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Showing posts from April, 2018

The Middle Ground on Feats

Feats are an optional rule in 5E. Playing with them can drastically alter the balance of the game. Stacking multiple feats can even generate borderline broken, overpowered characters. To avoid the issues with feats, but keep them in the game, I came up with the following feat classification for 5E that limits characters to feats based on the type. This keeps multiple feats from stacking to maximize only one aspect of a character to the point of being broken.  This includes the feats I had in play at the time it was written. 5E feats are being added all the time, so new categories (maybe racial feats?) and feats may need to be added. Drop me a line if you find this useful in your game. FEATS Feats have been divided into 3 categories given below. Each character may take feats through normal RAW, but may take no more than one feat from each category.  Feats marked with * appear in more than one category and count for every category in which they are listed. For example,  ta

My Experiment with OSR-style 5E

For those of that have been in the game for a while, there is a certain happy nostalgia that goes with playing earlier editions again. After hearing the ambitious goal that 5th edition would be a complete edition covering every time of game that folks wanted, I was intrigued. Could 5th edition really recreate the old AD&D style game? After playing 5E for a few years (since it came out), I decided to try an experiment to see if I could run an old-fashioned dungeon crawl. I decided to pick up "Veins of the Earth" by Patrick Stuart with art by Scrap Princess and give it a try. I placed it carefully as a whole new Underdark found under Kara-Tur, the Asian-inspired eastern continent of the Forgotten Realms. The party would be a band of new adventurers sent to explore this deadly new world. It would be dangerous, but the rewards would be many. I put together a set of modified rules, gather pieces, parts, and ideas from various articles on the internet and my own experiences i

Avoiding PCs Using the Same Action Every Round

For me, a good combat in D&D 5E involves players engaged, thinking, strategizing, and playing off of each other. Every player hangs on seeing what the other players are doing. The action is intense and varied. PCs work together. Players aren't just waiting on their turn. Not every combat has to be this way, but there are times when I want this level of combat. For me, as a GM, one thing that breaks this type of combat is a PC simply taking the same exact action over and over. They are on cruise control. They aren't surprising the other players with their actions. They aren't working together as part of the team. Now, I have played with awesome players and I can tell you this isn't a player problem. Some classes do one thing well in combat and they use it. That is the way the class plays out based on its designed. As a GM, I want to help solve this issue in my games. I want players to have options. The first solution that fixes most of the problems is putting tog