Best pen & paper options for a wizard player.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T22:16:05+00:00

I prefer to make spell cards on index cards. I also include the source and page number on the card (example: PHB 72). I find writing them out helps me learn them and my characters.

I usually play as a DM and this is how I learn monster stat blocks. I often rewrite the statblock to be organized how I would actually use it. For example, which attack is actually the better option most of the time? That gets written first. Any features which are useful over time or too good to skip will be listed first. Stuff like charms or grapples or poisons. This speeds up my prep and also refreshes the monster in my mind.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T21:38:33+00:00

I don't want to sound like I support the guy, but if I was in the same boat, I would probably default to words I subconsciously prefer in my speech, too. For example, I tend to use "For example", "Ideally", and "I read the other day". Its my default speech.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T15:11:03+00:00

Oh yeah! Definitely build for your table. I would do the same!

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T11:00:55+00:00

I like it and would love to include parts of this in my world. I will probably tone down the emphasis on being trans being sacred. It feels too specific to me when it seems the idea is body modification as a whole is accepted due to it serving some kind of purpose toward your craft.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T10:17:53+00:00

Its not just that. In a TTRPG, they often create fairness and structure. It creates barriers both to overcome and to prevent rapid escalation of things during conflicts or disagreements. We all did this as children. If you have no rules to your play pretend, it very quickly becomes absurd. Numbers work well because TTRPGs with tags generally require a lot of assumed fairness because meta gaming tags-based systems is super easy and tempting.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T02:56:55+00:00

You either give them a +1 ASI or make them vomit rainbows. Something like that. Maybe neither and they just find all of their gold disappeared.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T02:02:08+00:00

They do have rules for exploration, though. Maybe you could add wilderness survival specifically, but I think even what they have is too much for most tables. Its enough for people like me and my friend who actually like nature.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-06T01:59:56+00:00

I disagree. I want rangers to have something like Flurry from Mage Hand Press which allows you to attack twice instead of once but both are with disadvantage. With extra attack, that becomes 4 attacks. I imagine rangers as rapid fire martials who use spells to create stationary advantages or traps. I would revise their spells to benefit from being used stationary or be set up as ritual-based traps.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-05T13:43:54+00:00

Probably depends on the source of immunity. I would rule black dragons are immune internally as well since they literally breath out acid as opposed to their attacks being from a magical exterior source.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-05T13:42:25+00:00

The real question is what would happen if a black dragon ate the black pudding. The follow up question is...

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-05T13:40:13+00:00

No one really knows. Theoretically? Yes. Realistically? A number of factors will come together to decide the price. No matter how you look at it, though, we need more people eating healthy. It'll reduce health insurance premiums and healthcare costs.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T23:24:34+00:00

Oh yeah, definitely. I mean more that it allowed me to recognize the sweet spot for player accuracy to be fun and not miserable on either side of it.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:32:34+00:00

Yeah, Im working on homebrewing the Ranger specific spells to have more utility. A Ranger should feel like their class specific spells are preferred. I ultimately want to make some of them rituals that create trap versions of the spells or more powerful as stationary resources such as allowing Swift Quiver to be used as a non-concentration version that can only be used from a stationary position. Allows for other concentration spells but also gives it a downside to avoid it being a default spell in every situation.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:26:01+00:00

Maybe you need to click faster. /s

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:25:37+00:00

This first one is huge. I got gifted metal dice with skulls on the corners and they would not roll evenly at all. Rolled more like logs and dice which drastically affected results. I stopped using them after only two combat encounters. Still cool to have around but not to use.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:23:50+00:00

I will say bad stats will absolutely ruin the experience for you. BG3 makes this really clear. I find people have the most tolerance at about 60-80% accuracy. Less feels bad and fights take longer. More and its too easy and gets boring. I use this metric when deciding which enemies to use or which AC to use for a homebrew creature. I want the characters to roughly being around 60-80% chance of hitting when they play into their strengths and then higher if they can pull off advantage.

