Comic - Sparkles

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Sparkly vampires never made much sense to me. It isn't just the doomed romance bad boy element of the story. That makes sense. Messy and somewhat tragic love triangles have been around since the time of dreaming during midsummer nights in faerie forests. 

What gets me is the hook behind so much of the story. Keeping the existence of vampires a secret and preserving what amounts to a renamed masquerade. Except... because the lore is so different, no would would recognise them. If people in a sparkly vampire world saw a sparkly vampire their first thought wouldn't be "hey, there's a vampire" or "omigod, it's an undead monster, kill it." 

I imagine the actual reaction to seeing a sparkly vampire might actually be a little more angelic in nature. Any remotely intelligent sparkly vampire would use that to their advantage. "I descended from above but lack the vitality to remain in your world... without help."

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Comic - Family Values

I try not to edition war too much. Emphasis on the "too". I have my preferences but have been rolling dice long enough to know that if the group is good the system is largely irrelevant to the fun. I've had a great time with Palladium. Not just fifteen years ago back in High School (I was young and didn't know better), but also in the last five years.Admittedly, there are limits. And sometimes the tension points of the game system with steer the narrative in certain directions to avoid the flaws of that system. But fun can still be had. If my current players came to me as a group and said that they wanted to switch editions or try a new game I'd probably go along with it because, at the end of the day, I just want to spend time playing imagination games with friends. 

Still, I spend a lot of time on forums, if only to get ideas for future strips. And the tension on the message boards can get pretty bad. The past five years have been pretty nasty and divisive for the fanbase. It's the oilphant in the room, the subject WotC is fairly quiet on. 

It always strikes me as a little like the Republican/ Democrat split in the States. Only if the disagreements were limited to the voters and the two Parties regularly golfed together and exchanged members.

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Comic - Bacon?

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So you're waving around a long four-foot length of metal with a grip that just *might* be wrapped in a thin layer of leather mostly to prevent slippage. And then magically the aforementioned big chunk o' metal just starts on fire.
That just raises questions.

If the sword is cauterizing the wounds it inflicts, is it less effective than a non-flaming sword? Do you need to get a special sheathe for a flaming sword? Is it still hot after you turn it off? What if the wind is blowing towards you? Can you parry effectively with a flaming sword or is the blade softer? If the entire blade is fire, can it parry at all?
I can think of less scary cursed swords.

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Comic - Reflavoured

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One of the things 4e did that I'm really, really hoping 5e does not was "hold back" content. Classes and races were kept behind the curtain for a year until the second Player's Handbook and Name monsters were  not released until the third Monster Manual. From a business perspective it makes sense. The later books have a more important feel and seem less tacked-on content. But being able to play the character you want is the difference between buying and playing the game and sticking with an older edition.

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Comic - Might

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I like that giants in D&D Next have a more restrained strength compared to 3rd Edition, where their numbers went up and up. But 5th Edition are getting a little close to a problem we ran into in 4th Edition.

Because stats were based on level, giants often didn't have that much more strength than their medium-sized opponents. A frost giant was rocking an impressive 23 strength, but a human fighter three levels lower would be giving him a pinkbelly with his 24 strength. A hill giant (level 13) had a pathetic 21 strength, likely matched by the 4th level human fighter. In both 4th Edition and Next, carrying capacity is simplified for easy math, it's your Strength x10. However because of the difference in scaling,  a large-sized creature weighs 2x2x2 times a medium-sized one while a huge-sized creature is 3x3x3 times heavier. According to the 3.5e SRD a storm giant weighs 12,000 pounds while the cloud giant weighs 5,000. They'll be struggling to life their own body weight.

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Change your bookmarks and keep reading (but I'll continue to post here as well for the first month or so)