Mike Mearls

A designer for Wizards of the Coast who became lead developer for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition in 2009 and co-designer of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, before Monte Cook did what Monte Cook does best and quit in a huff right at the finish line. The "fighter's advocate" meant to counterbalance Cook's infamous " wizards da best, knuckleheads go home" tendencies.

Most fa/tg/uys would say he is batting .500 as 4e is generally regarded as a mistake and 5e appears to have achieved tentative acceptance on /tg/. He made a deal with Tzeentch to create the putrid Essentials line but everyone likes to pretend that dark time never happened. He was also the lead designer of The Book of Weeaboo Fightan Magic which, in what appears to be a theme for his work, produced a roughly 50/50 split of acceptance and RAGE among fa/tg/uys. This book was basically a predecessor to the 4e "martial fighter" philosophy so you can blame him for that too if you are so inclined.

His stated design philosophy is inspired by the first few editions of the game, which found expression through 5e's many "throwback" game mechanics, and the Essentials line's pared-down design. Again, take the good with the bad. He's also been writing the incredibly well-recieved "Unearthed Arcana" articles on the offical website, offering new game mechanics and ideas, plus discussions regarding the results of the monthly the official surveys, making him the friendly face of 5e's new "we're actually giving two shits about what you think" policy. Regardless of opinions regarding the quality of his work, everyone agrees that's a pretty cool thing.