A Whole New World...

If I've seemed uncharacteristically quiet lately, it's because I've been working on a new project...a new world, in fact. Well, not a world, per se, but a city that will be the setting for an upcoming campaign.

But first, a cautionary tale. When 4e D&D came out, I decided to create a new fantasy setting that would be very different from the Druid Cycle campaign world. I ended up expanding upon Woden's Gallows, which was my submission to Wizards of the Coast's world-building contest from a decade ago (won by Keith Baker and his Eberron setting). The result was the Torchlight campaign, set in a world derived exclusively from Anglo-Saxon literature and mythology. To this day, I love that world. At some point I'll write a lengthy post explaining why, but that's not really relevant here. What's relevant is that Torchlight just didn't take off. Maybe the plot was too convoluted for an online game, or maybe the timing just wasn't right...I don't know. In any case, Torchlight convinced me to give up on world-building for a while and focus on the Druid Cycle campaign, because that's always been a sure thing.

Although the experience of Torchlight is still fresh in my mind, I've decided to take another stab at creating a new campaign setting. This time, I'm taking a much more limited approach. With Torchlight, I wrote enough material to fill a book (seriously) before anyone had rolled up a single character. With this as-yet-unnamed campaign, I'm just working on a single city. It's a fictional city in contemporary northeastern America -- and already you can tell that this isn't going to be a fantasy campaign. It's a superhero game.

That's all for now. More details to follow!

D&D Humor

Patton Oswald, stand up comedian and actor:

The comedian’s father, who was a Marine, named him after General Patton. ”He gave me the first name Patton, I’m assuming with very high hopes. When he saw me at age 15, rolling up my eighth Dungeons and Dragons character, he was like, ‘boy, I named this one wrong.’”

Don't worry Patton, the geek shall inherit the earth!

DDO: Menace of the Underdark

Dungeons & Dragons Online is the official D&D MMORPG. You can check it out here. Basic play is free, but players can purchase additional content if they so desire. A major expansion pack, titled Menace of the Underdark, was released yesterday and is available for purchase here.

Skills: Things you can do. What have you learned?

We have have skills.  From when we are very young we learn some of the most basic.  We spend our life fine tuning, improving, or learning new skills.

• As a baby, We learn how to stand, walk, and run.
• As young child, we go to school to learn basic skills like reading, writing, math, and history.
• As a young adult, we specialize in certain skills.  Some of us are better at math and science.  Others excel at english and history.  As the Olympics start soon, atheletes all over the world demonstrate their best.
• We even add extra formal skills that such as music mastery (singing, playing an instrument) or learning a foreign language (spanish, french, dead languages like latin).
• What about informal skills?  With the start of summer, is burger flipping a skill?  Well, we got better at it with practice.  Is it compatible with pancake flipping?  Pancakes are usually flatter & wider than burgers (different center of gravity).  If you have done both, they use similar skills, but uniquely different.
• In college, most of us need to get Bachelor's & Master's degrees to get employed.  These 'qualifiy' us to take tests (prove our level of expertise) to apply for jobs.
• Due to natural survival, we forget skills we don't use often.

Where does that leave us?

• Is a list of every possible skill satisfactory?  Uh, nope.
• Do players care to list every skill that we possess?   Our job resumes only hold the last few years of significant job experience.  Creating characters should have the same requirements.
• I think most systems have failed to keep a balance between social, professional, and personal skills.  Rogues have tons of social skills, but are very limited in combat skills.  Fighters are great for combat skills, but fail to have basic skills like coordinating a group of warriors.  Rangers should be great at pack and raiding, but these skills are missing from most systems.  Arcane casters are limited to just casting.  Do you not think they don't use diplomacy or good at searching through information quickly?

I think as character development goes, there should be enough thought & design into skills as there is in combat.  Even better, build a more skill based resolution system instead of a traditional violent (you vs them) mentality.

Over the next month I will cover Backround & Profession next.  Thanks for reading.

