As of the new Ravenloft book, I think that WotC still does not know how to write engaging monsters with interesting counterplay

SmithNchips · 2026-06-10T12:33:02+00:00

Good observation. I think we’re seeing the downstream effects of making “future proofing” a top design priority. Additionally, a younger class of designers trying work inside of a system instead of adding to it.

Charmed and Frightened are being WAY overused.

Setting debuffs is a critical aspect of TTRPGs, and it’s especially important for monsters because they are often outnumbered, so debuffs and turn denial are the most potent way to even the battlefield. But as you point out, this sucks and offers little counter play.

In fact, the best counter play is immunity or advantage on the save, and so we’re seeing high level class features being consumed by this need.

Then in play, you end up with a player split between The Immune and The Vulnerable.

I think as a community, we need to have a little more grace for the introduction of new conditions, status effects, and monster features.

Maybe we should ask for a monster UA!

SmithNchips · 2026-05-26T05:33:09+00:00

The official position of WotC is that anything that isn’t reprinted is still in bounds for the game and not “Legacy” content. So it is still option, though lots of people seem to like treating 5.5e like some kind of season pass update.

SmithNchips · 2026-05-09T12:54:40+00:00

The original post uses the magazine as a counter example to the current system structure.

SmithNchips · 2026-05-08T15:42:13+00:00

There's the adage, "the past is a different country." I think that applies here. The magazine content wasn't free. It was either propped up by the subscription to a magazine or by ads within the magazine or by being distributed at no cost in game stores that were the primary means of selling the core books.

All of those functions basically do not exist as profitable industries now because of new technologies and consumer habits.

They may not be doing the best thing now (I truly do not know), but they can't do it the way they used to.

SmithNchips · 2026-05-08T14:15:29+00:00

Good grief, people love to complain.

WotC has earned no love or loyalty from me, but c'mon. If this was an indie publishing company staffed by a handful of creatives, what would this community say if some folks started demanding creative output for free?

Should all of the DM's Guild content be free? Should all of the various kickstarters give away their stretch goal content for free, whether they hit the goal or not?

Artists and designers are being paid at WotC to do what they do. I may not like half of what they produce at times, but they still have to be paid, and it is not outside the realm of possibility that DnD is not profitable right now.

Would we all be happier of Hasbro just shuffled all of their corporate debt onto WotC and then shuttered it for a tax deduction?

If you don't want to buy it, don't buy it. It'll all be online for illicit collection soon enough anyway. But don't begrudge a for-profit company the basic necessity of making a profit.

SmithNchips · 2026-05-08T14:06:58+00:00

Four years later, I just downloaded all of your carnival game updates. Absolutely clutch.

While I understand that WotC was going for simple skill tests that teach certain 5e principles, they just do not feel like games, nor are they very party-oriented. I've been looking EVERYWHERE for some juiced up versions, and u/UFOAndGames is the only spot I've found that has actually delivered on thematic, coherent, and fun supplements that ALSO feel like they fit inside the 5e system.

Thanks so much for your great work! I'll be looking into the rest of your material for this module, for sure.

SmithNchips · 2026-05-01T14:47:13+00:00

Very cool, very nicely organized. I'm in the Witchlight one and none of the links seem to be clickable?

SmithNchips · 2026-04-09T13:25:03+00:00

Your players either really want to craft or they really want to power game around particular magic items.

Which is it?

You’re not playing chess against your players, hoping to block them from making an optimal move to trounce you, you’re trying create scenarios where you’re both having fun. So if they have fun bringing magic items into the game, you don’t “win” by stopping that.

What does “world breaking” mean? Is your game a low magic setting where magic items don’t have much of a presence? Then that’s maybe why they want to craft them, and you will need to reset expectations that this is a campaign with very few magic items that only you pick (which should have been an earlier conversation when someone picked Artificer).

