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Dick Burglar posted:Meanwhile, I wish they had included a "DM's option" to allow non-elves to be Bladesingers, because that restriction is completely needless. "Traditionally it's only been elves, but rumor has it that some rogue bladesingers have been breaking age-old traditions and have been teaching it to the 'lesser races'..." or some poo poo would have been fine. Well, both the Battlerager barbarian (dwarves only) and bladesinger wizard (elves and half-elves only) also have this bit of text right after their restriction... SCAG posted:Your DM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign. The restriction exists for the Forgotten Realms. It may not apply to your DM's setting or your DM's version of the Forgotten Realms.
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Oct 26, 2015 18:18
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GrizzlyCow posted:Are there any third parties making campaign settings for 5e? With the slow dribble of content being released by WotC, I doubt we'll see any non-FR for a minute, but 5e seems like it should have some significant 3rd party support. Is there any published material out for the game that doesn't suck? ENWorld has their EN5ider patreon that does an article a week devoted to various things including adventures, and there's the occasional rumbling of possibly converting Zeitgeist to 5e.
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Oct 28, 2015 00:07
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P.d0t posted:One of the big beefs I have with 5e is stuff like this: specifically, numbers that seemingly appear out of nowhere. It's an adjustment to 3e's 10 + ability modifier since 5e now adds in the proficiency modifier, which is 2 at the start. So 10 + ability mod = 8 + 2 proficiency + ability mod and you can properly convert your characters, really.
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Dec 2, 2015 01:11
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I like the renewable resource pool as well, and also let them use it to make consumables such as potions and magic ammo and stuff like that. If they made an item from it, it doesn't get refunded until they use the item or disenchant it and put it back in the pool. Consumables have no business being linked to a fixed wealth-by-level.
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Jan 31, 2016 17:19
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Nope, it's Hit Dice and I don't really understand why the devs thought they were even remotely acceptable as a substitute. Hit Dice are terrible replacements for healing surges because as you level you're always going to have around 100% of your HP in reserve (though it depends heavily on how well you roll) with each die becoming a smaller portion of your total HP, but even if you were making the worst decisions possible as a 4e character by playing a shade wizard who dumps Con you'd have 4 surges and thus have 100% HP in reserve, while a default mage would have 150% to 175% depending on if you put a 12 in Con, and it could get even better from there. Hit dice just don't have the legs to carry a character as far as healing surges did.
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Apr 27, 2016 18:12
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Moinkmaster posted:I'd be nice if they actually put anything worth leveling for in there for the non-casters Pathfinder introduced an alternate system called Variant Multiclassing where you essentially sacrificed half your feats for some class abilities from another class while keeping your own class abilities so it augmented them instead of replacing them. An interesting start of an idea even if results really varied.
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Apr 30, 2016 06:28
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gradenko_2000 posted:I could sworn AD&D used to have this d100 table of potential mounts a Paladin might have, with the 100 result being a pegasus or griffin or something, but maybe I just hallucinated that. In any case I did find this: WotC has a history of breaking mounts, fixing them and then breaking them again. 3e had crap mounts for everyone who didn't get one as a class feature (but with the DMG options you could get some pretty solid options on a paladin), then 4e went back to crappy nonscaling mounts for everyone, then introduced special mount options for the Cavalier in Dragon Magazine, noticed a bunch of characters were spending four feats to MC into paladin and power swap into a mount and then decided that it should be exclusive to the cavalier, thus breaking it again for most characters, leaving only a few options like Fey Beast Tamer, White Horn Knight and possibly the Bridle of Conjuration if you engage in some rules lawyering (if the horse conjured by the bridle is actually a conjuration, then it isn't a valid target for most attacks). Given the amount of  we've seen so far I don't see them fixing the scaling issue anytime soon.
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May 8, 2016 07:31
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Cease to Hope posted:With the unfortunate result that the black-skinny poison-using tribal elves are native to the continent that Baker originally pitched as a fantasy adaptation of Kipling-esque "darkest Africa." Yeah, some of the artwork in Dragon leaned on that part a little too hard. 