Sunday Comics

This one isn't especially focused on D&D, but rather a mistake that I make REPEATEDLY when talking to John. How appropriate, I think!

The Book of Vile Darkness: The Trailer!

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that a third D&D film was in production. Will this installment be better than the first two? The trailer, unfortunately, is not promising...

Mutants & Masterminds

Remember when I asked around to see if anyone was interested in superhero RPGs? Well, good buddy Matt, a long-time gamer and our resident Warhammer 40k expert, was kind enough to send me a copy of Mutants & Masterminds, a d20 System superhero game. I'm now reading through rulebook and enjoying it immensely. If anybody's interested in participating in a test-drive, let me know. Matt sounds eager to try it out, as well...

Oh, you're one of those...

I'm sure we've all been there. Talking with someone about our interests and likes. Occasionally, the conversation may make it's way towards roleplaying games. And then you say it. "Oh, I play Dungeons and Dragons". Usually, when a 35 year old man tells someone else they play D&D, the questions start coming fast and furious, or they take a giant step back. I usually then spend the next 20 minutes explaining exactly what roleplaying is, and isn't. Most people come away from the conversation still skeptical, years of nerdom leaving the concept of RPG'ing still stuck firmly in their minds.

What have you experienced?

Pathfinder vs. D&D

My original intention for today's post was to compare and contrast the Pathfinder and D&D 3.5e rules. Well, I don't really have much to say on that topic. Judging solely from the content in the Pathfinder Beginner Box (I don't own any of the core rulebooks), the game system seems like a logical evolution from 3.5, with a few minor differences (for example, the rules for feats like Power Attack and Cleave) and a few clear improvements (for example, At Will powers for spellcasters). I'd probably have more to say if I got the opportunity to play it for a few game sessions, but for now I'll put the rules aside and give you my general impression.

To date, my experience with Paizo is limited to the aforementioned Beginning Box, the Free RPG Day modules from the past couple of years, and a few small purchases (a couple of GameMastery Flip-Mats, a pack of Pathfinder miniatures, and a slim volume that summarizes the nations of the Pathfinder campaign world), but in all cases I've been impressed by the quality of their products. I don't just mean the quality of the game itself (which is very good indeed). I'm referring to the quality of the physical products; the artwork is great, the paper quality is great, the Flip-Mats are amazing, and the miniatures are just as good as the pre-painted plastic D&D minis. All in all, Paizo is a very worthy competitor for Wizards of the Coast, and I hope their success will spur Wizards to make some improvements of their own. I feel that Wizards has become a bit too...complacent...over the past few years, so having Paizo in their rear-view mirror is definitely a good thing.

Pathfinder Beginning Box

It's not you, it's me.

I've just been feeling a little...curious...these past few months.

It was just a one-time thing.

It won't happen again.

I still love you, D&D. I'll always love you. I'm excited about 5e and I plan to participate in each and every iteration of the playtest, offering as much feedback as I can along the way. But for a while now I've been intrigued by Pathfinder, and I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. That's why I bought the Pathfinder Beginner Box.

See this link, especially for the customer reviews.

What can I say? For $23, it's the best introduction to fantasy roleplaying since the D&D Basic Set, the fabled "red box" of 1983 (certainly not the current red box introductory set, which pales in comparison both to its ancestor and to the Pathfinder box). Don't count on my converting the Druid Cycle campaign world to Pathfinder or anything like that, but I see why it's so popular. I see why people who turned away from D&D in the wake of 4e would embrace this game. I'll have a lot more to say about it in the coming days once I've digested the rules.

And if anyone is starting up a Pathfinder campaign, let me know...

Sunday Comics

http://xkcd.com/708/

Free RPG Day Recap

We tried a new store for this year's Free RPG Day. The past couple of years we've gone to the excellent Bizarro World in Davis -- a cute little college town that's home to UC Davis, Amy's alma mater. This year we went to A-1 Comics in Sacramento. I was blown away -- a top-notch comics store and a top-notch gaming store in the same building! I'll be visiting A-1 every time I go to Sacramento.* The only downside was that they had a strict limit of two freebies per customer. (In contrast, at Bizarro, I've been able to pick up a copy of every free item.) I grabbed the D&D and Pathfinder modules, but I wish I could have checked out some of the other stuff too.