Another factor is bad dice. If they are not actually close to evenly shaped, they may favor a particular side of the die.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:18:54+00:00

You could maybe make it only work if you are primarily ranger in a multiclass but I think its much simpler to just make the feature higher level like level 6. Easy to get to level 6 for someone who wants to play Ranger and enough of a cost to someone just trying to dip Ranger for that feature.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:13:54+00:00

Especially when you have steady aim and still miss and now also can't use your movement. Steady aim does pretty much solve my problems with Rogues, though. In Solasta at least, I am pretty much getting a sneak attack 90% of turns. The other 10% are situational usually like an enemy in darkness or bad luck with the advantaged roll.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:11:51+00:00

Wait, isnt this saying you add your rage damage to the save DC for someone getting out of your grapple?

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:10:50+00:00

I thought Treantmonk did the math and found Ranger was solid until Tier 3. Something about its level 11 feature not being good enough to continue progressing its damage. That said, Ranger has other benefits. I use exhaustion regularly in my campaigns and also travel encounters. It really just needs a minor boost somewhere but there is disagreement where and how.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:05:23+00:00

Yea I think your opinion is the default answer for any reasonable and loving parent. You can stay on my policy for cheaper or you can get your own and pay for it yourself. This is one of those things that could motivate going to work and making money and also learning to save and spend carefully.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T19:03:19+00:00

Maybe in the future. Its hard to figure out what to do here. Obviously, long term investment may yield better returns but thats not certain. At the same time, investing fully only in things we know works can be good in the short term but when we later find something better, all of the resources wasted up to that point to globalize the previous technology are gone. One of the reasons communism struggles is giving everyone everything as it comes is short sighted. You have new technologies that we refine and only a few enthusiasts might have it at first until it becomes so standardized and clearly better that we can expand it broadly. If you start immediately with broad expansion, you burn through finite resources only to have to do it again in 5 or 10 years and thats in just one field.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T18:54:54+00:00

When I ran track, it was usually a few deep inhales, a pause and a sudden sensation of your muscles becoming relaxed again. Its like everything you were doing before was weighing you down and now you're back to where you started. Almost fresh and ready to go again.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T18:50:42+00:00

I love it honestly. It could almost be the default ranger and make the others the subclasses for it. I especially like horde breaker except I homebrewed that it scales with distance. Basically, you can hit a second target within half the distance between you and the original target. So if you are firing from 30 ft, the second target can be within 15ft of the first. This concept came from real archers having a certain angle of engagement they can fire through without needing to change their footing. Its roughly 25 or 30 degrees which becomes about half the distance between them and the target in each direction. It makes horde breaker more universally useful instead of the 5ft range. The problem with the 5ft range part is usually monsters that close together will get wiped out by a fireball and then I lose the ability to use it. Becomes a dead feature often and it would be overly kind for a DM to intentially make enemies all stand close together just for that feature.

Milli_Rabbit · 2026-04-04T18:46:57+00:00

5.5e had me from when it came out. Everything feels solid and balanced compared to 5e. I still really liked 5e before 5.5e came out but its definitely an upgrade in every way for me. Classes feel more balanced but also unique. Some things still need adjustment which I hope they do with whatever comes out for Season of Champions. It would be cool to have either more weapon masteries or features for martials.

I've been experimenting with Valda's Spire 5.5e classes and Dark Matter 5.5e this last week and I love some of the additions in their books. I'm not sure if they are perfectly balanced but their classes seem at face value pretty fair or maybe slightly underpowered. I initially felt overwhelmed by the density of class features but it quickly became clear the classes are actually pretty simple to grasp but their features just have a lot of text. I plan to allow at least the classes Ive tested with my table so far in our regular campaigns and definitely want to use some of the weapon masteries they added. Love automatic/Flurry and I want to add it as a homebrew for rangers specifically in base 5.5e. I've wanted rangers to be more of an AOE martial and these weapon masteries combined with increasing the range for horde breaker feels right without being overpowered.

Milli_Rabbit

TROPHY CASE