CommentHey Mike, I was wondering if there will be any more expansion of the topic of Tharizdun and his role in creating the Abyss? His lore is one of the most fascinating parts of the D&D universe yet I can find very little information regarding him.
It’s a little tricky, because that’s world material that’s applicable to the Dawn War setting, rather than D&D as a whole. I expect that if we do more with that world, we’d go into a little more detail on him and his background and plans. from discussion AMA: Mike Mearls, Co-Designer of D&D 5, Head of D&D R&D.

Take many naps. Eat nachos whenever you can but not so often that you become the guy people know as the dude who eats nachos at every meal. Roll many natural 20s. These are what is best in life.Comment from discussion D&D AMA with Mike Mearls and Chris Lindsay 1/15.

Hey Mike wanted to hank you for all you’ve done for us. Love this edition. I have some questions not about mechanics but about you.
1.) Whats your favorite class to play? 2.) Whata your favorite setting? 3.) Whats one moment that really sticks out to you as a player? As a DM?Rogue or wizard.
Greyhawk.
As a player, first one that springs to mind is an epic fight we had in 3e playing through Forge of Fury. The ogre on the first level had us on the ropes, but a few lucky crits won the day.
Some adventure, running it in 5e. Overconfident druid uses shapechange to crawl down the chimney on the first level, blows multiple checks, is discovered by the orc guards, stands and fights while the other PCs rush to his rescue. The rest of the group arrived just in time for the ogre in the adventure, with fighter levels I added, arrive and drop two greataxe crits on him.Comment from discussion AMA: Mike Mearls, Co-Designer of D&D 5, Head of D&D R&D.

Comment from discussion [AMA] Mike Mearls, 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer.

Comment from discussion [AMA] Mike Mearls, 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer.

Comment from discussion I played and enjoyed 3rd Edition (and 3.5), but 4th Edition left a bitter taste in my mouth. The game felt like a tabletop MMORPG, which is not what I’m interested in.
Since then, I’ve moved on to Pathfinder. Why should I now consider looking at 5th Ed.?5th is designed from the ground up to account for everything we’ve learned about RPGs in the 14 years since 3e launched. Those lessons are expressed both in the design in the rules and will be apparent as we start to roll out the product line.
The biggest thing, IMO, is that 5th focuses a lot on delivering similar depth of play as the d20 system with a much more compact, easier to grok, and easier to handle system.
For instance, let’s take designing NPCs. In 5th, we don’t assume that NPCs need magic items. Feats are optional. Skills are either a thing you have or you don’t. If you want to make a 10th-level NPC fighter, it takes a sliver of the time as it does in d20 because those details are no longer necessary. As a DM, you can delve into them if you want, but you don’t have to.
That philosophy is infused throughout the system. We’ve basically taken out hoops you had to jump through or elements of the system that evolved into barriers.
As another example – all characters now have a basic competence in two-weapon fighting. We eliminated the default penalties and the multiple feats needed to become good at it. Instead, we simply balanced core TWF against sword & board or two-handed weapons.
In essence, the game is built to move quicker, get results faster, and work in a compact manner that makes it much easier to mod or take apart.
Hope that helps!AMA: Mike Mearls, Co-Designer of D&D 5, Head of D&D R&D.

First, thanks for being so active in responding to questions! Great AMA.
I’m also a long term gamer – picked it up with the red box back in 1978. I’ve played a lot of games (and I’m a Runequest nerd at heart), but I’m very happy to see the new edition. I just picked up the PHB and the MM to join a friend’s new campaign!
My question is about process… The playtest was fascinating. What feedback surprised you from it? What are some changes you all decided to make that you weren’t expecting?Biggest surprise – people loved complexity out of combat, and generally disliked it in combat. That ran counter to what we expected. I really thought we’d see a big call for a much fiddlier core combat system, but that never happened.
Unexpected change – I love the proficiency bonus, but there were some of us (including me!) who thought that people would not be happy with a single progression. The feedback showed us that people loved it. It was a happy surprise.Comment from discussion AMA: Mike Mearls, Co-Designer of D&D 5, Head of D&D R&D.

Comment from discussion [AMA] Mike Mearls, 5th Edition D&D Lead Designer.