* - A-1 is indeed fantastic...but I have yet to find a store that can equal Millennium Games in Rochester, New York. Best game store ever!

Reminder: Free RPG Day Is Today!

Don't forget to swing by your local game store for free stuff. Consult the official website to find a store near you.

Response: Orc Holocaust

First, big thanks to Timothy for linking to Sofge's article. I hadn't seen it before.

Rarely have I had occasion to disagree so vehemently with a fellow gamer. I'll work my way through Sofge's article (his words in quotation marks) and offer counterpoints along the way. I encourage you all to go back and read his article in full before continuing with this post.

"Sadly, Gygax's creation defines our strange corner of the entertainment world and drowns out all the more innovative and sophisticated games that have made D&D obsolete for decades."

Does D&D drown out other games? It's the most famous roleplaying game, surely, but is its very existence preventing people from playing other games? I'm not inclined to take the author's claims very seriously until I see some evidence of a problem.

"It's the reason that tabletop gaming is not only stuck in the pop culture gutter but considered pathetic even by the standards of mouth-breathing Star Trek conventioneers."

I've never bought into the oft-repeated meme that D&D (or roleplaying in general) is somehow "in the pop culture gutter." A lot of people say that, but where is the evidence that tabletop gaming is considered "pathetic"? And even if someone comes up with some statistics to verify this meme, how do we know that D&D is the cause of it?

"What's wrong with Dungeons & Dragons? It plays like a video game."

In my quarter-century of D&D play, I have not found it to be the case that D&D plays like a video game. But even if it did, why is that a problem? Lots of people like video games. D&D is flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of play styles.

Sofge's main problem is with the concept of experience points -- specifically, that experience points are earned by means of killing monsters.

"You come across a family of sleeping orcs, huddled around their overflowing chest of gold coins and magical weapons. Why do orcs and other monsters horde [sic] gold when they can't buy anything from the local "shoppes," or share a jug of mead in the tavern, or do anything but gnash their teeth in the darkness and wait for someone to show up and fight them?...You can let sleeping orcs lie...[o]r you can start slitting throats—after all, mercy doesn't have an experience point value in D&D."

Obviously, orcs and other monsters hoard gold because they use it to trade for goods and services, just as human characters do. All sentient creatures, even dungeon-dwelling orcs, have some sort of rudimentary economy. But the real issue here is the idea that players would have their characters slit the throats of a family of sleeping orcs.

Has this scenario played out at some point in the long history of D&D? I'm sure it has. But it's a stretch to say that the game itself encourages this behavior. Experience points are allocated only when players overcome a challenge. Dangerous monsters are one such challenge, but so too are traps, puzzles, and tests of skill. Characters also earn experience points for completing quests. If your quest is to retrieve a magic item stolen by a dragon, there are many ways you could complete that quest. You could kill the dragon, of course, but you could also sneak in to grab the item while the dragon was asleep, or even engage it in conversation and barter with it. In contrast, slaughtering a bunch of sleeping orc children is not a challenge that would merit experience points, nor is it an act that most gamers would consider acceptable. I, for one, would not allow such an act at my game table.

"For decades, gamers have argued that since D&D came first, its lame, morally repulsive experience system can be forgiven."

The game has no morality; you bring your own morality to the game. The rules are just a framework for resolving actions in the narrative world. As a gamemaster, I could tell the same fantasy story using D&D or Pathfinder or Fantasy Hero or GURPS. These game systems are all tools for helping us translate the words of players into the deeds of fictional characters. A game system is a medium of expression, like a language. D&D is no more "morally repulsive" than English or Chinese or Swahili, even if we can use any of these systems to make morally repulsive expressions.

"There's a reason so many players are turned off after a brush with D&D. It promises something great—a lively (if dorky) bit of performance art—but delivers a small-minded and ignorant fantasy of rage."

