The Gaming Den

Shared failing for both 5e and PF2 You don't want a massive accuracy gap for a given level in to-hit / defenses, so they make those things tightly grouped. But you DO want a bigger accuracy gap (and a higher starting bonus) for skills. Like, in PF1e, Your good skills were at level+5. And that works ...

Against my better judgement I read some of it. The most interesting thing, make that 'interesting' choice is you can buy up to 8th level spells with feats. I kind-of think that's a good idea. I like it. I just wish the noncasters had more power baked in by default. A Wizard who Archetypes fighter i...

So, as we know, the new edition playtest has dropped. The design choices are ... interesting. On a cursory read, it seems better than 5e, and better than PF1 in at least a few areas. Like, you're gonna have level appropriate features, 'cause there's no multiclassing, just archetypes. I like the modu...

While that does look interesting, and I've bookmarked it, that's a setting, not a game system. (Though in a vacuum I guess I can see how 'game' could be ambiguous, I guess I erroneously thought that in the context of our current discussion on game mechanic design made it clear I was referring to mec...

Thanks Frank.

I can see your point.

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Frank: I know about the 'Tomes' for 3.5, but have you ever made your own game, where you did the game design yourself? I'd be interested in checking out such a thing, if you have.

Agreed on the planeswalkers. Really, you'd struggle to make a planeswalker balanced for Pathfinder (it would almost definitely need to be in an 'epic' expansion), and 5e's significantly more limited.

Yeah, youd need very black and white rules, and perhaps a computer DM.

3d6+2df gives you a curved distribution with a full 1-20 range. Each fudge die can add -1, 0, or +1, changing a 3-18 range to a 1-20 range, with the same average of 10.5. Fair enough on your other points, Praetor. I think PF has a better "core engine" than 5e (or 3.5), but 5e's content has...

How much of this "bonus vs randomizer ratio" issue would be solved by replacing the d20 with (3d6+2df) or with (1d10+5)?

I agree. Competitive dungeon delving (not a race, but some kind of points-based competition with 4-man teams) would make for an environment with very closely evaluated and tweaked rules. In addition to Oath of the Frozen Throne, Blog of Holding also just released new monster creation rules based on ...

5e is just a really fragile system, and the unambitious math base is a big reason why. -Username17 "the unambitious math base is a big reason why." What do you mean by this comment? You mean the slow number scaling? Don't lots of RPGs have relatively low numbers scaling? Like, World of Da...

What do you guys think of the monster creation rules in Oath of the Frozen King?

They seem potentially better than the MM ones, albeit not perfect.

In 3.0 and 3.5 There are very clear WBL rules though, and they don't make it very hard to sell stuff at large cities and buy what you actually need when you get a bunch of random junk. I wouldn't call it ideal, but it makes more sense than 5e's totally different standards for building a higher level...

I wrote the first and probably the only 5E D&D class guide that fully went through the magical item catalog. I would be interested in reading that. Last night I was invited to join a group for some 5E D&D. I said NO THANKS. If they're really easy going, allow third party and homebrew conten...

I lean towards 'Give everyone magic' personally. *shrug*. The badass supernatural powers are why I'm playing this system. If you nerf it to be like Savage Worlds magic, I may as well just play Savage Worlds.

I'm on record as not liking Mutants and Masterminds very much, and the painful simplicity and lack of meaningful choices in combat is a big reason why. But we're already at the point where actually calculating what numbers mean in terms of actual average turns to victory is something that is way be...

This. In the end, even stuns and dominations can be seen as damage increase or damage mitigation. The only real issue would be "save or die" effects. Then again, those should be avoided, regardless. I dunno - I don't mind SoS effects, especially if they take a few failed saves with increa...

So what would you say a better creature design system would look like? I feel like (were I designing such a system from scratch) it would center on coming up with a way of measuring everything in terms of HP and Damage Per Round, possibly with a Kills Per Round & Rounds Per Kill (as relative num...

Okay, so I forgot a disclaimer when I was talking about the homebrew shit. When you use more homebrew documents made by fans than actual books made by the developers, you are either playing the Mind's Eye Society Vampire the Masquerade(Which is pretty fucking rad all things considered) or you're pl...