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When the PHB was released.

PHB was officially released Sep 17, but DNDBeyond paid subscribers got it on Sep 3. The small spike in July 2024 might actually be Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

I would think summer in general would be an ebb for DNDBeyond usage, but we have July 2024 vs 2025 being down year-over-year. I agree it's not a complete story, but what we have on that chart is not a very good story less than a year removed from the 2024 books launching.

Kinda supports the general vibe I'm getting that the new era isn't doing all that well. However, the story will be much clearer if we get a full two years of data.

I decided to do a podcast episode based on the write-ups I did in this thread. If interested, you can listen wherever fine podcasts are heard in the PodCast Party: A D&D Podcast feed or here: Power Word TALk: July 2025

I'm honestly surprised they are hyping this aspect so much. Dragon Delves is a very good book, and these "guidelines" might be the weakest thing in it.

I'd argue they are stronger in 2024. 5 legendary resistances instead of 3, and they have a legendary action which turns them invisible and lets them fly, and they have a legendary action shatter spell which they can do anywhere - the comparable 2014 ability they could only do in their lair. They...

I don't know about that. It's a CR 23 creature with generous legendary actions and legendary resistances, and they would NOT be facing it fresh as daisies either.

My final rankings: Dragons of the Sandstone City - level 12, blue dragon Baker’s Doesn’t - level 3, gold dragon Shivering Death - level 11, white dragon The Will of Orcus - level 4, silver dragon The Forbidden Vale - level 9, red dragon Copper for a Song - level 12, copper dragon Before the...

The 10th and final adventure is Dragons of the Sandstone City, also for level 12 characters. And it's a really strong finish to the book. The adventurers must enter a ruined, subterranean desert city and use the power of a brass dragon's egg to weaken an ancient blue dragon so that it can be...

The 9th adventure is Copper for a Song, for level 12 characters. I found this the hardest so far to evaluate. It's certainly imo the most original, even more so than Baker's Doesn't (or at least, a lot of the ideas in it seem fresh to me) but it also has its share of flaws. A lost magical song...

Solasta has no direct licensing agreement with WotC, which is why things outside the SRD (like the artificer) are not allowed. Solasta can make their own version of a half-elf if they want to, since the term "half-elf" isn't owned by anyone (I think Tolkien probably coined it, but the term...

In this case, they actually used a sidebar to explain that there is no explanation provided! They could have used the same space to suggest 2 or 3 ideas. Yeah, I said as much a few lines later in the review.

That’s true, and I don’t mean to say every adventure needs a twist. In this book, the Forbidden Vale has no twist and doesn’t need one because there are lots of interesting encounters. But IMO Before The Storm either needed a good twist OR needed more original/interesting encounters than it has...

The 8th adventure is Shivering Death, for level 11 characters. Adventurers must brave the lair of a white dragon to recover a ritual that will end a devastating heat wave. The Good One of the stronger offerings in the book, Shivering Death has a great full-color lair map (looks like Mike...

I'd add that this position has seen a lot of churn lately - I think there have been three different people in that spot in the past 4 years.

The seventh adventure is Before The Storm, a very straightforward adventure for level 10 characters about a black dragon who has taken control of a pirate gang and is terrorizing a seaside town. The Good The splash page art, featuring the dragon, is awesome. The maps are even better, including...

Nah. They're limited to what's in the new SRD; Khoravar mechanics won't be. They can homebrew their own half-elf mechanics if they want to, but it'll probably be missing the only half-elf mechanic that mechanical optimizers really want, which is the one where their ability score bonuses are...

The sixth adventure is The Forbidden Vale, for Level 9 characters. This is also the second adventure in which those darn ancient githyanki have left their problematic headquarters behind for the rest of us to deal with. In this case, a red dragon (born "from the ashes" of a previous red dragon)...

Story-wise, half-elves still exist in 2024 rules. They just no longer exist mechanically. You just pick the mechanics of a either human or an elf, but for setting and roleplay purposes you're still a half-elf to the extent that this matters in your campaign. The 2014 half-elf was mechanically...