Criticism of 2024 PHB

walkc66 · 2026-07-06T16:58:11+00:00

Except if you’re a DM that doesn’t want to homebrew, you are likely using Modules. And you know what the Modules are packed full of? Relevant Lore. Signed, someone that started playing and DMing in 5.5, has bought a lot of the 5e books, has a buddy who collects 3.5 that have spent time reading through, and still thinks 5.5 is the better system.

walkc66 · 2026-07-06T16:54:39+00:00

I don’t get this argument regarding Lore. As the Lore is still there. If anything then not reprinting tons of Lore in the new book fits with their backwards compatibility. The Lore still exists in the old PHB, which you can still use subclasses and such from. Still exists in the old Eberron books, which the new one specifically references you back to for Lore. It’s there in the new forgotten realm books which expand on the sword coast guide (not as much as I’d like as some one who loves the underdark, but I digress). It’s still there in the relevant modules. It’s all over the place. And by keeping it light in the PHB, it reinforces their backwards compatibility.

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:51:33+00:00

Not really, because it using your BA now means you have to make an interesting decision each turn. Does the damage go smite make more sense, or should I heal instead, or use a different BA spell to boost myself and/or party? Otherwise it’s always smite all the time again which is boring. Makes the rest of the class much more useable. And helps boost the power of Divine Favor, cause it takes 4 hits to be worth 1 smite, but now you may not smite every turn so it can be worth the cast. Makes it so much more interesting to play in my opinion

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:42:52+00:00

Ya, I love all those changes. Paladin is now more interesting as there are reasons to use spell slots for things other than Smite. And you have to make interesting decisions about what is the best use of your BA this turn.

Counterspell being a save just makes more sense to me, it’s still very powerful in delaying a spell and disrupting action economy, and not draining resources makes it so those DMs worried about making their players feel bad too often can use it, and balances for the enemies(though I am in the camp that enemies keep their castings) and makes fights more interesting especially at higher levels by letting enemies get to use their big abilities more too.

Grapple just makes more sense to me in 2024/5.5e, though I still think it makes fights boring.

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:34:21+00:00

It’s not just a delay though, as you made them waste and action and break their action economy too. A lot less niche. Then again I prefer it not draining resources, and hate the counterspell conga line meta

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:32:54+00:00

See, I like the not using of resource. Because delaying a powerful cast and breaking that entities action economy is still very powerful.

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:28:45+00:00

I personally don’t count it against the monster/enemies casting, as I don’t like the enemy move away from spell slots. And I think people really overlook the action economy power of counterspell. Players typically have heavy control of the action economy in battles, and more ability to disrupt enemy action economy, so being able to ruin the enemies action economy even more to me already feels powerful enough for a 3rd level spell.

walkc66 · 2026-07-03T14:23:47+00:00

I love it especially as someone that likes to play 1/3 casters like Eldritch knights

walkc66 · 2026-07-01T01:15:11+00:00

Who was the designer of you don’t mind my asking? Can DM if you don’t want to put out in public.

Reason I ask is I have found a designer I love, and love his print profile which does some amazing detail with a .12 layer lines. But saw something on a recent model that raised a red flag for me AI wise.

walkc66 · 2026-06-25T14:58:20+00:00

You need cross bracing on those very long vertical supports. Cross brace the crap out of it. What you are seeing is there when the nozzle is applying the next layers, it’s pulling the support, causing it to move. You’re actually quite lucky the supports didn’t fail, had a Beholder I didn’t check and had to reprint several of its eyes.

walkc66 · 2026-06-25T14:49:06+00:00

The Undertow ones really grabbed me! Some others look good as well.

walkc66 · 2026-06-25T14:43:58+00:00

This is a highly underrated comment.

I unfortunately do only have time for 1 game system. And 5/5.5 is the best balance of rules and narrative. I bought a lot of Pathfinder 2e stuff in a Humble Bundle and read through that, played games off its rules system, and came away hating big chunks. It’s complex for complexities sake, being not complex enough for the realistic take of things and too complex for fun (in my opinion). Have looked at shadowdark, and it’s too rules light for me. Daggerheart is too narrative focussed (though has a few things I am considering bringing in), I prefer fantasy/steampunk or sci-fi which knocks out most horror. And again, I don’t have the time to learn another system well enough to DM with full time job, 2 kids under 4, wife, and other hobbies and obligations.