This author has quite the battle-axe to grind. It's clear to me that he was turned off after a brush with D&D, but where are these legions of disgruntled players? The article is rather short on supporting evidence.

Sofge has high praise for Steve Jackson's excellent Generic Universal Roleplaying System (GURPS). He points out, rightly, that GURPS allows for considerable customization of one's character. Getting back to the concept of experience points, he writes:

"[C]haracters got whatever the "gamemaster" decided. They might earn points for succeeding at a given task or simply for playing their character in a compelling way."

All of this is true for D&D, as well.

"Of course, players could still take out their real-life bitterness in a fictional killing spree, and the game master might end up with a bumbling and incoherent story line."

At last the author acknowledges that excessive violence is not exclusive to D&D. It is possible in any game system because the choices of the players determine the level of violence. The game system does not make these choices for them.

I feel badly for Erik Sofge. It seems like he's had some negative experiences playing D&D. I wish he'd been able to share in some of our Front Porch adventures, as these game sessions may well have given him a different perspective on D&D. I feel very fortunate that we've had so much fun -- and told such great and compelling stories -- over the past twenty-odd years.

I'll close with a brief anecdote. Once upon a time, Scott (one of our original Porchers) and I were invited to join a different gaming group for their D&D campaign. I knew these guys had a hack-and-slash approach that didn't really suit my style of play, so I decided that my character was going to be a pacifist cleric who withheld healing magic from party members who got too vicious on the battlefield.

We players are empowered to shape the narrative. As the story unfolds, it becomes a reflection not of the game system, but of ourselves.

Review: Orc Holocaust

From Slate.com, Posted Monday, March 10, 2008

Orc Holocaust is an entertaining article in Slate.com from a few years ago, written by self professed D&D geek Erik Sofge. I think it makes a very valid point, at least for me about D&D: 

The problem is most apparent in one of Gygax's central (and celebrated) innovations: "experience points".

Sofge goes on to explain further his issue with experience points:

Here's the narrative arithmetic that Gygax came up with: You come across a family of sleeping orcs, huddled around their overflowing chest of gold coins and magical weapons. Why do orcs and other monsters horde gold when they can't buy anything from the local "shoppes," or share a jug of mead in the tavern, or do anything but gnash their teeth in the darkness and wait for someone to show up and fight them? Who knows, but there they are, and you now have a choice. You can let sleeping orcs lie and get on with the task at hand—saving a damsel, recovering some ancient scepter, whatever. Or you can start slitting throats—after all, mercy doesn't have an experience point value in D&D. It's the kind of atrocity that commits itself.

Twenty years on, experience points are far less important to me than developing my character. Cathbad, a 20 year old character, has initiated a drinking problem. Yes, a drinking problem. What does that do to garner me experience points? Probably not  much.

I've always come from the more 'thinking' side of RPG'ing, even when I was a younger kid. Who, after all, when given the wide variety of professions that a PC could have, chooses to be a Used British Car salesman? Not even a new British car salesman. Tell me how many gangsters that character is going to take down?

It's an interesting read, if slightly deprecating towards Gygax and the D&D legacy. I'm not as versed in the history of the development of D&D, but this does seem on par with my experiences in many ways. I can appreciate far more the effort that our resident GM goes into making our experience a rich and fulfilling world, one where attacking those orcs might just lead to an international incident. Nothing happens in the DC world without an effect. Now where is my wand, I've got some orcs to blast with my magic missile...

D&D Next Playtest Hotline

Got questions about the 5e playtest materials? Call the playtest hotline! (Seriously, this is a real thing.)

More info here.

The hotline will be open today through Saturday, from 2 to 6 PM PST. Can it really be considered a hotline, though, if it's only open for three days, and only for four hours each day?

Down With (Feat) Taxes!

During my discussion of the 5e playtest materials, I wrote a bit about the "feat tax" in 4e -- the tendency of the rules to steer players toward choosing particular feats (or other features) just so their characters could keep up with rapidly scaling enemies. The Expertise feats (granting +1 to hit) were the worst of many offenders.

