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  1. Reaper Steve

    WotC Vecna: Nest of the Evil Eye--Deets On The Prequel Adventure

    I don’t like being set up to choose between rewards. I like to buy the alt covers from my FLGS. But now it’s an either-or: either I get the alt cover, or I get the bonus pdf adventure. Why should one incentive be the opportunity cost of another in this instance?
  2. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    Well said! I shall enlist you to articulate my arguments in the future!
  3. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    Oh, yeah... I took that to be exactly how the illusory map appears to the characters. In fact, if they would have put more thought into "how would an illusory and interactive map appear in a fantasy world?" and created a better graphic, I probably would have had much less issue with it. But that...
  4. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    Pretty much. and I do think that addition originates in 'Golden Vault.'
  5. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    It get it. But a straight-up computer console that doesn't exist anywhere else in the FR* just breaks the verisimilitude for me. If Revel's End has this, why it it the only place to have it? I thought that FR still tried to keep magic 'magical;' this, to me, is the opposite. [*I am far from an...
  6. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    I've edited the title to capture that my issues are with Revel's End as portrayed in Rime of the Icemaiden and again in Keys from the Golden Vault. And hopefully to be 'less gaterkeeper-ish.' I was just trying to use the commonly referenced Happy Days meme for when an entertainment property...
  7. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    I'd like to thank all those that have replied to this thread so far. You helped me to realize that I missed that Revel's End was previously covered in Rime of the Frostmaiden, and that almost all of the issues I have with its portrayal in Keys From the Golden Vault already existed verbatim in...
  8. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    It this was set in Eberron rather than FR, I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye.
  9. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    True, but that was a self-contained scenario. And it served a hidden purpose - TSR used it to explore development of a sci-fi RPG concepts.
  10. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    Well, for one, it's also interactive. And it's just there when you want it, it doesn't require casting a spell. And it has features that, IMHO, wouldn't be present in an illusion.
  11. Reaper Steve

    D&D 5E Revel's End... magi-tech that jumps the shark!

    Edit: Thanks to the discourse below, I realized that I missed that Revel's End was previously covered in Rime of the Frostmaiden, and that almost all of the issues I have with its portrayal in Keys From the Golden Vault already existed verbatim in that previous publication. That doesn't really...
  12. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    Regarding my previous post, if tool proficiencies become in essence specialized skills, then one could also use Expertise to improve them. So: Not proficienct in Thievery = Disadvantage on d20 test Proficient in Thievery = normal test, add prof bonus Expertise in Thievery = normal, add 2x prof...
  13. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    I’m starting to think the problem is the name… don’t call them Tool Proficiences, just call them Proficiencies. I’m not proficient in Cartography Tools or Thieve’s Tools… I’m proficient in Cartography or Thievery. Proficiencies are different from skills in that everyone has some natural ability...
  14. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    I am (and have been) all for renaming the Dexterity ability to Agility. I'm afraid that cow is too sacred, though. I do like that naming the ability Agility would allow for a skill called Dexterity. Would that lead lead to an Agility (Dexterity) check? No reason for a Dexterity skill to be...
  15. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    Oops, thanks. Fixed 'had' to 'add'... I hope that was it.
  16. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    Why do you say that? To pick locks, you have to know how to use the tools. (A friend and I taught ourselves the basics during a deployment some years back... step one: learn how to use the tools.) What gives you that impression? They've been in the last two docs. Just curious...
  17. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    Does anything in 5E as it stands state that picking locks and disarming traps is done with Sleight of Hand? I don't think so... I think it's just a Dex check. As it stands, I think Sleight of Hand is just good for picking pockets, which is rather narrow. I'd rather have a skill that covers...
  18. Reaper Steve

    D&D General Magic Initiate and Spell Scrolls

    Thanks, guys. I agree - I ruled that this feat did not let the character read the scrolls he found. The feat let him learn three divine spells, but it did not add the divine spell list as one of his class spell lists.
  19. Reaper Steve

    D&D (2024) Picking Locks and Disarming Traps - Dex or Sleight of Hand?

    I think it's been clarified in 5E that picking locks and disarming traps is a Dex check [not a Dex (Sleight of Hand (SoH)) check]. However, being proficient in Thieve's Tools (TT) lets you add your proficiency bonus. That makes sense to me. But the latest playtest doc appears to muddy the...
  20. Reaper Steve

    D&D General Magic Initiate and Spell Scrolls

    Does/should Magic Initiate let you read a scroll from the chosen spell list? I don't think that spells from this feat qualify as being 'on your class's spell list,' per the Spell Scroll rules (DMG, pg. 200). [While this came to my attention due to my group using the OD&D playtest rules, the...
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