Rulebook Heavily posted:

Am I missing something? Why does that dragon only have four saves listed?

dwarf74 posted:

I was explaining what version I was referring to, pointing out that it was stronger in the one I was referring to.

Mormon Star Wars posted:

I wonder if the advanced races are going to have subraces, too. That'd be rad.

moths posted:

Attribute damage is back?

dwarf74 posted:

Oh for gently caress's sake.

What's this from, btw? Please tell me it's an early thing and there is not really stat damage. Please?

MonsterEnvy posted:

It's Personally not a big deal to me (If you don't memorize them you can always write them down as well) as the ones in the starter set have pretty simple spells that are rather easy to remember. Besides there won't be nearly as many monsters with spells in the statblock as their used to be.

PeterWeller posted:

They put out a nice book at the end of 3.5 called Grand History of the Realms that explains everything up to the Spell Plague, which was the big event that changed everything for 4E. 4E picks up about 100 years later, and the events of those 100 years are vague and scattered across a few novel timelines. But none of that really matters now because the current big event, The Sundering, is going to revert many of those changes.

Here's a short list of stuff that happens between the BG games and now if you don't wanna search further:
*Khelben hooks up Fzoul so the latter can take control of the Zhents.
*Fzoul kills Manshoon unleashing scores of pissed off, crazy Manshoon clones and Manshoon wars begin.
*Khelben gets booted from the Harpers and starts his own crew.
*Xvim splits open and Bane comes out.
*Manshoon Wars settle down leaving 3 left including one who is a vampire and runs the thieves in Westgate.
*Phaerimm almost destroy Evereska.
*In related events, Netherese enclave returns from the Shadow plane and begins trying to reclaim the old empire.
*Crazy flight of dragons happens caused by Sammaster, who is destroyed by adventurers thwarting his plan.
*Azoun dies slaying a red wyrm. His bad rear end niece becomes regent.
*Obould unites orc hordes, establishes Kingdom of Many Arrows and signs treaties with Mithril Hall and the Silver Marches.
*Hidden Imaskari return. Are pretty cool.
*Crazy Drow poo poo goes down, leaving only Lolth, Ellistrae, and Ghaunadar standing. Ched Nassad is destroyed.
*Crazy Mask poo poo goes down involving his chosen. Mask "disappears."
*Hosttower of the Arcane is destroyed, Luskan falls into more chaos.
*Cyric tricks Tyr into killing Helm and exiling himself. Cyric then teams up with Shar to murder Mystra. All kinds of magical hell breaks loose and setting gets changed for 4E.
*Badass warlocks take over Vaasa.
*Vampire Manshoon takes over Zhents.
*New Netheril expands.
*New nice Imaskar expands.
*Cormyr expands.
*Lords Alliance retracts.
*Neverwinter is almost totally destroyed when Mt. Hotenow blows.
*Neverwinter Campaign book happens.
*Ao decides to rewrite the Tablets of Fate. Crazy god and chosen poo poo goes down. People you love and people you hate come back.
*5E begins.

E: despite the length of that, there's stuff I have forgotten about involving Yuan-Ti and places like Amn. Also, the order may be incorrect in places.

ProfessorProf posted:

Some of these sound so cool but I just know that 5e is going to ruin the potential.

I assume Eldritch Knight () is a fighter who gets a few wizard spells, and not anything actually cool or interesting? I would be delighted to be wrong!

Jack the Lad posted:

The Inspirational Reading appendix is a lot better than I'd expected.


I particularly like this title.

Jack the Lad posted:

I've done a bunch more work on my sheet, including transcribing the stat blocks of every monster of the DM Basic and Hoard of the Dragon Queen Supplement PDFs by hand for easier analysis.

You can find it here but you'll need to File -> Make a copy before you can tinker with it.



I've included the chance for each monster to make each kind of save against a PC of level = CR, and it turns out the best chance anything has to save against its lowest save is 40%.

A Stone Golem (described as 'nearly impervious to spells') can never pass an Int or Cha save from a PC caster and has a 28% chance of making a Dex save and a 36% chance of making a Wis save - after taking into account its advantage against magic.

Slashrat posted:

As in, he made a roll for each person in the crowd?

Rosalind posted:

We haven't seen the DMG yet so it's hard to say. I hope they continue talking about DMing in terms of satisfying the different player types that were present in the 4E DMG (instigator, storyteller, actor, etc.) as that was my favorite part and honestly probably the most useful tool as a DM because it makes you think more about the most important question as a DM: "What would my players find fun, challenging, and interesting?"

Ryuujin posted:

Oh man you got to see the Alpha DMG as well? Did the alpha have rules for playing as monsters as the preview for the actual DMG had listed?

