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I think “it’s what my character would do” is a good reason to do something you might not in their shoes. It’s not an excuse to be a jerk.

That’s a pretty radical interpretation of the article…

Well, there has recently been an effort on this site to discourage threads that only link to external articles without providing commentary or inviting discussion. This thread… technically doesn’t only link to an article, but the only text in the opening post is direct quotations from the article…

Yeah, this pretty accurately encapsulates my feelings on it as well. Definitely the weakest episode so far IMO but they can’t all be bangers. And it wasn’t bad, but yeah, I was surprised they even went back to the Seekers/Schemers cause I figured it would be an all-Soldiers episode. And, it was…...

Yeah, I find it helps a lot. Another thing that helps is when you do prompt the players for an action, prompt a specific player instead of the group as a whole. Much like how in CPR training they teach you not to say “someone call an ambulance,” but to tell one specific bystander to call an...

That makes sense, it read like a pretty high level set of encounters. I guess 10th is technically mid-level, but in my mind 10-12 high, and 13+ is very high.

The new FR book is focused much more on areas other than the sword coast. In terms of setting information I think SCAG is still relevant. In terms of PC options, I don’t think SCAG has ever really had much going for it, except the bladesinger (which is updated in the new book), and booming...

🤷‍♀️ I don’t really see it as hyper-focused. The key is to prioritize action. Most other tables I’ve played in, players ask so many questions, and asking questions forestalls action. I encourage players to declare actions rather than ask questions. If you want to know something, describe your...

I’ve done it. It helps that these monster stats are very simple and easy to run, and that the encounters are individually easy. These encounters should take 10 to 15 minutes each. If the players are slow to make decisions about what to do on their turn, sure, that’s going to make them take...

A well-deserved critique!

Pretty eclectic set of monsters, but sounds about right. Those encounters will all be quick to complete for a group of 4 level 4 PCs, but will whittle down their resources so that the whole gauntlet in aggregate is a tough but fair challenge. Assuming the dragon encounter is last, the party will...

Give the original Caves of Chaos a try, using the 2014 monster manual stat blocks instead of the AD&D ones. It is quite literally what the system was built for.

Have you ever tried running a super simple bunch-of-rooms-with-monsters, maybe a handful of locked doors and some pit traps capital-D Dungeon using straight RAW 2014 core 3 rulebooks? If you haven’t, let me tell you from experience, a lot of the design choices of 5e that seem strange or...

It was undoubtedly designed with that in mind. The system was built around feedback from open playtests using Keep on the Borderlands’ Caves of Chaos, the dungeoniest dungeon to ever dungeon.

I wouldn’t say it’s hard coded for dungeon play. It’s flexible enough to work for other modes of play. But dungeon play is very much what the underlying math is built to facilitate. See, for example, the recent thread about boss monsters not working because the math assumes 20ish rounds of...

Exactly!

5e

…huh?

I’ve heard it said before that PCs in older editions are nobodies who might, if they’re very lucky, live to become heroes. Whereas PCs in newer editions are local heroes destined to become mythical legends, unless their tales are tragically cut short. And while I think the statement overlooks...

Yes, absolutely! That’s a very astute observation, and to me it’s such a given, I wouldn’t have even thought of this as something to hilight as a difference. In modern D&D, creating a PC is a significant investment of time and energy, both because characters are more mechanically complex and...