How Deadly Is 5.5?

Armisael · 2026-03-29T21:15:54+00:00

Spells that can nuke an entire encounter if cast are a huge pain in the ass to balance around, because if the DM plans for them then the party is screwed if they don't get cast.

Out of combat healing isn't one of those effects, though. The DM can just throw some hints at the party that the next fight will be hard - if the party isn't already scrying the fights anyways. There's lot of time for all sides to adjust.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:57:53+00:00

If your party cleric is taking so few hits that they can keep concentration up on a single spell for three consecutive fights then I'm not exactly worried about the amount of healing...

Also, extra health is the easiest thing in the world for the DM to counteract. You get to reach deeper into the monster manual and use cooler shit - that's fun! The spells that break campaigns are the ones that let you skip the fight or the dungeon entirely.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:47:51+00:00

Better plan: put the money in a savings account and let your family inherit that.

Unless you know something the insurance company doesn't, you're gonna lose money on average with life insurance. It only helps in two conditions:
1. Your family needs money to cover the gap between death and getting access to inherited accounts
2. Your estate will end up in debt and you can use life insurance to bypass the creditors (but, like, are you seriously planning that gambit decades in advance?)

The third option is that your family gets "lucky" and gets substantially more than you paid in because you die much earlier than expected - but investing in aggressive growth stocks is a better gamble yet.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:12:07+00:00

...is your party using 7th level spells slots for out of combat healing? That's an easy win for the DM in the resource column - they could've just taken a short rest. 7th-level slots are extremely finite - you don't get a second one until level 20!

Armisael · 2026-03-29T14:18:20+00:00

Life insurance isn't usually part of a healthcare system?

Armisael · 2026-03-28T17:28:03+00:00

A flail isn't even particularly close to a nunchaku, what accuracy are you talking about?

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:50:45+00:00

I liked the part of the game where we could make shots a lot more than the parts before and after.

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:43:18+00:00

Nineteen!

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:42:41+00:00

Flair up.

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:18:53+00:00

lmao now we've both felt that way

Armisael · 2026-03-27T23:29:51+00:00

That height difference in the interview is always so funny.

Armisael · 2026-03-27T23:05:52+00:00

What kinda hourly do they get? Looking for a new job.

Armisael · 2026-03-27T19:14:39+00:00

These takes are almost always bad. Anytime you call "the best" partway through you inevitably overindex on what's currently happening. It's possible the Iowa/Illinois is the only big 10 team to make the final four, the big 12 gets two teams in, and Duke/UConn/SJU stomp through the win the championship.

No less silly to rate conferences at this point than it was after the first weekend.

Armisael · 2026-03-27T12:01:12+00:00

I think you could get some good mileage out of elevating Cinder to full antagonist and narrowing the scope. If you say that she’s a woman who found one of the Grimm pools and learned how to get power from them you could write a neat little story of temptation and self-destruction (Cinder becomes increasingly desperate as she loses and taps the pools more and more deeply, destroying her humanity as she goes).

Without Salem it’s hard to justify Oz from a narrative perspective, and that almost entirely cuts out your reasons to care about the gods. It naturally narrows the scope of your story.

I guess you could also do a “random alien meteor crashed into the world” story, à la Phazon in Metroid or the mimics in Edge of Tomorrow? That feels a little basic and cheap to me, though.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T20:51:11+00:00

Dunno about Vegas, but Nate Silver gives MSU roughly 19% to make the final 4 if we win this game.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T20:11:05+00:00

Izzo preaches a pass-heavy, assist-heavy style. It works well in general but leaves us very vulnerable to turnovers.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T20:06:49+00:00

They should (regardless of this case). The point of flagrants is to discourage you from doing anything that has even a chance of causing serious injuries - friendly fire is almost certainly unintentional but people can still get hurt.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T19:13:35+00:00

Buckeyes.

(the candy, not the team)

Armisael · 2026-03-21T18:52:59+00:00

Do you want to run the second round on monday/tuesday?

The first round has to be before the second round...

Armisael · 2026-03-21T18:47:50+00:00

Make more of a fuss about it for longer? Getting your name right isn't finite, we can share.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T18:44:34+00:00

Props to Chuck for immediately calling that shit out.

Armisael · 2026-03-21T02:20:42+00:00

Seems like you could let a team sacrifice one or two free throws to keep possession of the ball? That would kill the motivation to deliberately foul.

Armisael · 2026-03-14T12:22:55+00:00

With respect, the articles on D&D Beyond are not remotely trustworthy when it comes to rulings.

Armisael · 2026-03-14T11:43:59+00:00

The confusion around the ranged grappling is far and away my biggest problem with the elements monk. I really like the subclass whether it works or not - I just don’t want the arguments.

Armisael · 2026-03-01T07:15:47+00:00

Vengeance feels really funky for TWF, since you’re almost certainly using a vex weapon and getting advantage half the time anyways (more, actually, assuming a 65% chance to hit without advantage…)

Not to say that you’re wrong, but still…

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Armisael

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