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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 2736023" data-attributes="member: 1465">Not as obvious as it may seem  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> In theory, core rules are what belongs in the core books: PHB, DMG, MM.However, in many occasions those rules were changed ("updated", to make it sound more legit) in supplementary books or even by the FAQ.Furthermore, the content of the core books is not fully rules, but it contains flavor, and often rules and flavor are bound together in a way you cannot separate. However, flavor should always be freely changeable when the DM decides how the setting should be. What should always stay the same is even a more complicated question, and no two people will likely agree on the same set of "sacred cows". <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Mmm, nowadays it seems to me that the chosen key to a good game and balance is rather by adhering to an ever-changing set of rules  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Anyway, one principle I'd like to keep is the following.General rules should be stable, for example about how combat works, how spellcasting works, how skill work, crafting rules, equipment functionality (as a whole, not the specific weapons), proficiencies, multiclassing, monstrous races etc.A DM can change these as a VARIANT, but IMHO it's best only if using a version which is generally known what consequences it can have in your setting. Better to use the version from a common book than from an obscure source or home-made.Another thing that should be stable is, at a higher level, how subgroup works: bows, reach weapons, grapple rules, conjurations, mind-affecting spells, undead qualities.Changing these group rules still have important effects, and as such they could be done for a setting, but the DM still has to take some responsibility.Then, at an even higher level, it may be acceptable to refine the rules for specific things: specific weapons, specific feats, specific spells, etc...Now all this with regard to setting design. In the worst case, the setting goes awry, but if instead those changes are done to all settings (D&D as whole), it causes a lot more pain. IMHO the FAQs or rules update should only touch specific things to "fix abuses", but never the underlying rules (including "groups"), which usually results in popping up other new abuses to fix.</blockquote>

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