Fastball Special

D&D's new Giant Barbarian has massive talent, but it shouldn't be the only one who can do a fastball special.

Avoiding TPKs

What is a TPK? Why do they happen? And what can we do to prevent them from happening at our table?

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.

Do Changelings Power Creep?

Eberron's new Changeling is the first class that can start with an 18 ability score at level 1. Although this "power creep" doesn't mean the class is unbalanced, the answer to rebalancing the race within the existing design paradigm may lay within cut content.

Casting a Bonus Action and Reaction Spell on Your Turn

The bonus action spellcasting restriction in 5th Edition D&D can keep you from casting a reaction spell on your own turn. Why is this? Was it intended? And how can we rewrite the rule to alleviate this quirk?

Movement Effect Size Caps

Should effects which manipulate the movement of a target be limited by size? We examine the narrative issues and give you a simple rule that fixes them by employing size caps.

Oath of Secret Knowledge (Paladin)

Once upon a time, a character came across a shrine deep within an abandoned Dwarven stronghold carved deep into the Iron Mountains. Struck by reverence to the shrine of the lost deity Dumathoin, he knelt and prayed. So his character changed forever. I worked with the player to create a Paladin subclass devoted to the … Continue reading Oath of Secret Knowledge (Paladin) →

Breath Weapon Dice Pools

Torching the whole party with a dragon's breath weapon is one of the most fun moments as a Dungeon Master. How can we tweak this rule to have greater control over its power and establish ludonarrative harmony?

Speak Your Secrets

Metagaming is one issue we encounter in tabletop RPGs. Players have their characters act on player knowledge that their character does not possess. A DM's defense against this is to gently remind the player to act within the confines of character knowledge.

This can lead to an overcorrection where every time a single PC finds out information, the other players ask "do you tell us that?" Any time a strange routine like this becomes habitual, we should streamline the process.

Design Tips: Trap Features

We used to build characters a different way. Back in 3.x, the splat got so numerous that you were practically forced to "work backwards from 20." In other words, you would build your ultimate character concept and work backwards to see what you needed to take at each level. For example, failure to properly plan … Continue reading Design Tips: Trap Features →