Recent content by Distracted DM

As others have said, it can also be problematic when trying to challenge the party properly. Using too much, challenging the optimized characters, results in the other characters getting thrashed. Using too little means the encounters are cakewalks.

From the Eberron Campaign Setting (3e)

Can you elaborate on that?

Of note is, ofc, the attunement requirements. Since we did mention a wand, I believe most (all?) wands require the user to be a spellcaster (having the spellcasting feature)... familiars aren't going to fit that bill.

AFAIK attunement only requires that it be a creature. That applies to anything that would be a familiar.

You say Isle of Dogs was fun and light? It uh... my wife did not agree. She had to leave before the end, though. My favorite was Grand Budapest, but I haven't seen them all yet.. probably about half.

Agreed. Unfortunately I can't nix attunement, because I think 5e (and A5E) characters already are powerful enough without magic items. Magic items that did super cool things were really a focus in earlier editions when your characters had fewer and less impressive features. Throwing out...

Ugh, this is such a PITA thing when stuff like Rings of Spell Storing or the Reserve Ioun Stone come up. It's also potentially problematic if you use RAW attunement wands that recharge, rather than changing wands to non-attunement, limited charges like in Ye Olde Dayes. It's usually "my familiar...

It's definitely an academic/passion thing- you can't expect everyone to want to learn the history of the hobby. I started playing DnD with 2e in the 90s, but I never gave more than a glance at the history/provenance of DnD until it became something of a passion much later in the mid-2010's. I...

That could be said about a few WotC 5e adventures :'D "well that could be said about any adventure!" some say. There's a difference between enhancing a solid adventure, and filling holes/making work an adventure that needs it to be run properly. Ha, with 5e my concern would be the assumption...

I don't like them wearing stuff either... usually. Dragons would probably believe that they're too superior to supplement their glory with magical trinkets... but a few here and there that see the necessity and/or love the jewelry etc. don't go amiss.

I think "fail forward" sometimes is seen as "fail into success," but I think the intent is just to keep momentum going. Falling to pick the lock doesn't mean that theyll automatically find another way through, but it does mean that instead of standing around thinking about what to do next...

It can be both. But saying the difference is only cultural throws out the possibility of the difference being what a creature is, intrinsically. It discounts the possibility of genetic memory. Of instincts and knowledge that might be built into a creature like an elf... Depending on how...

Make a date, a time. That's how you'll know if it's actual interest, or "oh yeah maybe sometime someday not really." "We're playing next week, Wednesday at 7p. Oh, can't make it til 7:30? No problem. Hop on in, it'll be fun- no one knows the rules to start out with! We'll just throw some dice...

Compared to 3.Xe, grappling is simpler.. but why does it seem that two weapon-fighting is somehow more complex? I guess it's just a matter of knowing the rules and how they interact.