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  1. billd91

    AD&D 1E A Long Thread about the Weapon's vs. AC Table

    I'm not sure I agree with anything in the 10 column being anything but 0. Why isn't that a baseline.
  2. billd91

    D&D 3.x I miss 3.5 edition

    I have a fondness for 3e (both 3.0 and 3.5/PF1). The customization, the way rules fit together into a fairly wholistic structure - I found a lot to recommend it. I played 3.5->PF1 for quite a few years (though, given my drothers, I would steal some of 3.0 back into it). But 5e really won me...
  3. billd91

    D&D 5E (2024) How do you handle surprised but won initiative?

    We go with Charlaquin's interpretation way up thread about combat happening simultaneously. It's not that the leopard isn't going or hasn't revealed itself, it's that other people are reacting fast enough to have their actions adjudicated first.
  4. billd91

    D&D 5E (2024) How do you handle surprised but won initiative?

    Surprise is one of those elements where the rules have varied quite a bit from edition to edition - some much more powerful than others. In AD&D, you might surprise the opposition for multiple segments, which doesn't sound like a lot because they're less than a round, but characters not...
  5. billd91

    D&D 5E (2024) How do you handle surprised but won initiative?

    Mostly because the number of examples that involve highly skilled characters reacting to surprise attacks before the attack lands in our inspiration media is substantial. Being sufficiently stealthy vs surprised does stack the deck pretty hard in achieving initiative (advantage for the hidden...
  6. billd91

    Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

    I'm more of the opinion that English-speakers were a very mean-spirited prank played on the Celtic-branch language speakers of Great Britain and Ireland.
  7. billd91

    Let's Talk About Core Game Mechanics

    I prefer to think of it as genre-based reality rather than REALITY. And genre faithful rules deform REALITY quite a bit - but ideally are still as believable/relatable as reading/watching media in that genre is to the reader/watcher.
  8. billd91

    Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

    Top, Bottom, Strange, Charm
  9. billd91

    Let's Talk About Core Game Mechanics

    I don't think linear systems are any more prone to over-relying on random chance than non-linear ones - if you're using a random generator, you're using a random generator. Whether they produce a lot of failed results or not (or crits, fumbles, or successes) depends on the target numbers being...
  10. billd91

    D&D 5E (2024) Can you get resistance to all 13 damage types?

    Does any of this translate into the player being resistant to the damage dealt by the DM throwing dice at them? That's the damage resistance that I think would be most necessary when pursuing this strategy.
  11. billd91

    Let's Talk About Core Game Mechanics

    I prefer core mechanics where the chances of success are relatively easy to estimate for the average player. So I generally favor simpler random number distributions like a flat d20 distribution to more complex ones like 3d6 bell curve for routine and frequent task resolution.
  12. billd91

    Olympics 2026 Thread

    Or, who skates to musical themes based on a video game about ripping out people's spines? Is there a hidden message? Given their country's relationship with Russia, it's not out of the question.
  13. billd91

    D&D General Adventure League (AL) still supported?

    I'm finding it hard to find anything official out there - that said, they have updated statements/rules for the latest FR and Eberron books, so I don't think it's completely phased out. What I do know is that Gamehole Con started up their own organized play program called Wardens of the Eastern...
  14. billd91

    Spoilers The Pitt Season 2 Discussion

    Ooo, downtime procedures.
  15. billd91

    D&D General What do you think?

    Not gonna lie, there are some flags here to worry about. But some, maybe not. Big enemy numbers and over-leveled NPCs are something you're gonna see with a DM trying to rebalancing things for 6 PCs. Frankly, we do it for fewer PCs than 6 as well since 5e has a history of underestimating PC...
  16. billd91

    Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

    Ugh, same asshats arguing from the same perspectives ruins another thread.
  17. billd91

    D&D General Mounted Archers

    Reinforcing why, for much of history, cavalry was a rich man's game.
  18. billd91

    D&D General The Revised Monster Manual was released 1 year ago today! How have you liked facing down and using the new monsters?

    I think the 2024 Monster Manual is a bit of a mixed bag, leaning toward overall improvement. Some monsters are definitely better, some (like the lycanthropes) definitely worse. Some are a lateral change that is still kind of weird (like the goblinoids now being fey and thus immune to hold...
  19. billd91

    Traveller 5e coming from World's Largest RPG in cooperation with Mongoose Publishing

    It is, however, always a relevant question with respect to Traveller which has had so many incarnations. Because I can tell you that Traveller 5, the one in the big black tome, is a propeller-headed geek's wet dream of crunchiness.
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