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The concept art for Fizban's is more clear with the backwards orientation. I think the slight ambiguity of the Fizban's official art is why Palmer mentioned "leaning into it." Palmer's art is undeniably back-winged, much like this concept art. Very much, "If this is the design guidance I'm...

So much depends on the context and execution. Like, the "good" ending of FFX-2 was pretty well done, but so much of both that game and the one before it were about dealing with grief and loss that it felt kind of cheap, like a forced happy ending. And, "Somehow, Palpatine returned" is a meme...

This isn't a new design. I don't think any of them are -- these are all 5e designs that date from Fizban's. It's just new artwork with the same design. Pushing into the controversy to tackle the wings and try and make sense of them might be the best solution here for Palmer. Here's the topaz...

Some of these are very DIFFERENT effects! I would not use the same system for Disease that I'd use for Energy Drain, for instance. I like 4e's system for diseases, but it is a lot to track and it's not a small lift to "design" a disease in it. I do think that the rolls against disease should...

I'm still seeing more solutions upstream. Like, what you want is a guaranteed cinematic moment, and you're using a system that can leave a boss with 4 hp (hp is not a very cinematic mechanic!) and also can have low roll boring attacks in it. The "fudge" is happening because the ruleset isn't...

Yeah, in the same way as if I have a +1 weapon, I'm more powerful than the rest of my party if the rest of my party doesn't have it. Of course, the D&D solution here is to make sure magic items are fairly plentiful and easy to hand out. NPC buddies should also be fairly plentiful and easy to...

If I adhere to the rule of "don't roll dice when it doesn't matter," I am not even running that last round of combat. There's no risk, there's no uncertainty, there's no tension, this is just procedural. No one cares about the last straggler. The feeling's already there. If the combat system...

Watered-down "dragons" don't fulfill the fantasy, either. I keep coming back to magic items because the fantasy is very similar - the companion is a (reasonably) reliable part of my kit that just makes be better than I would be without it. I don't have to be a weaker Fighter to have a...

Not really what I'm talking about. Those spells serve their purpose, but they are not the same fantasy as "I am friends with a dragon who fights alongside me and my party."

I really wish the advice on having monster friends adventure alongside the party was better (or, y'know, extant). Riding dragons and griffons and dinosaurs, befriending unicorns, fighting alongside celestials, dealing with fiends, even recruiting guards and knights and veterans and spies...you...

This is another thing that could be dumb or not depending on how much work they put in. Some? A lot? None? I'm rooting for them to pull it off. There's a high degree of tolerance of foolishness in D&D, it's definitely in-genre, but the thin veneer of a half-decent rationale is pretty load-bearing.

FWIW, Makenzie De Armas does a pretty good job fielding the question overall, and talks well about the subclass-specific feedback, but doesn't really dispel the "dragon is purple lol" accusations. "We wanted to explore what that purple dragon could be!" is evidence for this concept disrespecting...

It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing, but I imagine the multiverse angle goes something like this: D&D has a multiverse and that multiverse is part of its brand identity these days. It hasn't always been important, but folks now have decided to highlight the multiverse angle for all of D&D...

Somewhat, yeah. The noble and valorous order of leaders and knight allying with these aloof dragons who learn about planar balance is not an obvious pairing, and the UA didn't offer any reason for it, which leads to wild mass guessing like "lol, they just shoehorned the game's purple dragons...

FWIW, I'm open to the idea of this organization aligning with amethyst dragons and having it make sense in and be kind of interesting in context. Like, amethyst dragons are Neutral and are aloof and kind of arrogantly "above it all" - they don't necessarily care about this nation or its people...