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Don't forget, if its not in the middle of combat, high-level PCs usually have an ally or the funds to pay an NPC to help them with abilities they lack. Especially if the adventure has some "downtime" between action points. Still, need to be careful not to hinge an adventure by assuming the...

Reminds me of the tales with PCs keeping crowbars to even pack up the items nailed to the floor because Treasure = XP.

While the Greyhawk adventure Gargoyle is rightly lambasted, I do like their appearance. It is also interesting that the gargoyles of this adventure have detachable wings - though I would make them unable fly instead of being clumsy fliers without them. This might make it easier to make them...

I want to say I've seen 3E books with more "warpage" than that. Nothing a couple of days under the holy trinity wouldn't fix, at least.

I prefer getting XP by doing things (of import). Combat, story completion, influencing, evading/surviving traps - that sort of thing. My wife currently does milestones, which is fine by me as long as I get my level.

Well, by 16th level it's very difficult to nail down exactly what the party has or doesn't - and that can be a huge swing on the adventure design. We could go into Beyond and create a generic Fighter, Rogue, Wizard & Cleric party all at 16th level for a basis, but that's unlikely to actually...

While I certainly would avoid the ham-fisted hobbling of older editions (usually by denying or twisting the useage of spells), sometimes using the environment to put a monkeywrench into the straightforward approach makes things interesting. I think for a lot of these high level encounters that...

I seem to remember this first opening up when Complete Book of Humanoids showed up in 2E. But the real watershed moment seems to have been Savage Species in 3E - Anything could be made into a PC. I'll admit that in most cases, if I have the option to play something other than human, I'll take...

Yes. D&D IS a teamwork game, and there's several cases already built in. Bardic Inspiration (if not the whole bard class). Guidance. Healing Word. Commander's Strike. Healing Spirit. Rogue's Sneak Attack. Twilight Cleric. Paladin's Auras. Bless. Many, many more examples, especially of the...

That's quite the bold claim, Cotton. I enjoy using gargoyles against low level parties. Grapple + fly straight up and let go has left many a horrified look on my player's faces. But, I'm not against variants. Here's one of mine, the Ghargoyle

I bake it into the save. If the target crits on the save, they can do one of the following: 1) reduce the damage to 0, 2) allow a nearby ally to reroll their failed save or 3) bounce the spell back at the caster (who saves with advantage, but if there was damage the original target take 1/2...

Another thought: The party is accosted by a Pit Fiend and a Balor who demand the party to be arbitrators in a (verbal) dispute they are having. The two threaten to do something vile to the party or those close to them if they do not cooperate and will follow through if refused. If the party...

A lot of time, the advice I see is white room theory or pushing something really hard on a 1% or so difference or mostly a matter of preference. Sometimes though, it does feels spot on. Overall though, I find my own experience with something is the best teacher - discovering what I like and...

Yes, that's true - but it's not because of the rarity of knowledge, but by the rarity of the power needed by the individual to accomplish the task. It leans into the idea of a pre-industrial Master Craftsman laboring over a masterpiece versus someone going on an archeology hunt for old magic...

An idea from a visual novel video game I recently played: Recently, the God of Death has had a soul-shaking experience that has left them now longer willing to cull the living. This manifests during the party's next encounter (which should start out as fairly minor), when after reducing foes...

Nah, though that's a bit of "lost knowledge" in Greyhawk lore with the fall of the Suelese empire (and FR with Netheril?). Old D&D just had a requirement you had to be 9th level or better (name level) to start creating magical items - starting with potions and getting access to creating more...

I don't think a new setting needs to be something to push 5.5 exclusively - it would be fine if it could be adapted to other, older editions as well. To me, the draw would be that it's new. It's not a rehash but a new world we haven't seen before that isn't an attempt to skew a MtG's 5-color...

I could go for a 1600's or so setting, perhaps along the lines of 7th sea (without the direct faux european countries), with muskets, advanced alchemy, rudimentary steampunk and the beginnings of technomagic.