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I was thinking about probability distributions for core resolution mechanics, and I don't like how the D&D 5E Advantage/Disadvantage system converts a linear distribution into a weighted one. I was thinking that a mechanic where you roll three dice, then keep one of them depending on...

Hi everyone, I was having a discussion with someone else on another forum, concerning the topic of Pathfinder 2 (Electric Boogaloo), and a comparison came up between that game and D&D 4E. It was suggested that the two appear quite similar in many ways, because combat is very tactical...

An idea just came to me, and I wanted to get some opinions on it: What if, instead of +1 to every stat, humans had that bard ability where they added half of their proficiency bonus to ability checks they weren't already proficient in? Would that be balanced against other racial packages? What...

Hey everyone, I was brainstorming about a campaign world I might want to run in, and I had the idea of a world where the common races were extinct and the only people left were monsters. The basic premise is that the Big Bad conquered the world, but after a thousand years or whatever...

This came up in another thread, and I was hoping to spin it off into a tangent discussion. Basically, while we can all agree that there are some problems with D&D 3.x, I was wondering how much of that is endemic to the d20 system and how much is just poor implementation that is specific to D&D...

Hi everyone, I've been thinking about system mechanics recently, and I realized that I have difficulty intuiting the mathematical implications of a count-the-successes type system, such as used in World of Darkness or Shadowrun. In something like D&D, it's easy to see how a +1 to hit compares...

So one of the things about 5E is that it relies upon the attrition model where early encounters are easy (because you have all of your resources) and later encounter start to get difficult, with a suggestion of eight encounters between long rests. (Give or take, but I don't want to look it up...

I think Star Wars is pretty neat, but since it started with the movies, I've noticed that a lot of the games include cinematic rules to provide for better storytelling. If I don't want any narrative-control mechanics, and all I care about is accurately modeling how droids and blasters and Force...

The Alraune has four vine attacks (melee +20, 1d10+7+grab+bleed). The Alraune has the Constrict ability (1d10+10), and Bleed (2d6). Barring critical hits, how much damage can an Alraune deal with a full attack action, if each attack is successful? How much damage can an Alraune deal if it...

There are quite a number of free PDFs available online, many of which are the result of individual or groups of otherwise-unpublished designers. I'm trying to remember the name of one which I encountered a few months back, which essentially took the D&D 4E-style power structure and imposed it...

I saw a game recently which used your typical mechanic where you roll a bunch of dice and count successes. This game used d8s, instead of d6s or d10s. The interesting thing was, instead of saying that a roll of 6 or 7 counted as a success, and a roll of 8 counted as two successes; it said that...

I am playing an Oracle with the Wood mystery, and I'm having some trouble with its Tree Form revelation. As far as I can tell, if I am level 11 or higher, I can turn into a Marilith with the Pod-Spawned template, giving me a slew of resistances and 7-8 attacks per round (per Plant Shape II); at...

An alchemist with the Fast Bombs discovery can throw more than one bomb in a round, in accordance with the normal rules for making ranged weapon attacks. It has been clarified that this includes the use of Rapid Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting, and haste effects. If I want to conserve my bomb usage...

Steelbreaker Skin (the Stone mystery revelation) causes any weapon that strikes you to take damage equal to your Oracle level, and prevents you from taking any damage whatsoever if this damage is enough to destroy the weapon. How many Hit Points does an arrow have? Or more to the point, how...

So I don't have the PHB yet, and obviously not the DMG either, but I'm already looking forward running a game of 5E. That being said, I would like to run it in the manner to which I am accustomed, which doesn't work at all with overnight full heals. I would like to make the following changes...

Something just doesn't sit right with me about the way the playtest packets approached things like sneak attack. As written, a typical rogue would use two weapons and make two attacks, and sneak attack could be applied to one of them. Generally, you would make your first attack, and apply...