[UPDATED] Sean K Reynolds just rehired by WotC

He's an opinionated bald man, why can't we slam him?

Probably good news. They certainly need the help.

 

[Greatwyrm]

I've never before seen a contract where the duration was "until jury duty ends"...

Sure, they just usually use the phrase, "...on an as-needed basis."

 

[Selvarin]

He'll do well as a lore master. Because having someone do the research for you--or actually just knowing the answer straight up--saves time.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

As well as the disavowal of absolutes. Like the absolute ability to completely negate any chance of an AoO when a swashbuckler runs around attacking 3 things a round. They could have done so much better, like say such attacks are at disadvantage, or he has resistance against such attacks. Literally pertinent in so many ways to the latest AU article they just published yesterday.

Those articles are very old, and I hope that he's seen the error of his ways, before trying to bring such out-dated philosophy to 5E.

Gone are the days of Pathfinder or 4E, with their worthless Knock spells that can't even do the one thing the spells are specifically designed to do. Long live 5E, with its spells that just work, within the bounds that adventurers actually operate, with the adjudication of deities and solar phenomena being left to DM discretion.

 

[Paraxis]

Those articles are very old, and I hope that he's seen the error of his ways, before trying to bring such out-dated philosophy to 5E.

Gone are the days of Pathfinder or 4E, with their worthless Knock spells that can't even do the one thing the spells are specifically designed to do. Long live 5E, with its spells that just work, within the bounds that adventurers actually operate, with the adjudication of deities and solar phenomena being left to DM discretion.

Fire immunity in 3e works just the same as fire immunity in 5e, the creature is immune to all fire damage.

If you play very closely to rules as written, it doesn't matter what edition you are playing.

Every edition of D&D, yes even 4th, had Rule Zero and gave explicit authority to the DM to overrule any of the published rules in order to make the game enjoyable at their table.

Some of us find playing as close to RAW very enjoyable, and like the oddities that pop up in the game mechanics it is what makes D&D feel like D&D, a silly dungeon romp having fun drinking beer and eating twizzlers.

5e didn't give back DM discretion because it never left in the first place.

 

[Uchawi]

Exactly. The DM will always do what they want, so it is better to have clear rules so the entire table benefits. I see no value for rules through obscurity or system mastery. I prefer more interesting choices for all players at the table. and rules that allow flexibility of choice.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

5e didn't give back DM discretion because it never left in the first place.

Of course. It's just that more codified rulesets rely more heavily on their codified rules, so there's no need for the DM to adjudicate.

From the article, he was advocating for rules that should never matter - instead of immunity, give a fire elemental 100 points of fire resistance - knowing full well that it's a situation which should never actually arise during gameplay. And then he undershoots some of them - give an elf +10 to saves against sleep effects instead of immunity, where the base spread of saves in 3E was wide enough that it wouldn't even provide 75% protection in standard-use cases.

By trying to enumerate the specifics of these situations, it adds unnecessary complexity while making the game less functional. With 5E, by leveraging the strength of DM discretion for unusual cases, it allows the base rules to use absolutes, without fear of breaking anything in the off chance that a fire giant is hurled into the sun.

 

[Agamon]

Actually he was calling on people to buy Silver Marches to show the bean counters at WotC that people really did buy books for lore, so as to combat the bean counter's position that Realms sourcebooks needed more crunchy rules at the expense of fluff, because the bean counters believed people bought books for crunch alone.

They did not go overboard with the fluff/lore content in Silver Marches.

Silver Marches is probably my favourite 3e era book. I'm using it in my current campaign, in fact. I'd love to see more books like it.

 

[Henry]

As others have pointed out, Sean was author of the "Forgotten Rums" Post from about 13 years ago:

http://www.candlekeep.com/library/rumors/rumor7.htm

He's always been a fan of FR lore. I'm not sure who wanted him gone from Paizo, I've always thought him to be a good designer & developer, even on things I didn't agree with (like the Drow weaponry thing). Anyway, I hope he enjoys his position there and it works well.

 

[Zarithar]

Great news. To me it is further confirmation that 5e is doing well.

 

[Fildrigar]

I'm not sure who wanted him gone from Paizo

He is a very opinionated man. He sometimes rubs Internet Forum Warriors(tm) the wrong way. I've met him in person, and spent some time with him, and he really is a good guy. Plus, he good at telling stories. ( Read his blog. ) I hope to someday play in a game he runs.

Also, thanks for linking the Forgotten Rums story. I haven't read that one in ages.