Stanford


Stanford

About Stanford

Stanford is co-owner and lead designer.

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These Monday Dumps are supposed to be an opportunity for us to get an opinion off our chests, maybe even vent about something bugging us in the rules. So, of course, I get to do none of that today, because one of our readers’ comments spiraled Dad and I into […]

Weekly Dump, Vol. 5: Connective Magic – Why Project Arcana ...


So, we’ve finished analyzing the individual schools, now what? We’re going to finish Phase I by completely reorganizing the spells in each school based on the underlying magical mechanism of that school (i.e.: Life = Vitae, Energy = Evocation, Mind = Enchantment, etc.). So, we need to start building the […]

Project Arcana: Abjuration (Neutrum) Spell List


It feels good having finished the first big step of Project Arcana’s Phase I, which was a series of articles breaking down the schools of magic. We’re hard at work on the second half of Phase I, which will, hopefully, only take a couple weeks. In the meantime, we’re pleased […]

Project 2050



If you’ve been following along with our Project Arcana work so far, you know that I’m not super happy with the way the powers-that-be have decided to sort the spells. That’s okay, we’re fixing that. However, while some of the organizational decisions are somewhat baffling, none are more so than […]

Weekly Dump, Vol 3: 5e Healing Is Borked…


Well, I’ve done it. This is my final article of the school breakdowns for Project Arcana (next week’s Divination piece is all Dad). I’ve got to say that it’s been a roller coaster of hatred, frustration, and sheer bafflement. Ultimately, I keep asking the same question: “Oh FFS, why!?” Transmutation, […]

Project Arcana: Transmutation


Ah yes, the “dark art” of Necromancy. Why the quotes? Because once upon a time, the Necromancy was also a school that dealt with life, not just rotting undead things. However, let’s not put the cart before the horse. Here’s 5e’s description of the school: Necromancy spells manipulate the energies of […]

Project Arcana: Necromancy



So, Conjuration, one of the most basic concepts in all of magicalness. Conjuration, as a literal term, seems to exist in nearly every fantasy magic system. It’s been in D&D forever, Magic The Gathering has a card for it, The Elder Scrolls has a Conjuration school, and even World of […]

Project Arcana: Conjuration, Take Me Away!


So, let’s make this official. Good morrow friends! Legendary Pants is proud to announce Project Arcana, our efforts to improve the magic of 5th Edition D&D. Really, this project is the brain child of myself (Matthew) and my father, Shawn. We have long complained about the ad hoc and seemingly […]

Project Arcana


As part of our efforts to overhaul the magic school system in 5e (Project Arcana), I’m going to take this time to discuss Abjuration magic. Currently, Shawn is working on a similar topic of discussion involving the Illusion school, though you can read his take-down of the singularly potent spell […]

Project Arcana: Why the Abjuration School Makes No Sense



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Yeah, it happened, my group converted to 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Here’s the upshot: it’s pretty damn amazing. That’s not to say we were disappointed with OSRIC. Though our updates to this site waned about halfway through, that campaign went on for the longest stretch of levels of any of […]

Goodbye OSRIC, Hello 5th Edition!