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BerylBrightshade

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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

This Week in D&D www.wizards.com

April 21 at 1:54pm
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2 / 340

Timmee

Pondering the direction of skills. I asked myself what skills would I say I possessed in my life. Sadly, I can only think of two exemplary (Carpentry and Performance - day job vs. aspiring actor). My conclusion is this:
*Skills are vague in most cases - Looking at Perform (not a listed SKILL in this iteration as yet), obviously there are many types of performance (Dance, Oration, Acting, Painting, Sculpting, etc.). So it seems to me that a general Skill (ARTISTRY) can represent a sub-skill...

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April 28, 2013 7:48 AM PDT

Jhaelen

I've come to hate feats. They have this annoying tendency to 'bloat'. The worst kind are the ones granting fiddly conditional bonuses. Just replace all of them by templates that grant a set of abilities that work well together. THis also eliminates the need for system mastery, another thing I've come to dislike.

June 8, 2013 6:48 PM PDT

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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

This Week in D&D www.wizards.com

April 7 at 8:12pm
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2 / 286

moes1980

Umm, in my last session my level one party encountered a band of orcs. I went through both my magic missile spells, one of them empowered to do maximum damage, and I only killed one Orc. Granted, my first casting was split my missile between three different orcs (as they all were already damaged by a fire trap) but didn't kill a single one despite the fact that they were each already hurt. My second cast used my daily feat to empower them and two missiles hit one Orc and killed him, and one...

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May 11, 2013 7:54 AM PDT

moes1980

Maybe what they should do is have "classic" advancement, which is more of what we are used to and then "official advancement" for use in dnd encounters and living campaigns, as i suspect that's what is behind this move any way. Then people can chose. That could work but it involves not singling out the fast track approach as the default or "right" way to play.
I know this for sure, it will fail miserable in its goal of attracting old school players back into the fold if they read that the...

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May 11, 2013 8:59 AM PDT

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BerylBrightshade is feeling...

Mood: frustrated

March 15 at 8:40pm
BerylBrightshade added a comment to wrecan's blog post.

Secondary: Proficiencies
This is the fourth in my series of articles detailing a completely modular...

October 7, 2012 at 10:44am
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BerylBrightshade

This is great! I like how it uses basically the bones of every system for "skill aquistion" that has been presented in the different editions over the years, but presents them as options. I especially like how you're taken the concept of subabilities from skills and powers, and mixed it with a 1st edition/playtest compromise style check bonus.

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October 7, 2012 8:44 AM PDT

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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

Magic Systems in D&D Next wizards.com

October 7, 2012 at 9:55am
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2 / 195

MorghulKale

Ummm...why not just keep it simple, ala the original 1st or second version of the AD&D game. I see it far too often that the issue is trying to be over complicated, or trying to overdefine the mechanics instead of the story. There were a bunch of additional appendices with the second edition that were there for DM's to utilize, so in essence i'd leave it up to them. Keep the system as it is, or was....

October 17, 2012 12:08 PM PDT

Sir_Kraemer

Because not everyone likes Vancian magic. I personally prefer spell points, because it provides a way to limit the power of spellcasters while, for me at least, it makes it a bit more fun to play as.

October 24, 2012 1:28 PM PDT

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September 24, 2012 at 7:48pm
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September 24, 2012 at 7:46pm
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BerylBrightshade posted a new blog post.

Okay, Maybe we could bend the power curve a little
I'd like to start tonight with an apology to 30 or so people who have...

September 19, 2012 at 10:01pm
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BerylBrightshade posted a new blog post.

Wizards that cannot make rods, staves or wands?
I watched a lot of GenCon footage last weekend, and I swear that a WotC...

September 10, 2012 at 9:13pm
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BerylBrightshade posted a new blog post.

Wizards always losing ground
I'm not as active as many on the forums and comments, but what little...

September 5, 2012 at 8:46pm
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wrecan

In my experience, the kinds of restrictions you mention do not make the party a "team". Instead, all the other party members become centered on shoring up the wizard's defenses. Because the wizard's attacks are often the most potent, all the other party members concentrate on making sure the wizard can get that potent attack off. This can create "sidekick syndrome" where the party tactic is "How can the rest of us help the wizard shine" rather than "How can we all help the team shine"?

September 6, 2012 7:44 AM PDT

BerylBrightshade

and saving your wizard friend does not qualify as shining? I think there is a lot of attacking and being "out front" that goes with shoring up the wizard's defenses, there no room to shine there? Or do we need a phrase that includes "most" to shine, such as " I did the most damage" or "I killed the most bad guys" if that is what shining boils down to I guess I'm playing a different game.

September 10, 2012 5:44 PM PDT

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BerylBrightshade posted a new blog post.

