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I mean, there's an argument that allowing for suboptimal and weak choices is necessary to allow for more character concept visualization, and also as a way for system mastery to shine. I don't agree with those arguments, but I can't say they have no validity.

One person's "optimize" is another person's "playable". :)

Agreed. Any suggestions I make are predicated on the idea that BG4 is a done deal and will be released by the end of the decade; my personal preference would be to let the property rest on its laurels for a generation and do another game in the 2040s.

No idea. I would have to see a 5e14 and a 5e24 character of similar concepts side-by-side at low level to actually see if something is "OP", and I just don't have enough exposure to the 5e24 ruleset to make that determination.

I think the most explicit scene is the Minthara Act 1 romance scene, and even that is more like a late-night "Skinimax movie" from the '90s than actual pornographic material. The most provocative scene is more provocative by implication, where your character consents to getting down with the...

Well, there's two different threads of arguments here. One is how should WotC market create and design material, especially "edition changes", to ensure a broad and growing player base with minimal losses. The other is how should a singular player, when faced with rules changes that are...

BG3 Cameos only. Single story main character that's customizable. (Like the BG3 Dark Urge.) No storyless Tav, no playing companion characters as the main (Origin characters). That's a Larian thing, and as someone who played all the Origin characters in BG3, it was one of the weaker aspects...

Yep. It's pretty common among those who are newer to the hobby, and especially those who are focused on implementation and technique within one system rather than playing a broader swathe of games. They lack the familiarity with the concepts of how different systems work, so changes feel much...

Sim-oriented guy mad new rules less sim-oriented, news at 11.

56 base damage seems really high for level 8. You did multiply that by an assumed hit rate, right? (DPR calculations without hit rates are invalid for any sort of comparison purposes.)

Unfortunately for that plan, I think a lot of players are attached to their one particular PC, not that they’re contributing a fraction of a party gestalt that everyone is sharing in. I think most TTRPGs are meant to be distinct from a cooperative game like Pandemic where role agency is assumed...

That would be a big help, yes. One the core reasons for the caster/noncaster discrepancy is that D&D spells have always been written as explicit permission to assert a change into the narrative without asking the GM permission (other than corner case adjudication); other methods of resolution...

I do think, though, that one way to solve the divide would be to make martials not just provably better at combat but obviously better at combat. Put "control over narrative" and "control over combat" as two opposed poles that class archetypes would have to pick between.

100% agreement. There are too many popular assumptions around class tropes and design that are in direct contradiction. There's no way to square the circle.

Why would people complain when they're winning? Besides, "wizard fan" isn't really a nuanced take. People who prefer caster supremacy are generally those who are accustomed to and comfortable with the tropes of broad and powerful classic D&D magic, and having the class(es) that are skilled...

I tend to think of it as the ceiling is overall lower for Mature-rated offerings, but there are also lot of concepts that either require or are enhanced by more Mature material to really capture what the concept is offering. BG3 is interesting because I think there are strong arguments for both...

Whether or not any one particular property is enhanced or diminished by sexual material is very often a personal aesthetic judgment. I see plenty of posts on fiction-oriented sites both asking for books with more sexual material, and books with none, quite frequently. As examples, I don't...

The diminishment is going to happen no matter what direction they go, is my point. There's no "correct path forward" to suss out from BG3's success.

I have other friends who have systems they want to try out, but my 2026 goals are to get games of Shadow of the Weird Wizard and Stormlight Archive going. My broader but more challenging goal is to get all of my primary tables off using 5e as their primary game, and have something else in their...

Kept on keeping on. Friday table: My friend is primarily DMing 5e, our campaign that started in late 2023 is nearing its endpoint at 15th level. I also ran a few sessions of a fairly radical 5e experiment, with AD&D style multiclassing, class unlocks attached to dungeon items, and diegetic...