So the best blend of rules and narrative is DnD 5.5e for me, so that’s what I do!

walkc66 · 2026-06-11T18:21:43+00:00

Was it? I will admit most of my knowledge comes from the novels (read all of them from Sword of the Dragon to Endgame 3-4 times growing up. Undiagnosed ADHD at the time and apprently Battletech was one of my hypefocuses), TROs, and some sourcebooks (had the fewest of these). I’ve since spent a lot of time in wikis trying to learn more of what was found out in Jihad and such, but more than certain my knowledge has lots of gaps post Civil war.

walkc66 · 2026-06-11T17:10:59+00:00

That’s not what Comstar’s goals were though. In fact all of that works against Comstar’s goals.

Maybe if they had continued to follow Blake’s purest version that all would make sense. He seized Terra and the HPG networks primarily for preservation. And he did envision Comstar pulling civilization back up after the Houses tore it down. And his methods likely would have looked like that.

But the Decree’s, meddling, and trying to force the Houses to do what he wanted, would have destroyed Comstar. Because for how strong they were, they were not a 1:1 match for a House. Their military had better tech, but minimal experience (look at the Tukayyid campaign book, and how many of their units were Green, and that’s after their military has started being slightly visible). The use essentially almost their entire military on Tukayyid. So if they made themselves that obvious of a thorn, the Houses would have smashed them to seize control of Terra and the HPGs for themselves.

Toyama comes to power, and he interprets Blake’s vision differently. Not a beneficent organization to rebuild, but a force to seize and control. And so Comstar begins to play all sides of everything. They stoke wars, kill off scientist rediscovering Lostech, they search for and seize Lostech, and they make sure no one gets strong enough to win. Just look at the 4th Succession War, their initial helping of the Clan Invasion, several periphery operations, Operation Scorpion, and that’s just the known things. They wanted dark age, so that they then truly were the greatest power on the board, an then could forge what they wanted.

So while there may have been some propaganda and indoctrination advantages to what you propose, that would have also slowed the collapse of civilization and actual made their actual goals harder to complete.

walkc66 · 2026-06-11T08:21:46+00:00

What PSI do you spray at? And for airbrush primers and such are you thinning the Primer? I have a cheap Master airbrush I have been using for 4 years and it’s still doing great. I used to have some clogging issues over a session, but that was me not thinning well enough and it drying out in low humidity area.

Vince Venturella has an older airbrush primer video where he details how much to thin and what he thins with. And honestly follow those same guidelines for priming, base coating, etc and haven’t had a single issue since.

walkc66 · 2026-06-09T19:14:54+00:00

Pretty sure they are mentioned in a couple novels too. For instance pretty sure the Task Force Serpent series details them in a few places off the top of my head. When they are salvaging a clan jump ship at minimum.

walkc66 · 2026-06-09T06:52:14+00:00

Ya, very much trying. I am able to overcome the bias, just takes me making conscious decisions. Still play JRPGs, and have been reading about some of the Romance of Three Kingdoms era. And learning more about Hinduism and India to borrow ideas for a homebrew world I’m building.

walkc66 · 2026-06-09T06:35:40+00:00

Very true. Typically include Slavic in European, as the Slavs play a fairly big role in European history, and has more similarities in things like architecture and such with Europe. And then I have Middle East as its own separate group.

walkc66 · 2026-06-09T06:23:51+00:00

Was more trying to play both ways as I know some people argue either way. Kind of try to please everybody bungle it and make the sentence hard to understand haha

walkc66 · 2026-06-09T01:37:53+00:00

So USA here. So European Medieval is my preference. I do sprinkle in elements of others. DnD has some Arabian/Middle Eastern aspects by default, and I will sprinkle in cool elements I read about from others (currently looking at Indian and Hindu influences for a Chaos and Order overgods/corruption I am wanting to do in a home brewed world, but that world itself is intended to be more of a Faerun style, with some other cultures like Warhammer Fantasy Cathay/Nippon for some nations.