When it comes to feat taxes, just call me Grover Norquist. (Warning! Political humor!) In 4e, feats were among my strongest criticisms of that (generally) solid incarnation of D&D. However, I'm happy to report that the feat taxes have been repealed! Follow this link for all the good news.

Free RPG Day!

Free RPG Day is almost here!

Stop by your friendly local game store this Saturday, June 16, and pick up lots of free roleplaying goodies, including D&D and Pathfinder adventures. For more information, see the official website.

Playtest Recap: Amy's Take

I've shared a lot of my thoughts about the first public draft of 5e, but we haven't heard from any other Front Porch players yet. I sat down with Amy to get her take on the game. Here's what she had to say...

Prester: What are your general impressions of 5e so far?
Amy: I think it's more like 3.5 than 4. I like it better than 4, but basically I just wish they'd stop changing editions and stick with one system.

Prester: I hope 5e will be that system. Now, did anything about the game surprise you?
Amy: The backgrounds surprised me. They were a fun element to add to the character.

Prester: What aspect of the game did you like the best?
Amy: I liked that at first level I had a decent spell selection, and decent attacks. I also really liked the healer's kit item.

Prester: What aspect did you like the least?
Amy: I thought it was a little too easy that my character could manufacture all these different healing items for so little expense, and then turn around and sell them for a profit.

Prester: You played the cleric of Pelor. What was your favorite spell?
Amy: Spiritual Hammer!

Prester: What was your favorite class feature or feat?
Amy: Herbalism. Even though I feel it was too easy for her to make and sell all these items, I did like this feature the best.

Prester: What do you most hope to see in the next iteration of the rules?
Amy: A druid! Well, what I really want to see is a system that doesn't completely change its rules every couple of years.

Abilities: Does a number tell it all?

Simulation games is just that.  A system to mimic real life, but cannot duplicate it exactly due to the infinite variables.

This week we focus on the core of most game systems: Abilities.

By definition, this is supposed to be the basic foundation that we all have.  We can all walk, run, and jump.  Some can do it better.  Some are worse at it.  Some face unique challenges (other people refer to as disabilities).   

Watch sports recently?  They must be strong enough to run up and down the field.  They must also be nimble and dexterous enough to evade the opposing team to score.  Can you separate the two unique skills?  As we prepare to see the world's best athletes compete at the Olympics, you will quickly see that winners usually have a blend of strength, dexterity, and endurance. Having a good outlook on life regardless of how tough the opposition looks (perhaps wisdom and/or charisma) helps too.

What about the day to day?  I have met very smart people that struggle to use the microwave.  I have met very practical people that do what they know, but are not sure if it will work out.  So in game terms, they could be wise, street smart, be book smart, or know how to coordinate with other people to get what they need done.  Many are stronger in smaller group settings than public speaking.  If this is a function of unique personality, can a few base scores summarize these traits?

Again, I have no solutions.  I am only presenting that there may not be a way to separate the different abilities.

It is also worth noting that if you have met someone with a disability, they are strong people that have done what they need to adapt and succeed in life.  If it is something obvious like a physical disability or less noticeable like a social disability, there is no way to fairly document all that they can do.

Tune in 2 weeks for our next topic: Skills

Sunday Comics

http://xkcd.com/189/

Playtest Recap: Background and Theme

I love the 5e concept of backgrounds and themes, both of which have their origins in 4e. Backgrounds were a rather modest feature, and many players didn't bother with them. Some players opted for the "Restless Dead" background because it provided a +1 damage bonus against all undead foes, and a lot of optimizers selected the "Auspicious Birth" background because it allowed the player to substitute his or her highest ability score in place of Constitution when determining starting hit points. Otherwise, backgrounds just
offered some basic story hooks. The theme, introduced in the Dark Sun campaign setting and expanded thereafter, had more of an impact on a character because it involved goodies like free Encounter powers or theme-specific features (such as a sidekick or pet...and let's face it, I'm a sucker for 4e sidekicks, which is probably why I still love the horrifically under-powered 4e shaman class). Both of these concepts were intended to help the player establish his or her character's place -- beyond the traditional dyad of race and character class -- in the game world, althouth even now, late in the 4e era, neither feels integral to a 4e character.

