s another way I can think to put it: if you were holistically building a universe from first principles, how would you allow things that would be considered “magic” and “supernatural” in the real world? That is, a magic system that is not crudely tacked on.

By “pre-modern” magic, I’m referring to the ideal proposed by the “Breaking out of scientific magic systems” article. I guess another way to put it is “holistic” magic, or “rational” magic, or magic based on pre-D&D sources and sources not influenced by D&D. (Like, I don’t know, every instance...

How many examples do we have of pre-modern magic systems, much less ones that fail and show us how not to do it? Fantasy gaming almost never tries to defy the modern mechanistic model, so I don't have much context for your complaints beyond those that apply outside of magic like the abstraction...

I feel like you may be trying too hard. The article even points out that it is easy to go overboard. Why does the system need to be that complicated? Is there a simpler way to handle those sorts of things? The point is to have fun by giving a sense of mystery to investigate, not simulate a...

Sadly this sort of thinking is almost entirely absent from fantasy fiction. Except Tolkien, ironically enough. IMO, the really weird thing is that this sort of magic is basically scifi technology in a universe which operates according to fantasy physics.

Not necessarily. Adding hidden variables to magic like environmental modifiers and character traits doesn't work in D&D because you don't roll to cast spells like you do skills and attacks. If you had to roll to cast spells, then you would be able to assign modifiers based on such hidden...

If we're discussing fantasy science anyway, then something I'd like to note is level progression. It is commonly treated as an abstraction, but what if it wasn't a simple abstraction? What if, for example, monsters evolved into higher HD/CR monsters to mirror the way that PCs advanced in level...

I'm developing a taxonomy based on Indo-European mythologies, as that is the primary inspiration for D&D rules. It's more difficult than it should be since D&D has more categories than needed, but I manage. In contrast to the rules as written, I allow monsters to have multiple types as needed...

It depends on what you mean by science. There's an article pointing out how magic in D&D worlds operates according to weird pseudo-scientific rules that aren't consistent with how pre-modern societies imagined magic. If magic exists, then your setting should be build holistically according to...