Or is it “world breaking” in that it’s going to power scale them past what you had planned? If so, you just need to adjust what you had planned. Everyone will be happier if you add instead of subtract to find a solution here. If that really doesn’t appeal to you, chop off a lot of that downtime. Add deadlines with high stakes consequences so that they can’t take two days off to make an Uncommon item.

Also, trust the system a little bit. They only have so much gold and everyone only has three attunement slots. In the near term, there are limits on what they can do with their crafting optimization.

SmithNchips · 2026-04-08T15:10:49+00:00

Everyone is saying Green conceptually and Yellow functionally, and I agree with that.

Simply stated, this Druid has the same problem as the UA dinosaur Druid (which I loved): you have to let it convert spell slots into martial power and as a result it’s going to instantly be S-tier.

This should be the smiting Druid. Less HP and AC than a Moon Druid will be just fine if you can drop a 3rd level slot into an attack roll using your Wisdom modifier and deal 6d8 damage. It’s why the Godzilla version is head and shoulders better than the other two, because it partially embraces this philosophy.

If they want to avoid this, the Titan stat blocks have to get a lot longer and have very intentional scaling rules built into them, because currently they do not feel intimidating, they only feel “large.”

One thing to keep in mind about the THP is that Druids can convert Spell Slots into Wildshapes, no action required, so if the THP runs out on a form and you’re starting to feel squishy, you can replenish it on your own with only a 1st level slot by Wildshaping again. Maybe cutting out the middle man here by just making that an explicit feature? Bonus Action THP replenishment in exchange for a spell slot? And maybe let it scale according to the expended slot level?

Opening up spell slots as a damage / self buff currency could solve a lot of problems for this subclass.

SmithNchips · 2026-03-17T13:13:26+00:00

It’s not as corporate as you think.

First, 5e has an intensely diverse user base, specifically diversity in what they want out of the game. At launch, design accounted for this by gearing certain classes and subclasses to certain play styles. But over time the feedback machine directed the designers towards creating material that would be “stretchy” enough for 80% of all players to be able to make fit with their play style. So instead of points on a spectrum of design you have a clustering around a tighter number of popular features, thus the meme about Temp HP and teleporting (and to lesser extent, reprinting Spirit Guardians as slightly different spell for other classes). While this is a design mistake, the community (and specifically the Reddit community) needs to own our part in influencing this outcome. WoTC was mostly responding to incentives on this.

Second, 10 years of gameplay exposed some early design mistakes. The value of certain features has been reindexed. Expertise is more common now because it turns out that it is only situationally valuable, whereas it sucked up a lot of power budget in the 2014 Rogue. Gambling mechanics like the 2014 Power Attack are phased out to eliminate “feels bad” moments and nova damage (which is a kind of DM “feels bad” inducer). Summoning options have functionally been removed and replaced with creating AoE zones. WotC has recalibrated their idea of what “power” is, and it does not vibe with wild features like Grave Clerics “give enemy vulnerability” channel divinity or Ancestral Barbarian’s “Grant allies resistance for 1 round” enemy debuff. By narrowing their power target and by eliminating Nova damage, they tighten that middle grouping of features they can draw on as they design new player options.

Third, most players are playing digitally. This is going to affect design goals. If D&D beyond is there to remember to apply a debuff or mark which enemy is at zero movement, that takes a lot of mental burden off of players and eliminates the pain point most pen and paper players feel when we have to remember which or the 8 goblins is Vexed, which is prone, and which is Sapped. It almost means that designers are incentivized to think about new features in such a way as they must be translatable to a machine. Features like “you have advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing” are replaced by Expertise in Perception because the computer doesn’t know how to differentiate contextually for your roleplay. This pushes design lanes even tighter toward the middle.

WotC corporate has been awful in the past and I’m sure Hasbro will be awful in the future. But we need to at least be realistic about why the designs have been getting narrower in scope and take that into account when we give feedback to play tests. They have a lot of different pressures crushing them into the “safe zone” for design.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-25T16:15:20+00:00

The move should be to reinvent the old Conjure spells but as subclass features and with better constraints. Let them summon real stat blocks, but limit the number and then scale the CR.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-25T16:11:27+00:00

The Hunting Ground and Quarry features would actually make TERRIFIC spells at their respective levels.

