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I disliked the early presentation, which seemed to focus on magipunk elements and urban adventure. However, I eventually realized it had strong pulp roots, went pretty deep into traditional D&D mythology, had an interesting take on religion and alignment, and warforged were pretty cool.

I think there is no question that dire wolves are certainly in the top ten. Dire wolves, dire wolves everywhere. Every 2nd-5th level adventure of every edition seems to have an ogre, as well.

I just don't like the new goliaths. Pretty much all the old goliath lore is out the window, and ultimately, after three editions of being a giant-like race who were their own thing, they have finally been reduced to thematic lesser giantkin associated with specific species of giants. Humans...

This is 2025. We've been over the hills and back multiple times.

It was actually good. Comeliness was a mistake. I don't think I ever met anyone who cared about Social Class. The only real negative I can think of was making paladins a sub-class of cavalier, making entry into the class the province of dice-cheats, and also constraining their behavior in so...

The lesson is very simple: when you are updating a beloved brand, it's important the new version not only be good in its own right, but also acceptable as a substitute to a loyal base.

There's a lot to be said for classicism. Honestly, the more D&D drifts from its original lore and aesthetics, the more I am inclined to play something else instead. Not out of hate. It's just, if I'm going to have non-chromatic dragons and a customized magic system, why wouldn't I just play...

I hated that. I have always liked alignment in the way it makes D&D a morally realistic universe, while not actually settling the question of what the "best" way to behave is. It's clear that demons and devils are Evil, essentially; yet it's interesting not every act has to be an evil one...

1e and 2e used PC rules for NPCs. Even those MM elves were led by NPCs of higher character level. Up until 3e, NPC meant "a character built like a PC but controlled by the DM." Roving gangs of adventurers, which were a type of encounter in AD&D as well as BECMI D&D, consisted entirely of a group...

Do you think 5e is amenable to writing up a chart to create NPCs of various CRs?

I don't expect PCs and NPCs to all have identical abilities, but I do expect PC classes to have some reflection in the game world. Like, if a PC is a Cleric of Sune, then I expect there to be NPC clerics of Sune, and whatever differences in their abilities exist should have some kind of explanation.

That's pretty close to how NPC mages were built, using the the original 5e books.

So what do y'all do when you need a CR 5 bard NPC?

Whoa there. I didn't call anyone stupid, and I think it's very uncharitable to say something like that about people who are just starting out. A new player's ignorance is profound. Some people pick things up and find them obvious, other things may not be as obvious to as many people. I think...

For AD&D, that would totally work. I just don't see how that would work in 5e. What are you improvising it based on? There's no Level 6 Wizard in the MM, and as noted above, the capabilities of PCs are quite different than NPCs in 5e.

Well, they need someone to tell them.

I do actually. Let's seem, Jake here has rolls dice 22 hit points. I own plenty of published modules and dozes of examples of NPCs statted up exactly like that. The ones with names have ability scores.

What does that have to do with the topic at hand? Is there something about being a new DM that means you won't need a CR 2 Mage? If anything I think it's more of a disservice to new DMs and their groups there isn't a robust way of dashing out many, many NPCs on a theme, with appropriate CRs.

I'm not assuming anything. P.92 of the DMG (2014) says you can use a monster stat block, or you can create one like a PC using class and levels. Off-hand, I'm not sure there are any examples of the latter in print. The only real evidence this was ever seriously considered is the existence of the...