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Jun 20, 2017 05:46
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On the subject of Matt Mercer chat, he was in a video chat about 5e with Mike Mearls and two other internet people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqjLO6YNKV0 Some interesting answers, especially from Mearls. Since I can't just dump two hours of dudes talking without context, here's my notes on some of the discussion: -10 minute mark, what is 5e: 5e was the first edition designed knowing it was D&D, just putting in D&D things. Also, fireball is by design "too powerful", and it was the first edition where they could get the view of people who didn't go online and complain and designed it for people who accepted it for what it was. -Further talk about how it was about "feeling" like D&D or "being" D&D. Then Mearls discusses how he treated D&Disms like alignment as "challenges" rather than "shackles" because users were asking for it -"D&D is not a game, it's a culture" -25 minute mark: What about 5e rules specifically enable closeness to the narrative. Mercer talks about how the draw of D&D to him was the feeling that you could do anything, which got undermined as mechanics became more defined, especially 4e's combat system which felt too distinct from the roleplaying section. Adam talks about rolling initiative being the signal for transitioning into combat mode across D&D, which leads to Mearls talking about how it's a call to pay attention and work together in your role. Then talks about removing layers and terms that stand between the character and the game world, which lead to using ability scores for everything. Adam then talks about how there's more of a cultural acceptance of switching between story and combat thanks to games like Final Fantasy. -Mearls talks about how fixed combat turns are a natural way of keeping the flow and providing moments for the DM to look things up -Mercer calls D&D the "comfort food of tabletop roleplaying games" -40 minute mark: Mearls talks about how there weren't as many new people coming into the game for 3e and 4e. He believes that every time you add in another rule to the game, it's another thing the DM has to keep track of, and wants the rules to be passive until they're needed. Talks about how you can have fun running the game completely wrong, but what do you do when people have to stop and look up the rules and figure out that it wasn't the way it was supposed to be played. -Matt Colville talks about how he thinks that vague rules are supposed to be using ambiguous natural language to force the DM to make decisions and become better DMs -What does 5e do to help alleviate the need to overprepare like in 3e with rules for everything? Mercer says everything can be condensed and streamlined into ability scores, and worked out from there, doesn't lean on floating modifiers and bonuses like other editions, with only advantage/disadvantage. Colville believes that it's good that 5e doesn't even pretend to have all the rules. -53 minute mark: Mearls- Things in D&D are considered "broken" when someone is not only doing something well, but doing well when it's something everyone wants to do to the point where there's no point in others doing it, which is why they're focused on having different roles so it's a team effort and everyone feels like the hero, compares it to Dragonlance where "each of the characters has this very important arc". This leads to a very interesting discussion, where he says "if I show up to play Raistlin, I'm not going to be content to be like 'oh I'm just the wizard, I'm just going to cast a spell and hang out in the background'", leading Adam to mention that he has played with people who play like that, Mearls mentions that you need to be able to design for that player, because "that might be important; that might be your cleric or that might be your wizard", and Adam mentions that more importantly it might just be a person you want to play games with and it's a valid style of playing. -Mercer then talks about how the more bound the ruleset the more people might feel pressured that there's only one right way to play the game. Core base rulesets that can be expanded on by the group can be more open to more groups. -Adam then notes that the more complicated the rules get, the more involved and dedicated the fans can get to the point where they may be too invested to play anything else, so how does 5e find a sweet spot between complexity. Mercer then mentions how he loved playing Amber Diceless Roleplaying when he was younger, but other players could lose track/interest in the game, then talks about how it can vary from table to table with some players preferring full hardcore dungeon crawl and loving the idea of "a very tactical Diablo-esque gaming experience". -Colville then says he suspects Mearls would say that the balance is in the class you choose, and if you've got a problem with a Raistlin player who won't learn the rules of his character, maybe he'd be happier switching to a fighter or barbarian and no one would be angry at him. Adam then asks why is that never called out in the text, because if you're playing a MOBA it will explicitly tell you that a character is easy/difficult, so why is it obfuscated? Mearls explains that if you tell a player that they should play a class because they're new, they tend to take it as an insult to their intelligence/capabilities, and becomes a source of toxicity where people will denigrate players who play "no skill classes" (compares it to people who played Bastion in Overwatch because they like it, but get mocked because he's seen as easy). 5e was going to launch sellling Basic and Advanced 5e, but people just didn't buy Basic D&D in the past. Mearls didn't want to go in telling people "ok, you can be anything you want, so long as it's not a wizard because that class is tricky" which is why the free Basic pdf release contains simpler things like healer clerics and blaster wizards and spells that are as simple-but-satisfying as possible. -They stopped doing Player's Handbook 2/3/4 and recycling titles because they didn't want to confuse players. Adam then talks about how long-running games will have better designed books later on (like the 4e DMG 2), so Unearthed Arcana seems to move more into that space. Mearls then talks about how the playtest set the standard where they don't introduce new mechanics without running them by the community (when possible), which also makes the game feel shared. Before 5e it would just come down to a handful of game designers determining how the game went, but the playtest puts the voice of the user in the room to determine what the best way to deliver is. Believes it's the secret to success, being part of a community, and serves as a bullshit filter for stuff no one is interested in. -Adam talks about not using UA stuff in his games just due to the experimental nature of it. Mercer prefers to test it a bit himself because he's comfortable enough with the mechanics, but worries about player fun if it makes one character too powerful compared to others, but tries to go for player fun. Adam points out that changing and retracting things