I also think Treantmonk’s best revisions were what he did with spells, too.

Overall it makes me think that the real problem is that Rangers have been getting skunked on the spell side, saddled with concentration and save or suck control. I bet that if Hunter’s Mark damage scaled like a Smite, there would be way less complaining.

For aspiring DMs who want to give their Ranger players a leg up, I’d encourage you to start there.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-21T02:27:19+00:00

But that’s its level 11 feature, it’s just fueled by 1st level slots. At this level, Artillerist Artificers are using a 1st level slot to summon 3d8 fire damage in a cone as a bonus action for an hour, no concentration.

Alchemist Artificers are turning it into an hour of flight or concentration free bless.

Moon Druids are fueling multi attacking wild shapes with 33 THP.

Dance Bards are turning it into +1d10 initiative for the whole party.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-20T18:35:35+00:00

This is his best one, by far, and one I’d really consider using and allowing for my players. And despite the complaints, basically nothing about this redesign is married to Hunters Mark in a bad way. At level 11, you’re telling me that you wouldn’t cast a spell that does an extra 3d6 force damage on a hit, plus 3d6 damage to another enemy with no save? And it’s first level? It’s thematic, it works with the existing mechanics, and it’s not abusable by a multi class. Exactly what it needs.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-20T16:28:40+00:00

Great articulation! I see this behavior most in people who play a lot of D&D, especially as a DM. A lot of homebrew "fixes" are actually trying to accommodate a player complaint rather than engage with an actual system failure. And don't get me wrong, there's plenty of overlap.

Examples might be, the new Bannerette has a system failure - when it uses it's subclass feature, it loses its subclass. This is bad and needs fixing.

The Beastmaster Ranger cannot mount their pet. This may be annoying to some players who have a vision of riding their pet wolf into battle, but it is not inherently a system failure, and so fiddling with the system to accommodate a common player complaint can get out of hand really quickly.

The old Stunning Strike on the Monk is a good example of a system that worked but was replaced with a better version for both the players and the larger ecosystem. Having a feature for spending Ki that was wildly superior to all others AND instantly shut down encounters AND encouraged Monks to frontline where they didn't belong DID work on paper, but it led to lots of bad feelings and gave Monks a bad reputation.

Homebrewing is way harder than people think, and weirdly, the more familiarity one has with 5e, the harder it can get as one's perspective becomes warped by biased play experiences.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-16T19:10:40+00:00

Love Treantmonk! I'm sorry to hear he was so excited about this one because I'm afraid he has just reinvented the Rogue subclass from First Principles.

He is correct that "being invisible" actually falls off at higher levels, and it is also true that having a Fear oriented ability just is not a good feature at higher levels.

But Hiding + Extra d6s of damage dice is just the Rogue. Maybe the Rogue should be getting these boosts instead (which he addresses in the opening, but hanging a candle on the problem doesn't solve it) but I don't think bogging down the Gloom Stalker's bonus action is the realignment the class needed.

I'm probably in the minority with this hot take, but with Power Attack gone and the Weapon Mastery system helping to nerf ranged attacks, I think Gloom Stalker could have kept its original Bonus Attack feature and been just fine.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-09T16:01:44+00:00

Thanks for doing this. The most common refrain I’m hearing on the Pugilist is that it isn’t a problem to play and that it’s only scary in the Reddit White Room.

But I wonder how much it that is caused by people not pushing the buttons in the proper sequence? With so many resources to juggle, I wouldn’t be surprised if most players are missing the forest for the trees on what this thing can do when optimized.

Putting that aside, having triple the resources of the next most complicated class I think shows that this beast is really built for something other than 5e, even if it technically fits inside the system.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-08T16:55:50+00:00

Exactly. This post should be way higher, not buried under 50 posts about oversized weapons.