I Want Cool Magically Bonus Effects
Still on the topic of playing wizards, how can being one of the most powerful...

September 9, 2012 at 10:31pm
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Mood: grumpy

September 5, 2012 at 9:22pm
BerylBrightshade and Dafich are now friends.

September 5, 2012 at 9:20pm
BerylBrightshade shared an article.

RPG Design Philosophy www.wizards.com

September 4, 2012 at 6:14pm
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2 / 310

Selvarin

Yes! that is correct--perfect balance is a myth. I remember a while back when one game designer was trying to justify the penalties given to a wood elf (FR) because they received bonuses to STR/DEX. According to him it was 'unfair' because physical trait bonuses were more of an advantage, therefore 2 INT, WIS, or CHA points had to be deducted for each. Some races or classes have more advantages than others (in some people's eyes), the trick is to break them down to their essence and get rid of...

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September 16, 2012 7:04 AM PDT

nukunuku

One additional thought: please keep in mind that you can't "patch" a game like D&D like you can patch a computer game, since many people purchase physical books. You can't really run errata each month and expect someone to keep up with it all, or to even know about it. One problem with the previous edition was that there were so many substantive, core-rule changes that the books became worthless within months. Please don't do that to us again.

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September 19, 2012 8:39 AM PDT

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Mood: indifferent

August 21, 2012 at 9:30pm
BerylBrightshade shared an article.

The Scaly Things www.wizards.com

August 21, 2012 at 9:08pm
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2 / 90

Otherworldly

I never liked Kobolds as reptiles, I always preferred the dog people from 2e. Otherwise to barrow from Palladium, I like the idea that kobolds are smart, very smart.
I'm fine with the other two.

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September 4, 2012 2:56 AM PDT

Gnome_DePlume

I prefer that mermaids be considered fey. They fit that charm-the-mortal feel to them.

October 1, 2012 8:32 PM PDT

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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

Playtest Packet Two www.wizards.com

August 15, 2012 at 12:16pm
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2 / 419

Kayal

No problem. :)

August 27, 2012 5:36 PM PDT

StephenT

Overall our take on the key features missing from clerics is stronger linkage to their patron diety. It is the real defining characteristic of the cleric and indeed the Paladin, that they are earthly representatives of a transcendant power.
To keep things simple keep the core spells but up power the domain or domains and/or add a Dedicated to XXXX patch, or specialty that includes additional follow in the divine path options. Our local games have a strong sense of the presence of the...

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September 14, 2012 3:59 PM PDT

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August 5, 2012 at 6:40pm
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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

Monster Creation in D&D Next www.wizards.com

July 28, 2012 at 4:22pm
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2 / 148

JHKroll

''Goring Charge: On its turn, this creature can use its movement to move at least half its speed in a straight line and then use its action to make a special melee attack. This melee attack is a gore attack (+4 attack, 3d10 + 4 damage). If it hits, the target must also make a Strength save (DC 12) or be knocked prone and, on its next turn, the target cannot use its movement to do anything other than stand up or crawl.''
instead of
''Goring Charge:
+4 ataque vs CA
Hit: 3d10+4...

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October 22, 2012 3:53 PM PDT

jLonny

So far, being a player and DM of the playtest, I like the direction DnDNext is heading. I see a lot of good debates as I have also played since I was 10 to 12, and now 40, so I can respect the angst at what may come. I will say this though. 4e was simple to set encounters for simple beat downs of the monsters if you didn't modify and add a monster or two. Sometimes, even more. Maybe when the system first came out, it was different. However, once many variations of characters, the many many...

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December 8, 2012 6:38 AM PST

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BerylBrightshade shared an article.

Fighter Design Goals www.wizards.com

July 17, 2012 at 10:04pm
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2 / 383

throneworld

One thing about #6 that I find strange is the notion of "If the fighter can get close, the wizard's dead." That seems to be the angry old-school consensus, along with the related "If the wizard can keep the fighter at a distance, the fighter is dead." Whatever happened to "I ready my bow and shoot him in his eye"? Why should a fighter's ranged attacks be less deadly than his up close ones, if he is truly versatile (#4 above). I admit, I do love the idea of balance across classes so I never...

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June 17, 2012 12:49 AM PDT

BerylBrightshade

I actually totally agree a high level fighter should be able to hit a wizard with a bow attack, its just that on average arrows do less damage than heavy weapons since you don't get your str bonus unless you have a special bow, and this would mean it takes 3 or 4 rounds of arrows (whatever) to take down the wizard outright, giving the wizard hope of escape (teleport). I posted the earlier comment purely in response to #6 above suggesting that a high level fighter should be close to immune to a...

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July 17, 2012 8:04 PM PDT

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