are easier for home groups than streamed groups with an audience. Mercer politely mentions that the 5e Beastmaster was basically garbage, and talks about how the 5e Paladin is extremely strong and it can depend on your group and how they feel about varying power levels. Colville regularly gets people asking him if he allows UA content and suspects it's because they were shut down by their DMs and want a second opinion, he will let people use whatever but finds that most players never see it because in many groups you might have only one person who goes online and looks for stuff. If a player is excited about something, he would let them use it and find out what happens in-game and solve it at the table, believes that players know they're getting away with something and many would be willing to work it out. -Mercer talks about how things are unwieldy at higher levels and believes it's by design, so you have to be able to accept that as a DM, and then figure out how to work with it. -1h20 min: Talk about how streaming has changed things. Mercer believes the audience identifies with the unknown aspect of the improvised story, and people are connecting with it either for the first time or reclaiming old experiences. Having the rules can get the audience invested, understanding and be on the edge of their seats with the players. Adam talks about how people want the traditional narrative arcs with things like climatic battles, but D&D can gently caress that up by ending things in two rounds, Colville talks about how there's the difference between what satisfies the players and what satisfies the audience, and having the dice fall where they may makes the difference. Adam wonders about how much of the audience actually cares about the D&D part compared to the story part. Mercer talks about how the audience can have their expectations about the story, but having it go sideways due to the dice is just part of the deal. -Mercer talks about how these liveplays help break down the barrier to entry and get more people into the game, and make sure it's clear that things are the choices of the group -Adam thinks that players engaging deeply in the mechanics can be just as valuable as being attached to the characters, Mercer and Adam talk about how it's a point of pride when the players manage to thwart a challenge and get the better of the DM -Adam doesn't think D&D is structured to be entertaining, but it's not D&D's fault because it wasn't designed that way. Asks Mearls how has watching games changed things? Mearls thinks streaming is the tech RPGs had been waiting for. If you wanted to know if someone was good at Magic the Gathering you could just play a game with them, but D&D never had a way to check out how other people were playing or running D&D and understand what it means to be a good player/DM and how the game could improve. Thinks there's a big difference in attitude between people who started within the last 3 years and those who have been playing longer. Talks about how you don't need many rules, mentions that people try to create social mechanics the way they'd create fighting mechanics, where they might be better off focusing on using the rules more as table management to ensure everyone has a chance to participate. Talks about how watching is the best way to make people fall in love with D&D, compared to making them read the rules and RPGs could be closer to sports than traditional tabletop games. -Talk about watching games and how the perception of streaming and e-sports has changed, and how you can watch to learn about the game or because you just like the people playing -Adam talks about D&D the not-game, where people use the setting and tend to throw out whatever rules they don't like. Mearls talks about the revelation that D&D is a culture, not a product supported every month- "We are like Harleys"- Harley Davidson doesn't sell you a new motorcycle every month, you buy into the culture, it sets you apart and forms a connection with others who value the same thing. Wouldn't be surprised if Harley makes more off of the merchandise than the motorcycles -Adam talks about how the space around D&D is being developed and expanded with people who can love it without playing. -1h43 min: Adam points out the homogeneous nature of the group (white dudes) and how things are changing in a good way, with 5e doing more for diversity in gender, sexuality, and race. Leads to discussion of gatekeeping and the fact that streaming/social media have been breaking down barriers and changing the face of RPGs by introducing it to new people other than the default bearded white guys of old, with the fading resistance from the gatekeepers and their loud anger. -Mearls talks about how it was intentional, and felt divorced from geek culture due to geek gatekeeping. Very consciously sat down to make the game as accessible as possible, both mechanically and otherwise (especially worked out talks with Jeremy Crawford). Wanted to avoid both mechanical and culture gatekeeping, describes how toxic masculinity can be just as much nerd hierarchy as anything else. -Colville talks about how things are changing fast thanks to Critical Role and other streamers. Mearls talks about how streaming bypasses gatekeepers and changes things dramatically- Groups who started within the last 3 years may be similar to older generations but have vastly different attitudes towards the game. Wonders what designers that came in after 5e will look like -Adam talks about how things like the paragraph and art might not be mechanics, but it's still part of growing the game -Colville talks about how there's still a lot of European fantasy baggage, whereas it could be broader and more inclusive fantasy than the default Europe knights and white guys -Talk about how ultimately sharing the game is the goal, and it should be more welcoming to others, and it's about sharing the experience. -Matt talks about how there's a responsibility to build D&D and RPGs as a safe space for sharing stories and forging understanding, a cultural movement on a small scale that helps people improve themselves and their connections
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Oct 11, 2017 06:11
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Imagined posted:
Honestly, D&D has had variations on "sunglasses but for light sensitivity" for a while now. Races of the Dragon, 2006 posted:Sundark Goggles: (10 gp) The smoked lenses of these goggles block light. They are typically fixed into a band of canvas that clasps together at the back to keep the goggles from falling off. Sundark goggles negate the dazzled condition experienced by a creature with light sensitivity while in bright illumination. As a side effect, they grant the wearer a +2 circumstance bonus on saving throws against gaze attacks. A creature wearing sundark goggles can't use a gaze attack, since other creatures can't see its eyes. Creatures without low-light vision or darkvision that wear sundark goggles take a -2 penalty on search and spot checks. It's always been a silly limitation.
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Sep 12, 2018 05:19
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