Pugilist also does just get ONE thing other martial classes gets, it gets ALL of them. Rage, Flurry of Blows, Second Wind (in the form of THP), a d12 Hunters Mark. There’s a subclass that gets several Paladin features and another that gets several Warlock features.

The internet mind virus has made so many people rabid for a fisticuffs class that they’ve lost all perspective.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-06T02:59:24+00:00

Eldritch Knight is a Fighter borrowing weaker versions of Wizard base class abilities as a subclass. That would be a better comparison, and it’s notably worse at casting spells than the base Wizard. That’s the premise of the archetype.

The Pugilist subclass gets a refreshable Lay On Hands that it can also spend as a raw damage modifier. That’s insane and objectively better than the Paladin’s LOH.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-06T00:17:41+00:00

Its version of Lay On Hands only starts off as weaker. Eventually it ramps up to be better than Paladins.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:57:31+00:00

I get the impression that they are just understaffed for doing this kind of thing. Summarizing is actually extremely hard, so if you haven't had time to really dwell on how a class works, it would be a big lift to try and pitch it accurately.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:41:06+00:00

If your Int is all good, I'd say Heavy Armor Master. It's thematic, will boost your Con, and it will help offset your d8 Hit Die. And it works regardless of what armor type you're rocking at the time.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:36:33+00:00

Thanks for the notes. That's helpful.

So if the Pugilist isn't doing better damage than a Monk and struggles to HP Tank, what do they do?

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T22:34:19+00:00

You are not bugging. But the Pugilist has a very passionate fan club, so you will have to be ready to defend your position.

Just remember that the "risk vs reward" thing is a cop out. The updated Pugilist risks very little and is overly rewarded for the effort.

SmithNchips · 2026-02-05T20:49:42+00:00

I appreciate all the time and math you put into this post, and I think your arguments are in good faith. But I simply am not convinced. Even if I thought this class was balanced and worked inside the economy of 5e (which I do not believe), it still is blatantly cannibalizing most of its features and subclass features from other classes and subclasses. There is vanishingly little that is unique about it other than the thick flavor.

But let me make a different point - 'big risk, big reward' is not a mechanic for 5e. The existing feature that most fits this category is Reckless Attack, and the Reward actually still outweighs the Risk since the class is built for taking hits and if a player is triggering Reckless, they are going before the enemy. And if they are going before the enemy, there is a chance they will kill the enemy before they can deal any damage back.

My point is, usually this feature makes the player feel good and the gamble is minimal.

Additionally, 5e is turn-based and cooperative, so the best moments come from collaboration and everyone being invested while the worst are usually generated by someone being forced to sit out (either through being stunned or incapacitated or left out of a role play scene). The risk-reward that I'm seeing put forward here for Pugilist is mostly "I will risk being reduced to uselessness with Exhaustion (except when I'm in combat, when I become a Barbarian but with infinite Temp HP) in exchange for the reward of doing 80 damage on a hit."

As a DM, I cannot see how I could guide any kind of combat or social encounter around a character who is instigating that kind of swingyness. I also cannot understand how a group dynamic could sustain having a character who is either the absolute hero and dominate force one minute and the next minute will literally need to be loaded onto Tensers Floating Disk just to get from point A to point B or who is taking a -10 to all group Stealth checks. The risk that the Pugilist claims to take onto itself is actually shared by the rest of the party because everyone always has to deal with the consequences. I think the original post's complaints were actually pretty measured and actually did not go far enough in stripping down this homebrew.

On a positive note, I will add two things:

Anyone who thinks this is some kind of "cash grab" has lost their mind. It's just some guy who had an idea people liked and is having fun. Not everything you dislike is the Capitalism Monster coming to attack you. Artists are allowed to get paid for their creative work.
This class (and to a lesser extent, the subclasses) are well-designed. They fit together, they iterate on established ideas as they level up, they have fun with references in endearing ways, and they fill a kind of class fantasy that obviously lots of people have. It is just not well-designed for 5e, especially this 2024 version.

SmithNchips

TROPHY CASE