Judging from what we've seen so far, 5e is going to enhance these concepts considerably. Background and theme (although still optional -- you can skip them and just go with race and class for a more "old school" game experience) will help you flesh out your character's identity. Background describes what your character did before becoming an adventurer. For example, Amy's cleric had the "Priest" background, meaning that her character worked at a temple. (We swapped out Pelor for one of the Druid Cycle deities.) In terms of game mechanics, the background indicated the skills in which she had training (a +3 bonus in each); she also had a background feature that allowed her to obtain free healing and other services from temples aligned with her character's faith. Theme, meanwhile, is a narrative expression of character class -- so you may be a fighter, but what kind of fighter are you? Amy's cleric had the Healer theme, which was loaded with good stuff, particularly the powerful Herbalism feat.

Beyond the game mechanics, though, background and theme provide a lot of inspiration for roleplaying. Amy used them as a springboard for defining key aspects of her characer's history, as well as her character's ambitions for the future. Expect to see a shop in Caer Arfordir selling healing potions and healer's kits!

Playtest Recap: Ditching the Grid

The 5e playtest rules specify all distances and areas in feet, not in squares. Unlike 4e, the game does not assume that you're using a grid and miniatures. In that spirit -- and despite my prodigious collection of miniatures, Dungeon Tiles, poster maps, GameMastery Flip-Mats, and other such paraphernalia -- Amy and I conducted our playtest encounters entirely in the theater of the mind, so to speak.

The experience reminded me a great deal of my countless 2e Druid Cycle adventures with Scott and Jason, and later Kevin and Timothy. On occasion we would set up some metal miniatures on a blank sheet of printer paper to show relative position, but for the most part we just used our imaginations. It worked then, and it still works now. I didn't miss the grid. Interestingly enough, Amy, whose D&D experience is limited to grid-based 3.5e and 4e, missed it more than I did.

The encounters from our playtest sessions, however, were relatively simple in their setup and involved only first-level characters and analogous monsters from the playtest Bestiary (fire beetles, dire rats, orcs, etc.). Adding more players, varied terrain, complex monsters, and other features would make for a more rigorous test of gridless combat. That, I suppose, will have to wait until a future iteration of the playtest rules.

Playtest Recap: D&D DNA

In my 5e posts so far, I've commented on specific game mechanics that I felt were noteworthy for whatever reason, but I have yet to share my thoughts on the overall experience of playing 5e (I still can't bring myself to call it "D&D Next"). Amy and I have done some playtesting over the past couple of weekends, so I'll use those sessions as the basis for this discussion. (Watch for other "Playtest Recap" posts over the next several days.) First, some key parameters:

• We were using the pregenerated playtest characters (the human cleric of Pelor and the dwarf fighter) without modification, even in the case of (seemingly) obvious errors, such as the quarterstaff attack bonus that appeared to count the weapon as Strength-based rather than a Dexterity-based finesse weapon.
• We were using the "How to Play" rules as written -- nothing was houseruled.
• We did not play the "Caves of Chaos" adventure that was provided with the playtest packet. Some people dig this adventure as kind of a "sandbox" environment, but in my opinion it's just a bunch of bland rooms filled with equally bland encounters. Instead of "Caves of Chaos," I used the playtest Bestiary to create an adventure set in the Druid Cycle campaign world (the town of Caer Arfordir in Teyrnas, for anyone who's curious).

