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I think one of the unfortunate drawbacks to 4E's design is that it assumed you could keep all players constantly engaged during combat instead of them zoning out when it isn't their turn. I looked at the 4E Cleric's powers last night and there are a lot of little short term effects with specific...

If the fiery vortex is an AoE created at range I would say that the creator of the vortex is a Controller. If the fiery vortex is a creature itself, such as some kind of elemental, I'd say it is a Soldier. Both roles perform crowd control, but the former does so at range and tries to avoid melee...

I like looking at and evaluating monster statblocks, but it would be nice to have an at a glance way of knowing what role they fill to save time when selecting. It also makes it easier to use mixed groups of monsters.

4E had orcs of the following roles: Artillery Alchemist Archer Bolt Thrower Bombardier Chieftan Crescent Hurler Pyromaniac Storm Shaman Brute Berserker Bloodrager Bludgeoner Champion Rampager Terrorblade Controller Eye of Gruumsh Pummeler Shaman Witch Doctor Skirmisher Beast Master Freak...

I was a fan of Tactics RPG video games before I started playing my first D&D edition (3.5). One of the first attempts at homebrew I created was a feat inspired by a tactical RPG called Disgaea that would let a fighter move three spaces and deal damage to any enemies whose space he moved through...

Here's also a custom leader/soldier Azer I made for a session recently: The general idea with this guy is to keep the hell Hounds close so that they can benefit from the greater chance of recharging their fire breath and keeping the PCs close to include them in the AoE.

As promised, here are some examples of existing 5E monster abilities I've identified as helping to act in combat roles. I'd already been looking at these so I could have abilities to bolt onto existing statblocks as needed to quickly customize monsters. Controller Grave Bolt. Ranged Spell...

I was checking out the new monster statblocks for Vecna: Eve of Ruin last night and, to my surprise, discovered that my favorite new monster was a chandelier. I was initially looking for the hertilod, a new monster of the Astral Plane that I'd seen interesting artwork for. Upon looking at the...

Fun fact I noticed recently: Keyleth, which is the name of one of the PCs from the start of Critical Role, is given as one of the sample female elf names in the 4E PHB.

I know the 4E couatl's entry had a small sidebar stating that it could shift between the material plane and the Astral Sea with a short ritual, but it wasn't part of the statblock for the monster itself. In general the non-combat capabilities of 4E monsters were left up to DM fiat. I'll admit I...

Has anyone ever ran or been in a skill challenge in 5E? I haven't done it myself, but when I played in a Dragonlance campaign the DM ran a skill challenge to infiltrate a fort seized by the Red Dragon Army. I've also seen a number of 3rd party products that used skill challenges.

I can't help but miss the concise way game mechanics were displayed in 4E. They felt more like they were designed to be used in play without slowing the game down to parse the rules text. For example, compare the official write-up of Divine Sense and the 4E-inspired way I abbreviated it on my...

I just listened to an interview with Rob Heinsoo, lead designer on 4E and 13th Age, on episode 191 of the Mastering Dungeons podcast, which included his thoughts on 4E itself. I thought some of you may find it interesting: Dave Noonan identified problems with D&D that 4E should be designed to...

4E had hints about other places beyond the Nentir Vale all the time, but maps of the rest of the world didn't show up until the Conquest of Nerath boardgames, which subsequent magazine articles expanded upon in a segment called Nerathi Legends. IIRC a gazetteer was planned but was never...

There's an article explaining creature roles on D&D Beyond now. I wonder what the reception will be to this awesome "new" concept?

I don't roll and use the average for most monsters, but if I want some to be minions I use the lowest possible result, and if I want one to be a boss I use the maximum possible result.

Don't get me wrong, there are definitely aspects of 5E where the DM is expected to do a lot of the heavy lifting. The designers have at least been pretty generous with monsters, for example, and for the most part over time the monster abilities have gotten more interesting. In contrast, being a...

My read is that 5E gives a decent amount of material for DMs and a frustratingly small amount to players, possibly because it's mostly DMs who buy the books, not players. As for player-facing design space, I think Baldur's Gate 3 demonstrated that creating more magic items was Larian's answer...

The chromatics were fine, but the metallics have needed more distinct visual designs for a long time now since three of them are brown with similar body shapes.