A lot of people are overjoyed that Wizards of the Coast is going to offer a kind of “basic” Dungeons & Dragons as a free pdf. Content-wise it is nothing special: it goes from levels 1-20 and covers the same arbitrarily “core” races and classes that you expect out a generic fantasy game. But then, did […]
I thought one of the selling points for 5th Edition was that magic items were not going to be an assumed part of the game, and that it would be entirely up to the Dungeon Master as to what, when, and where they are found. If that is still the case, then why does the […]
Before I get into the whole Mike wanting to convince us that 5th Edition has any uniquely positive traits thing, I want to address his statement that “plenty of games call themselves RPGs that don’t require or even particularly encourage roleplaying”. I understand why Mike might feel this way, because what he—and I am sure many, many others—narrowly […]
A common criticism about 5th Edition is that the designers seem more inclined to just recycle legacy mechanics—whether or not they evoke the style or “feels” that they claim to be going for—instead of actually designing rules or refining them (which has led to the derogatory title of D&D Previous): you have got Hit Dice, […]
I agree that simpler rules make for easier preparation and improvisation, which is why I love monster design in 4th Edition: it is incredibly easy to make monsters/NPCs of any level and scope (even on the fly), all the formulas can fit on a card, and unlike 3rd Edition it is actually reliable. This also extends to […]
I uh, I am not entirely sure if this is an April Fool’s joke, and not just because it actually mentions something approaching a mechanic. I want to say that it is nice how Mike credits 4th Edition as the first edition to give the fighter a truly unique mechanic, but that is not entirely […]
So in other, more concise words, gear “packages” derived from your background and class are the norm, while buying with a budget is optional. Not that I see anything particularly wrong with this—3rd and 4th Edition both had packages, after all—but does purchasing gear really take that long? I guess it might take awhile for […]
When it comes to 5th Edition, the flavor content is one of many things I have been very critical of: the stories pitched often ranged from merely confusing to hilariously bad, and sometimes only arbitrarily adhere to the mythology (such as, for starters, the gorgon being a metal bull and the hydra apparently having at least […]
Bards have often ironically been pretty much a joke, especially in 3rd Edition where they are billed as the “ultimate generalist” and best in a “supporting role”. The reality is that with only two cantrips per day, fewer skill points than the rogue (a good chunk of which are probably getting dumped into various Charisma-based […]
Apparently people were disappointed with 5th Edition’s first stab at the warlock…because it did not have stronger ties to previous incarnations? 3rd Edition’s warlock “boasted” the whole rigid class features that you had to write down in whatever arbitrary order the designer decided upon method, allowing a measure of customization in the form of 12 […]
Points of Light 