Search results

In the final game of one of my DMs epic years long campaign, we fought the lich who was behind most of the campaigns machination. We were all 20th level (3.5) and the lich was built using the Epic Level Handbook. He also has a death knight bodyguard. It was supposed to be epic. It went like...

Marvel was laughing..Snowflame is a DC character.

Yes yes, combat as sport vs combat as war. The problem is that control can ruin both types of play. If the players figure out certain control methods are overwhelmingly viable, they will spam it at every encounter possible. Which leads to either PCs using the I win button every fight or the DM...

Having played one, the vibe I got was storms come in all different types. Thunderstorms, blizzards and of course...

I don't think that would work any better. I know from years of MMO play that boss fights with mechanics often end up relying on "invincibility phases" to stop players from burning past mechanics. I don't find that any better or worse than legendary resistance. And I think the vast majority of...

Control beats mid-range. Aggro beats control. Mid-range beats aggro. Paper-rock-scissors. (Combo mostly plays solitaire until one turn they declare they win and then explain for 5 minutes why). D&D combat is designed to play mid-range as a default. But control magic easily shuts it down and...

It's the same problem as Magic: The Gathering. It's often a better play to nullify your opponent than to defeat them quickly (unless you can do so faster than they can act). Shutting down an opponents opportunity to act is almost always the best (and most unfun) play. We want D&D combat to be...

I mean, why do we need the reanimator artificer, grave cleric, and undeath warlock, shadow sorcerer and oathbreaker paladin when the necromancer wizard already exists?

I feel that's more intentional than it first appears.

I wasn't asking theory, I was asking if anyone has done that yet. Outside of the Styrixhaven UA that failed. Is there a 5e offshoot with swappable subclasses?

Not sure if universal subclasses were as viable as we think (I know ToTV has uniform progression, do they allow swapping subclasses?) but I will agree the biggest loss was not making subclass progression better. So many classes effectively don't have subclasses because of how late they go on...

Sorry, but you're getting the "it depends". Moving from 2e to 3e was intuitive to me because much of what I had been house ruling into 2e was being added to 3e, and the stuff that wasn't looked interesting and in line with my expectations. I went to 4e because it promised to fix many of the...

I took the Krynn reference as a bit of a cheeky nod to the fact they know Dragonlance is the dragon knight setting and literally saying it inspired the idea, in fiction and out. But D&D lore is Serious Business™️ so people are going to be upset with a bit of an in-joke.

That's the DMs job. See also: the Day of Mourning (Eberron)

Time to pop my bottle of Schadenfreude Champagne*. So there was a pact between an amethyst great wyrm and his kin and the kingdom of Cormyr to become a defense force for Faerun. The pact is only a decade old (so NOT a retcon) and has moved the PDKs into a global presence on the board. A...

Per Reddit: all species references direct the reader to Monsters of the Multiverse. Edit: for species not in the PHB I mean.

I think the final piece is perhaps what sort of morality the world at large has. For example, Eredane (the setting of Midnight) is purely as Despair setting since Evil has totally won and good is permanently on the backfoot. You can fight battles and win against the forces of Darkness, but...

The one thing I tried to do in my musings was point out that hope and despair are trends, not absolutes. Good people fall to temptation; evil can be redeemed. Bad things happen to good people and vice versa. But, as the Good Reverend put it: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends...

I think it fills a couple useful niches. Build around. The concept for some of these can be finished into longer adventures if the DM wishes. Back pocket: players decided to zig instead of zag? You could pull something like this out to keep the game running until you figure out what to do...

I think arguing about hobbit gentry is a clear signal of a setting of despair. 🤪