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Since I'm seeing more interest in monster design, I thought I'd share a tidbit of the official math I was able to derive during my attempts to reverse engineer it. The rule of adjusting Defensive CR up/down by +1/-1 per each +2/-2 of AC difference from the 2014 DMG chart is a simplified...

I'm working on reverse engineering the actual rules of monster creation in 5e, and I realized that 4e math could really help me out, because it was based on research, and the 5e designers took note of that. For example, the assumed chance of a PC to hit a monster in 5e is assumed to be 65%...

When I went through the 2024 spell list for things to selectively adapt to my 2014 games, I generally grabbed the changes that allow you to hit additional targets by up casting. I didn't examine those as closely as I did other changes because it conceptually seemed like it shouldn't be a...

I occasionally see it mentioned that rogues are weak, but that hasn't been my experience. I'm wanting to find out where the difference in perspective comes from. Is it based on fighters optimizing feats like Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master? In that case, it does move them onto a whole...

There is an impression out there that the monster creation rules in the 2014 DMG don’t work. I disagree. I haven’t had any problem making monsters with them, and there are others that can say the same thing. I’ll try to keep my rambling thoughts and theories in the footnotes(1) and focus on the...

Since people are currently talking about skills over on the Intimidate thread, I thought this would be a good time to share my home-brew skill revision. Use it for inspiration, adopt as-is, ignore, or use as fuel for arguments. :) This is based on 2014, but should more or less work with 2024...

I'm working on a revision to concentration that likely be a minor boost to casters. I would like to also provide a boost to martial characters, and it's okay if it's bigger than the caster boost. One thing I need to make clear is that PCs and NPCs/monsters are the same in my worlds. While I use...

Designing My New Rules of Attunement With the 2024 DMG and its magic item rules right around the corner, I finally managed to finish this set of magic item attunement house rules that has been three years in the making. This is a sequel to Reverse Engineering the Real Rules of Attunement and...

Although I'm sticking with 2014 rules, I'm adopting a small number of 2024 rules, including the buff to Protection style...which just showcases how underwhelming Interception style's scaling is. Sure, at lower levels it's fine, but at higher levels it falls way behind. Anyone have any ideas to...

Given that you can change at least one of your weapon masteries each long rest, why do you even need to pick them? A character is only likely to want to use a weapon they lack mastery in if they happen to find a really cool magic weapon. And if it's not significantly better than what you are...

Ranger was orginally--and for quite a long time--squarely in the full warrior category. There was no hint of seeing them as in any sort of thief/rogue combat role. This was true least from 1e through 3.0e D&D. In 3.5e rangers got their hp reduced from the warrior's d10s to d8s (but rogues and...

Concentration serves an important purpose in 5e. It prevents a major power imbalance between parties that have casters who can stack multiple buffs before a battle and throw around multiple save or sucks during a battle, and those who do not. It means the game doesn't have to be built to account...

I'm looking for a house rule to reduce the power of the second bullet point. I'll explain my parameters. -I realize that many people think the feat's power level is necessary to achieve martial-caster parity. I have some other little tweaks that help martials, and this is not something I'm...

I was looking at some third party altered fighting styles, and it got me thinking more about something that's been in the back of my mind for years. Some fighting styles are utter crap. Possible hyperbole aside, in my experience, some fighting styles are worth taking, and I think the others...

For some reason, when these cantrips got changed from a V to S component (accompanying the consistent M that is the weapon itself), I thought that was more about aesthetics and making it so you don't have to speak a magic word every time you use them. I was interpreting the S component as the...

Like most of the cantrips from the Elemental Evil Player's Guide, gust is rather underwhelming. I have a PC with it, and he's maybe used it once or twice in dozens of sessions, despite loving the idea of it. It just isn't worth taking an action for in combat. Enter the Telekinetic feat from...

I'm putting together some house rules, and in order to do so I need to make some estimates regarding average/typical incoming damage to characters at very high level (let's assume 17th+). Specifically, I need to come up with an estimate of what percentage of their incoming damage is likely to...

I'm not closely following the playtest, since I'll likely be adopting relatively little of the revisions.* However, I do want to look at some things to see if I can import them. I've been curious as to what they were going to do with the Eldritch Knight's War Magic ever since they revised the...

First, the DMG statement that the Feywild is supposed to be in perpetual "twilight" is wrong, because twilight is defined as the light from the sun when it is already below the horizon. The Feywild descriptions speak of a sun that is visible and low on the horizon. So, the Feywild is supposed...

I'm using the 5.0e standard for feat power ranges, rather than the more generous later 5e/One D&D power level. That being said, how does the balance look on this feat? Is it something you would be likely to take or not take as a member of those classes? I like the old 3e guidelines for feat...