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And this is why again and again I'm suggesting that 5e has a perfect mechanic: change the subclass.

The hit is overwhelming is part of the problem. And just to reiterate something - why do you want D&D religion to not be like actual religion? And I'm arguing that the current default is a massive improvement over the 1974 version. And leads to both better religion and better stories. Gygax got...

Talk to them. Ask how they wanted it to be handled. Suggest changing their subclass at some point to e.g. Life from whatever it was. Have NPCs wander in and challenge their character.

You might be surprised. I have in my experienced reality of regularly running open tables and teaching newbies to play seen in absolute terms more toxic DMs than I have toxic players. And I know people who have stayed with toxic DMs despite hating it for months or years. Indeed a group I've just...

Stop pretending that "taking away your powers" is anything other than a punishment inflicted by the DM through literal divine intervention. Natural consequences are things like picking up a reputation. Anything that takes divine intervention to change the current situation isn't natural. Now if...

Petulant DMs who want to ignore the rules and setting and just do whatever they want to characters are toxic bullies and have ruined far more games and the D&D experience for far more people than single players ever have. The core problem is that if the rules tell you you should or can do...

I think given D&D's history we've found that the "losing your powers" doesn't work and leads to negative play experiences. It's why Paladins were such a mocked class through to the end of 3.5 - and deserves to stay on the "things we used to do" list with Descending AC and XP for GP.

This doesn't mean that we should use the blandest option possible and an option that is simply so harsh no one would ever take it willingly. In 5e I've, by agreement, changed a character's Subclass. From Oath of Valour to Oath of Vengeance to Oath of Redemption as they realised what they'd done...

It's not unfair. It's just boring. It's the old "One of the Paladins is a traitor? You all know the drill. Everyone down into the courtyard and we'll see who can no longer Lay On Hands." issue. It's boring and controlling and therefore a symptom of bad DMing.

A level 1 or 2 warlock doesn't have fewer spell resources than any other level 1 caster. 1 spell per short rest is about two per long and 2 per short = 3 per long. I'm not recommending Eldritch Blast to warlocks pre-level 5 under 2024 rules. Instead you get True Strike from levels 1-4. That...

Because most people who are saying warlocks are saying that they are hard at level up and easy in play ... assuming that the level up has been done decently. 2014 warlocks are buried in trap options, most but not all of which have been removed in the 2024 rules. You're looking in the wrong...

Honestly? It's intended to balance the cannon between campaign styles; an artillerist in a five room dungeon where the cannon will last for the entire dungeon is vastly more effective than an artillerist keeping watch overnight. And the cannon scales poorly; the low level force field projector...

So going back to the artificer. What do they need? And I'm going back to basics here and trying to adjust to 2024 not 2014 rules: Improved spellcasting; artificers are worse at casting "pseudo item crafting spells" like Continual Flame and Symbol than wizards are so they need one of the...

Or to stop with the hyperbole. The level 1-2 artificer kicks the arse of the wizard and sorcerer and is probably stronger than the cleric - which are all their nearest rivals at those levels.

A Storygame was originally created to refer to non-open ended games (and My Life With Master in specific) that had arcs and limited numbers of sessions. For the record Monsterhearts calls itself (and IMO is) a Storygame and I consider Apocalypse World to be one. Fate is pure distilled NeoTrad...

Can't say I'm keen on 13A but that might be the DM when I played it (no, the Gold Dragon isn't a bath plug - and having icons drop in multiple times a session in person to let the DM thesp badly gets tedious fast). But I find none of the martials either simple or engaging (the fighter in...

The place I'd start fixing 3.0 is by reverting to 2e saving throws. Or failing that adding half of everyone's level to saving throws and giving the fighter three good saves and the rogue and barbarian two. Damage and buff spells should be SOP, save or sucks hail maries

Battle Smiths are the only fully functional artificers, but that still makes them part of overall the weakest class in the game (and they were already the weakest caster before 2024). Buffs are necessary but they should belong to the base class. I disagree. I think first of all artificers need...

At level 1-2 an artificer is almost a strict improvement over a wizard. Better hp, much better AC, better skills, almost as many spells.

NeoTrad in particular is almost never pure and Trad rarely is, and this is a strength of both - while the mechanical focus is different. (There's a lot of OSR mechanically in 2e). And that's why I mentioned routinely using the mechanics; 5e has the flaws, ideals, and bonds (and whatever the...