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Very interesting. This is the first "dependency" book in 5e, I think. By which I mean, this is a supplement to Rising From The Last War. Devs have repeatedly mentioned in interviews that setting lines had shrinking sales because you were only selling to people who bought the prior book, and that...

Scattered thoughts: Noble Genie Paladin is really cool thematically. And the "Add Cha mod to AC if you're in Light armor" immediately makes me want to stat up a dual wield finesse Paladin with Defensive Duelist. But I know if that feature goes through there's going to be a crazy Bladelock...

Philosophically, we have to ask where the line is drawn between magical healing and magical transformation. What conditions does magic, especially divine magic, react to as an injury or curse, and what conditions are simply the person's natural state as part of their race's biodiversity? Sure...

To be fair, it's not just the orcs in WoW. Baseline draenei are blue, fel charged ones mostly turn some shade of red or purple, and light charged ones turn light grey or ivory white. And I'm not even going to try and count the half dozen different flavors of elf. Physical transformations and...

Yeah, the art is really not consistent. Officially, D&D orcs are grey and goblins are sort of yellowish with big noses. But they go off-model in both color and design quite often, and IMO a lot of those look better. The orc Monk on Tasha's Cauldron p48 is definitely more green than grey. But...

It's only a punishment if you're trying to optimize for damage output. Having a two or three point higher AC matters a lot with bounded accuracy. You just need it with a way to make yourself "sticky" so that foes don't simply prioritize your friends over you. I think a lot of people are...

Depending on flavor, a Fighter 1 / Undead Warlock X might work. (Not Undying, that subclass is trash, Undead from Van Richten's Guide is the playable version.) Blade Pact for weapons, Chain Pact for a skeleton familiar, it's about as close as you can get with existing D&D options.

Not to be too much of a ranty old man, but there's been a serious breakdown in social cohesion that's lead a lot of people to a well founded reflexive assumption of bad faith. Large corporations make bad faith business decisions to gouge their customers while providing worse service. Politicians...

"..and that's my 20 point plan for why we need a flat tax and the restoration of miscegenation laws!" "Sir, all I asked was if you wanted fries with that."

Why stop there? Why not a homunculus that is a crossbow? An animate mecha-crossbow with small servo arms that can reload itself while the wielder aims and fires. Completely beyond the rules, of course, but a DM who's willing to color outside the lines with a player who doesn't try to exploit...

Yeah, it used to be 2nd level when Infusions came in. Which is probably a deliberate change to make it part of the 5th level damage spike package.

I completely understand the aesthetic appeal of a self-sufficient character idea. It's clean, it's tidy, and it doesn't depend on permission from the DM or compatibility with the campaign specifics. Sometimes 10 days of downtime IS a tall order. Still, I think the purpose of Replicate Magic...

Here's the thing about Returning Weapon and Repeating Shot. They're not Infusions anymore. They're just plain old Uncommon magic items. Which means if having one is a build defining item, you don't need to wait till 6th level. You don't even need to be an Artificer. It's just 10 days of downtime...

Doing my Day 2 closer read and test character mock up, I noticed that not only does the Homunculus Servant not use up an Infusion/Replicated Item slot anymore, it also doesn't cost a Bonus Action to command. Which means that while it's a bit fragile and expensive, it can be used by any Artificer...

I've been trying to sketch out character ideas, and I keep running into little pain points. Mostly due to changes from the prior version. Battle Smith has issues because you don't have the "Infused items act as casting foci" clause anymore. If you want to use a two-handed melee weapon or any...

I'm a little worried about the Battle Smith. No Mastery traits, difficulty taking the usual martial feats since those won't raise Intelligence, it's a bit hard for what's primarily a weapon user. Maybe the spells and Steel Defender are supposed to carry that weight? I'll keep an eye out for...

Incomplete Enchanter is notable for two things. One is the protagonists taking a scientific approach to magic and thereby attaining great mystical might. The other is being a pioneer in thinly disguised self-insert fanfic via the "all our stories are real somewhere in the multiverse" scenario...

Any discussion of the origins of D&D alignment needs a shout out to Poul Anderson's novel Three Hearts and Three Lions. That particular work was the origin of many D&D staples, such of Paladins and Trolls and Gnomes, all of which appear in very recognizable forms. In that novel, the forces of...

Depends on the class. Different classes split their power budget between base class and subclass differently. So some subclass feature are stronger than a feat and some are weaker.

You can't have it all. You want a scouting familiar? Take something small and stealthy that can turn invisible. Want something Medium sized with hands that can use adventurer scaled gear and items? Something big enough and strong enough that it can give a Small sized Warlock a piggyback ride...