Interest Check: Character Creation Mechanics Podcast?

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Would folks be interested in a podcast focused around making and planning characters from a mechanical perspective?

[gfishfunk]

Yes, if it also covered the RP aspects or it had some episodes with making an RP concept into a mechanically viable character.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

I would start by walking through each class in turn, but that seems like something that could happen later on down the line.

[Tentreto]

Quite possibly, if, as previously said, it covered thematic ideas being translated into mechanical ones. Though making a character for a role is also interesting.

EDIT: Gah, Ninja seems to be a class here...

[DeAnno]

I think the pure mechanics alone could be interesting, provided you do some fairly original work or research and don't just parrot commonly known facts. 5e isn't particularly big though, so there might be a bit of a dearth of material; you could definitely do a review of UA every time it comes out with regards to how the new material might be used though.

It might be good to focus on builds that are strong across the whole 1-20. Pigeonholing builds at a certain level is a common thing and it tends to be more useful to have something that can work now and later both.

Focusing on the utility of various options like spells, class features, and defenses compared to the monsters that exist could be good. There has been some work on average AC/saves and resistances from the monster manual in the past. For example I think I remember seeing somewhere that Strength saves are surprisingly common in the monster manual, so that is a good encouragement towards Strength as a secondary save and non-dumped Strength.

I would try to avoid shoehorning in roleplaying elements in an attempt to please everyone. If that was your original intent, by all means you should, but an objective mechanical discussion strikes me as quite divorced from the type of characters who make Half-Orc Wizards because it fits their story.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Great feedback--not sure I'm going to go quite as far as DPR analysis (both because 5E doesn't lend itself as well to that yet and because I promise hearing someone read off a spreadshert out loud is really hard to make interesting), but looking at the work of the community in terms of new ideas is definitely on the table.

I also do want to give a voice to the discussions within our community. A really great example--and please don't use this as an excuse to restart the argument here--is the dispute over the power of Great Weapon Mastery. I have my own opinion on the matter, but I'm more interested in letting the more casual listener (in both senses) know what the general ideas of the community are.

[Gtdead]

If you want to make a dpr analysis, make it about white room vs in game experience.

Since you gave GWM as an example, people argue about the mechanics of that feat. Like that it's good against mooks but not against stronger enemies.
How it really works in your game though. Situations where it becomes obsolete versus situations where it completely breaks the game.

In my last session, there was a fight against 3 very tough enemies. They had 14 health, 11 armor, +5 to hit and we were level 1. I really wished someone had invested on SS or GWM for this fight because we had to hit them multiple times for them to die, while any hit with GWM or SS would kill them one shot without even using the weapon damage die. One of them tanked 3 firebolts from the sorcerer and was still alive. He had to cast a sleep so we could protect our npc.

Something like that.

[Lavok Rammstein]

Yes, yes, yes.

I love play though podcasts but I would love just a discussion podcast on mechanics, character creation.

I love what Nerdarchy does, but they need to put their youtube videos in podcast form.

These guys, https://orclabs.com/, did something great and kind of fell off the face of the earth.

Other than that, I haven't found much that I like.

[Burley]

Actually, my friends and I are working on a podcast exactly like that. After a fashion... Not every episode is devoted to that, but we're funny and fairly knowledgeable. Feel free to send me a PM and I'll let you know when we get our episodes back up.

It's good to see that there is an interest in the concept, though. I'm gonna relay this to my partners.

[tsuyoshikentsu]

These guys, https://orclabs.com/, did something great and kind of fell off the face of the earth.

I was partially inspired by them.

I am almost certainly going to go through with this. I am, however, going to wait until the next UA comes out, as it should have mechanical options in it if the pattern holds.