In a nutshell, it's been fun. 5e is simple and fast, with a lot of flexibility. At no point did the rules get in the way of the storytelling. With 4e (and, to a lesser extent, 3e and 3.5), I was always very aware that I was playing a game. I realize that's kind of an obvious thing to say (unless you're one of the legions of people whom D&D has driven insane, like the Tom Hanks character from Mazes and Monsters...save them, Jack Chick, save them!), but the point is that (in my opinion, at least) the game rules constrained the players' actions. In other words, you'd look at your character sheet and then decide what to do. With 5e, it's the other way around. You tell the DM what you want your character to do, and then the DM applies a game rule...and even then, only when necessary. I love how this works. The rules really do seem designed to facilitate the narrative. (Note: I'm not saying that good storytelling was impossible in 4e, only that the 4e rules tried to turn everything into a tactical situation...see the much-maligned Skill Challenges as perhaps the most egregious example of this phenomenon.)

What I most want to convey in this post, however, is that 5e has true D&D DNA. I see evidence of all previous editions (including some of the best aspects of 4e, such as At Will spells and self-healing) represented in the playtest rules and pregenerated characters. The design and development teams have a long way to go before they have a product they can sell, but even at this early stage I'm confident that they're on the right track. This is D&D, folks.

Bounded Accuracy

Perhaps my favorite feature of 5e is the concept of "bounded accuracy," which will replace the "tyranny of accuracy" from 4e. If you played enough 4e, I'm sure you discovered that the monster attacks and defenses scaled very aggressively. PCs struggled to keep pace with their monstrous foes, especially at higher levels. We were all slaves to the +1 bonus...that is, +1 to hit. I need to make that distinction because the game presented players with false choices; sitting beside the feats that granted a +1 to hit (Expertise feats) were feats that granted a +1 to damage (Focus feats). A less experienced player might be tempted by the +1 to damage, but that would be a mistake. From a mathematical standpoint, the +1 to hit is considerably better. (You can't inflict any damage if you don't hit, right?) Expertise in your chosen weapon or implement was a feat that you had to take. It was a feat tax. And as many of you know, I'm not a big fan of taxes!

Bounded accuracy fixes this problem by introducing flat math. In 5e, a character's attack rolls and defenses will not automatically increase with level. Only hit points and and damage output can be expected to increase at regular intervals, and obviously PCs will gain other goodies (class features, spells, etc.) as they advance in level.

So what does this mean in terms of game play? In 4e, your first-level party would square off against, say, five level 1 kobolds. Later on, your tenth-level party would face...five level 10 kobolds. Now that monsters don't scale, kobolds can still menace a low-level party but are no threat to higher-level characters unless they return in greater numbers. (Wait, isn't that what Obi-wan said about the Sand People in Star Wars?) In 5e, your first-level party may still face five kobolds, but your tenth-level party may be facing 50 or more.

For the full scoop on bounded accuracy, check out this article by Rodney Thompson.

Drow Rhymes with Cow

Courtesy of our friends at EN World, here's the official D&D pronunciation guide.

At last we can settle one of the most contentious debates in D&D history...the pronunciation of "drow," the general term for "dark elf." For the record: "drow" rhymes with "cow," not with "throw."

Longtime Porch players (those who remember 2e D&D) may be amused to learn that my stubborn insistence on pronouncing THAC0 (the acronym for "To Hit Armor Class Zero") with a long "a" (THAY-koh) is considered acceptable alongside the more common pronunciation (THACK-oh).

Now if only DC Comics would tell me how to pronounce "Mxyzptlk"...

Sunday Comics

Sorry, it's a Chick tract...but it's funny in it's own sad, sad way.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.ASP

Ray of Frost

The playtest wizard is a very solid character (probably my second-favorite after the cleric of Pelor). Although 5e does not appear to use the same "combat role" mentality (where every character class was a defender, striker, controller, or leader) that we saw in 4e, the 5e wizard is still a great controller.

One particularly nasty control spell is Ray of Frost. This is a "minor" spell, so it functions like a 4e At Will power -- in other words, the wizard can cast it an unlimited number of times per day. Ray of Frost inflicts no damage, but it reduces the target's speed to zero until the wizard's next turn. I love it. This spell is really going to lock down melee-only opponents, allowing the party's ranged attackers to pour on the damage while the monster sits there with nothing to do.