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I think the Paragon Path and Epic Destiny of 4e was a broadly good idea. When you enter a new major tier of play, you make a choice that defines your character for that tier. For 5e, having such a decision to make around 10th or 11th level would be good. At that point the game becomes much...

Agreed. I would likely only do "all rolls" if it were intended for me alone. Though, to be fair, advantage is only ever applied to attacks, saves, and ability checks. But your core point stands. Taken too far can harm clarity or end up omitting valuable details. It's a difficult skill to...

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this sort of thing myself, especially after spending some time with the Mothership RPG and The Hole in the Oak which focus a lot of terse, evoctive writing and thoughtful formatting. In the example below, in which I've taken some liberties, I focused on a...

I'd like to see a PHB as a minor, backward compatible revision that pulls in some of the better ideas from Xanathar's and the like. For the Monster Manual and DMG, I'm open to more substantial revision, as these are toolkits for adventure building and can always be improved.

For spells, we use Order when referring to levels in character. But I agree with the premise of reducing the number of levels, since the difference between levels is pretty arbitrary except when it comes to damage output. I'd go with four spell levels, one for each tier of play. That seems like...

Yes, and I like them very much. I'm imagining something similar, but with a larger scope, more adventures, and over a larger range of levels.

I'd love to see a collection of well-written small adventures centered around and branching from a single town. Something that lays a solid foundation for sandbox play without too much of an overarching plot (though a little is welcome).

I've used and made a number of GM screens over the years, and there's no such thing as a perfect screen. It's always a series of trade-offs. Attractive art takes space, but a lack of art isn't as nice to have in front of you. Too much density makes it uncomfortable to reference, but a lack of...

Spelljammer is fantasy adventure in space, roughly based on a medieval understanding of space as opposed to a modern one. The sun is not a star. Each solar system is literally surrounded by a crystal sphere to which the stars are attached. Fantastical locations and beings of all sorts exist in...

I'm a big fan of the 3.5 books Heroes of Horror and Heroes of Battle. While perhaps not a direct update of these books, I'd like to see a book focused on how to run different kinds of campaigns.

That's fine. It was an illustration of the method. But now that we have a framework, let's use it? What are your goals, approach, and tone for the thing you want to design?

I'm being firm with you, not because you challenged me, but because you are showing a continued resistance to the idea that different games have different tones, insinuating through repetition that your preference is the only good one. You may not mean to, but you're ignoring my core thesis...

You asked "How do YOU handle a Fastball Special, and other team maneuvers?". I've answered that and provided what guidance I can for adjudication through example. Accept that answer and move on, or ask a new question. There's no need to argue what the tone of a D&D game should be, as that...

As I said, it's all situational. Strength of the thrower, size of the person being thrown, and the distance could all play into it. But we have a good baseline. The world record is 17ft with a 130 lb. person. The situation I imagine for this is attempting to throw someone over a pit. So you...

Again, I'd need to know what they're trying to accomplish and consider the tone of my game. It's not something that comes up often, so it's entirely situational. In a game with a more grounded tone, 15-30 feet is an essentially impossible distance to throw a person short of supernatural...

In order to make a ruling, I need to know what the players are specifically trying to accomplish and have a sense of the tone of my game. In the X-men comics, a fastball special happens because Wolverine is only effective at close range, and needs to get to where he can be effective, for...

Another option for handling mending could be to make time the important aspect. Mending can reassemble a broken or shattered object so long as it broke recently (hours, days, maybe weeks). This is a divergence from the text, but I find it interesting. The idea being that the pieces of a...

1. Third Edition (plus variants) 2. Second Edition 3. Fifth Edition 4. Fourth Edition Fifth Edition will likely eclipse Second Edition soon, but it has a long way to go before it can compete with the constant weekend-long Third Edition marathons I was able to do in college.

I think of it as "You must be this tall to ride". Challenge Rating is a poor name for it. It's more of a Threat Level. A measure of what the monster can do with a single action. If you use a single monster with a CR higher than the party, it won't necessarily be much of a challenge to take...

I always thought it would be cool to give each armor variable AC or resistance based on damage type. Sure, it's more complicated, but it would give a natural reason to choose different weapons. That is, of course, assuming that you want weapon choice to be tactical instead of flavor.