The Gaming Den

There sure are a lot of optional rules. Some are: Action Options (DMG p271-272) Alternatives to Epic Boons (DMG p230) (The Epic Boons are inherent to the edition, in a weird E6 sort of post-cap advancement way, but these are some optional boons) Cleaving Through Creatures (DMG p272) Crafting a Magic...

Schwarzkopf wrote:Anyone have a link to the free starter set?

Okay so technically it's the Basic Rules that are the free thing. The Starter Set is an adventure with pregen characters and a majorly cut-down rulebook specifically for new DMs to run that adventure. It also includes dice and isn't free.

I riffed an obvious joke on ISPs virgin insult; not condoning it, just having fun. I also implied that the world would be a better place if Mearls didn't actually pass on his genes. I mean, the world would be a better place if I didn't pass on my genes, but now I'm just being pedantic. I still don'...

Whether or not there are criticisms that could be made of Rasmus is irrelevant to whether or not Grek scores a point for his specific criticism, which is that we are all lying liars who indulge in lies if they make people we don't like look bad. I mean, there certainly is some connection? rasmus li...

Kaelik wrote: I thought, for unconsciously charitable reasons, that he was saying Mike Mearls was a mailman, instead of a game designer.

Ooh. Huh. I guess it could parse that way, yeah. Fair enough.

I agree with Grek that rasmus' stance (going out of their way to believe that Mearls is a virgin despite acknowledging evidence to the contrary and several people pointing out how thats not even an insult) is uncharitable, but the rest of those quotes seem entirely reasonable, if seasoned with den-s...

The PCs were secretly the villains all along. The game was deliberately set up to obscure the actual morality of the situation by invoking game tropes that the players would accept unquestioningly. Invoking tropes and then using them as a gotcha in general is also relevant (and is a level of condes...

I'm not saying they overestimated everyone's intelligence, but there comes a point where I think 2d6 or 4d10 is much more sensible notation. It technically gives you more info, too. Especially when you get shit like 5-13. 4d3+1, probably! But you could also have 1d9+4, or 2d5+3, or 8d2-3, or.... Th...

5e lifetime PHB sales > 3, 3.5, 4 lifetime Clearly what this means is that the (5e) PHB has sold more copies during 5e's lifetime than it did during 3, 3.5, and 4's lifetimes combined. Not sure if you're being facetious or not, but in that twitter thread, Mearls clarifies that it's just book sales ...

5e lifetime PHB sales > 3, 3.5, 4 lifetime

Clearly what this means is that the (5e) PHB has sold more copies during 5e's lifetime than it did during 3, 3.5, and 4's lifetimes combined.

I'm not against the card mechanic, and it could be used for noncombat things, but I don't expect it is or will be. Leveling by dying seems very...... gimmicky. Letting the players individually choose when to level, a result of this, seems to throw any sense of balance out the window, which is especi...

Do... do people really learn baseball or soccer by watching? I literally cannot imagine playing either of those games (but especially baseball, god, what a clusterfuck) without at least being told base rules, and then every time an extra rule comes up someone who already knows it has to tell you. I'...

You know what Lovecraft Mythos story is all about the Mythos connections of Eastern Africa? Medusa's Coil. Wonder why they don't mention that one That's the one where the big horror reveal is that some woman is part African isn't it? Yes. People like to not talk about that one much because it's rac...

Maxus wrote:I'm feeling a bit froggy and I could do another Dragonmech sourcebook review. Do people want the Steam Warriors book (which is a ton of gear and Steamborg-related PrCs) or do they want Second Age of Walkers (which is Core Rulebook, part 2).

Steam Warriors

If there is a linear relationship between throw distance and weight (which is the case, I hope - please correct me if not) Ignoring air resistance, there's a linear relationship between mass and (horizontal) distance from a given amount of energy. But throwing has some extra factors. The thrower is...

On our different experiences I am certain my bias is in the other direction as one of my friends is an actuary and another few were comp sci majors and engineers. I was mocked in my high school clique for only getting 740 on the math portion of the SAT. But even outside that group I played with a h...

That's more complicated but I don't know if it is worse than ORE. You don't have a method for rewarding system mastery in there by offering a spectrum of superior and inferior dice selections while including sidebar text chastising system mastery by saying that you know your system is a broken mess...

momo, I must've failed in my clarity. When I was talking about bonuses I was talking about static bonuses to outcome, not extra rerolls. If extra rerolls are the only possible currency then this system is a little bit terrible. Okay. Unless I've missed something, those aren't discussed at all here,...

Momo, I think you may have made a mistake. The results for a skill 1 player should be identical between the "highest 4" and "reroll" procedures (assuming binary success and known DC). I have limited understanding of the Anydice syntax, but it looks like it's rerolling even after...

Okay, so we have a system where success is binary, failures turn into crit failures and successes turn into crit successes if all four dice are the same ( 0.08% of the time, or 1 in 1300 rolls EDIT: I lied, this is actually a whopping 0.46% of the time), and players know the DC before they roll. (Si...

If a re-roll is worse, does the new result stand? That's the plan, atm. Bluh. Okay, that's a mess. Do you intend to have graduated levels of success or failure? That is, does failling by 10 have worse consequences than failing by 5? Do you intend to make it clear what the DC is before the roll? Or ...

Yeah, if you're not keeping the higher of the two, it's a mess and you shouldn't do it. If you are, the behavioral objections are irrelevant and the complex resolution objection is completely relevant. Regardless, at that point it's highest 4 of 4+skill d6, and the distributions are pretty straightf...

Okay, so I don't like race-as-class aesthetically. The general way D&D works is that you choose a combo of the two and your column gives you some minor benefits based on what you are and your row gives you most of your level-based power based on what you do. Race-as-class muddies that, conceptua...

Anyway, I admit to being rather confused by the fallback position of "You can't make decisions when you're unconscious." It depends on a level of distinction between player decision and character decision that doesn't seem to me to be supported at, well, any point in the rules. The very fa...