Why DMs Are Banning Silvery Barbs

Find out why DMs are banning Silvery Barbs before its even released in D&D's new Strixhaven book.

D&D: The SADdening

Examining D&D's added ability score flexibility and how the SAD/MAD balance affects characters.

Changing Spell Damage Type

Players piloting spellcasters often want to swap out damage types for thematic or mechanical reasons. They might think that a fireball is cooler as an ice explosion. Or, they might want to swap a lightning bolt to fire to keep a troll from regenerating. How can we implement this mechanic in an exciting way for 5e?

The Gunslinger Misfire

Examining the Gunslinger's Misfire mechanic as a cautionary tale for importing character options from other games. Why to never base a class on a "critical fumble" mechanic.

Passive-Only Skills

Are there skills which should only function as passive skills? How passive-only skills can align player:character knowledge and assist DMs to plan ahead.

Gunner feat for Spellcasters

The Gunner feat has replaced the Crossbow Expert feat as the prime feat for martial blasting.

Blade Cantrip Changes

Examining the updates to Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade and their new interactions with metamagic, feats, spells, and class features.

Lucky Death Saves

Exploring how 5e's dice manipulation features affect your odds to survive death saving throws.

That Broken GWM/SS “Fix”

The most notorious feats in 5th Edition D&D are Sharpshooter (SS) and Great Weapon Master (GWM). These feats are considered the most powerful because of a mechanic they share in common. Yet, a common "fix" to nerf them does not have the intended result! Let's run the numbers.

Variant Human War Caster

As a follow-up to last week's post comparing the War Caster and Resilient (CON) feats, let's take a look at how the numbers shake out if you're playing a Variant Human or in a campaign where your DM lets you have a free feat at level 1.