Father Wendigo posted:

Did the Alpha DMG have any indications for how to run a campaign without Magic Items? I'm genuinely curious as to how they're going to tackle that.

LongDarkNight posted:

secret DMG is from 07/30, this turd is so fresh the flies haven't showed up yet. no magic items sadly.

highlights:
costs to construct building
costs for hirelings
downtime activites (most of which have a 20% chance of going to jail for 5d6 days)
domains (kingdom builder rules)
using miniatures!!!
travel hazards
diseases
poisons
madness
traps
puzzles
modifying races
creating new races
monsters as characters
modifying classes

optional rules:
training to level up
trading in magic items
flanking
attacking cover
morale
action points
called shots
alternate skill systems (13th age backgrounds are an option)
vitality
spell points
skill points
single strike (1 attack roll, cumulative damage)
second wind
rest variants
proficiency dice
massive damage
marking
facing
cleaving through the horde
automatic success
chases
cantrip slots
action points (again?)
group initiative
weapon speed
passive initiative
gestalt characters

LongDarkNight posted:

Jack the Lad posted:

How do monsters as characters work?

Zombies' Downfall posted:

I actually prefer "whatever let the DM figure it out, here's some guidelines" to the 3E approach of "here's a system of racial hit dice and poo poo that doesn't work for poo poo and produces only overpowered and worthless PCs" and 4E's "going through every humanoid and giving them two random stats and an arbitrary racial bonus that again tends to result in them being underpowered or bugbears". I'd rather see them not even try than half-rear end it in a core book and canonize some busted, stupid poo poo that every player will then assume is canonical and should be allowed without amendment, which is what both 3E and 4E did with monster PCs in the core.

It's a weird topic to address because you know there's a 0% chance they won't release a race book with minotaurs and undead and poo poo in it at some point just like every other edition.

EDIT: Or was it hobgoblins? Whichever one of them got monkey grip as a racial feature

Babylon Astronaut posted:

They think hitdice are a replacement for healing surges. Bloodied is a bridge too far. Until they release the module the other team is working on.

moths posted:

Is there enough core system to actually support those promised modules? The combat module would essentially be a new game, and "freeform story game" kinda needs to be that way from the start.

ProfessorCirno posted:

You know, eventually, you're going to have to agree that the game has in fact been released.

FMguru posted:

The original AD&D was released one book a year (MM in 1978, PHB in 1979, DMG in 1980). Mearls is just trying to bring back that old classic D&D "feel".

gtrmp posted:

Oh wait, I forgot, there were no design lessons to be learned from Eberron 4e because 4e never happened.

quote:

Improved Concentration

While you have this feat you can concentrate on a number of spells equal to your spellcasting modifier.
When you take damage you must make concentration checks for each concentration spell you are currently concentrating on.

Sage Genesis posted:

Wait... your DM wants to introduce that feat into his own game?

Libertad! posted:

I heard that the Dungeon Master's Guide has advice on playing monsters as PCs, but overall how comprehensive and useful is it for fitting a variety of monsters? Like goblins, mind flayers, vampires, etc?

Apologies if this has been asked already.

Doresh posted:

Is there even a canonical explanation for where their divine spells come from? Certainly not from the same source as Druids or Clerics, cause they can't actually fall.

FMguru posted:

Blame John W. Campbell, the long-time editor of Analog (the SF magazine) for that - he was a big believer in and promoter of the science of psionic powers. He was also a big believer in the science of Dianetics, the Dean Drive, the "Hieronymous Machine", and the truth underlying the Shaver Mystery.

Richard Sharpe Shaver posted:

In the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, which was heavily influenced by pulp and weird fiction in its development, there exists a race of evil subterranean dwarves called the derro, which were first described in the AD&D First Edition Monster Manual II. These derro make raids on the surface to kidnap humans for use as slaves and food, and some among them, called Savants, possess magical and psychic powers which they can use to influence people's minds. They are said to have a main stronghold deep underground where they plot the overthrow of humanity.

FRINGE posted:

Does anyone know how that one happened?

Slippery42 posted:

As for the new Wizard archetype, this is the first UA option I'd immediately tell my players they can't use because of balance concerns. I think there's only one creature in the MM immune/resistant to force damage, so welcome to fireballs working on everything. As for changing saving throws, here's the magnitude of that ability: Among all creatures in the MM, the average con saving throw bonus is 3.16. The average int saving throw is -0.63. If you only look at CR 10 and up, the average bonuses are 9.15 and 3.85, respectively, so this can represent a 4-5 point increase to the Wizard's save DC on average, depending on level. Now combine that with the assumption that they balanced the effects of spells requiring a con save against the lower probability that it will land.