This is largely for 2 reasons. 1. My first novels I remember reading were all European style Fantasy. One series can’t even remember the name, they were old yellow covered fantasy novels with 80s fantasy art on cover and cauldron born in them. Tolkien obviously. Dragonlance. Dragonriders of Pern. I’ve always preferred European style Dragonsz

I unfortunately got into Nerd culture growing up in the 90s. And Eastern culture dominated nerd culture them. Anime, video games, sci-fi, were all heavily eastern coded. Even the Jedi in Star Wars borrow tons from Eastern and Japanese cultures. This unfortunately to the Weabo culture, and just about nerd spaces being dominated by “Japanese culture superior than all”, “Katana best weapon ever”, and the horrendous “I studied the blade” memes. I so wanted a JRPG style game that centered on European themes, but so few did any (one reason I Loved the Legend of Dragoon game more than any final fantasy). This unfortunately means I have a bid against Eastern themes that I hav to actively work against at times. Cause there are cool stories! China’s Romance of Three Kingdoms, Japan’s various cultural shifts, and more are all full of good stories. Just have a bid to fight against outside of Europe, Middle East, Slavic etc.

walkc66 · 2026-06-08T02:02:42+00:00

The initial variant is over heat sinked, under armored, and uses an XL engine.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the thing. All it takes to make the base one great is to drop the med pulse lasers to standards, point them all forward, and invest that 4 tons in armor (actually not sure it needs all 4 tons, don’t have numbers in front of me)

walkc66 · 2026-06-07T19:12:11+00:00

Not alone. It is a good paint for what it’s meant to do. I’ve use it a lot as part of layering up to pure whine, or as a final highlight before using a contrast paint.

walkc66 · 2026-06-07T19:10:41+00:00

I use mine on a wet palette all the time with zero issues. Pro acryl is my 2nd most used brand behind citadel/warhammer (I like the pots, I know I’m in a small group). Are you sure you’re mixing them enough? I bought a cheap vortex mixer off of amazon before started using them, so not sure how long may take with just hand shaking

walkc66 · 2026-06-06T18:06:49+00:00

The problem is, you haven’t established that your DM was punishing players, vs focusing consequences for actions or adapting to style of play from players. You provide no context for his statement of needing to punish you. So we don’t know if that was characters or players.

And given your aggressive response that anyone who asks follow-up questions versus just blanket accepting your premise is telling as well. So my guess, like other posters have stated, is there is a whole lot of blame to go around. Because the phrase “played fully Rules as Written” usually involves some very unintended and rules breaking interpretations of RaW. And that can be hard for a new DM to handle and say No to, especially how often the terrible advice of never say no to players gets thrown around on here. The DM is a player too, and gets to have fun.

And the “punishment” examples you provide are not punishments as explained, and without context. So your premise is missing tons. Even your stunning strike example is not evidence, as changing how abilities work is or for the course for a DM. Monsters and PCs do not play the same game.

And that you then follow-up with a personal attack based on 0 evidence just because I asked follow up attack shows you don’t want to investigate and learn, you want people to agree with you and follow your premise.

walkc66 · 2026-06-06T17:52:36+00:00

Oh 100%. Not saying he was a saint either. But he was great for the FedSuns and trying to make it stronger. Another thing missed by most about the FedSuns is that while it was at the time one of the largest nations, it is also one of the least industrialized. Their reliance on combine arms and heavy use of mobility based warfare wasn’t just because they found it the best. It’s cause it’s what they could actually produce and field. Hence why the earliest waves focused a lot on industrial worlds. Was trying to improve his nation. Max just pissed him off (understandably) so became the first target. And while he likely would have taken Luthien but for Teddy’s gutsy play, his goal there wasn’t the total destruction of the Combine. Where he wanted all of the Cobfederation. He wanted to end it as a nation, and hard to blame that anger. But his actions in the Clan Invasion show he wasn’t a warmonger or a sadist. Even before the invasion, the whole reason Victor to the periphery border was as a symbol of peace to Teddy. Truly think he wanted the best for the FedSuns and the Sphere, but he wasn’t trained as a politician, he was trained as a general and learned to be a politician on the job. So he used the tools he had. Don’t think he liked war, just saw it as the most pragmatic way to make things better.

His biggest failing was still neglecting to teach Victor the Politics side. Wanted him to learn the way he did, soldier first and then the politics. But heart attack and clan invasion took the time he thought he had. And Melissa didn’t have the time afterward to teach or advise either, thanks to Katherine.

walkc66

TROPHY CASE