D&D 5E 5e - Just Missing the Mark

[Retreater]

It's the heat of battle. You need to quickly look up the rules for jumping. You look in the index. The entry for jumping says "see movement, jumping." So you have to cross reference, look at another section, go to the movement chapter, etc.
Why in the holy hell can't you just list a page number? It would take less text to put a page number than "see movement, jumping." Then you have underwater combat in three areas, no indexed rules for downing. Etc.
These are rules I have used in the past three sessions I've run. They aren't obscure rules.
The original DM screen devotes a panel and a half to random NPC generation and ideas for random things to happen. No movement rules. No sample DCs.
The quality of 5e seems to be "just enough." But it's this strange middle ground of milquetoast where it doesn't seem to do anything well. It's not rules light, and it doesn't give the DM the freedom, flexibility, or guidelines to make judgements. Nor does it provide tactical richness and definitive rules to support most situations.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Okay then.

 

[Dausuul]

Infuriatingly useless indexes have been in every edition of D&D. It doesn't feel like D&D unless I'm flipping back and forth through the books trying to find some damn rule. Even D&D Beyond has carefully preserved this through the transition to electronic form, with their limited search functionality and filtering. You wouldn't want to mess with a tradition that was set by Gary Gygax himself, would you?

 

[Ancalagon]

The Index is definitely not a strong suit of the edition.

 

[toucanbuzz]

It's why I memorize each and every rule. The illogical index and lame DM screen no longer control me. Alternately, amazon and other sites sell customizable DM screens where you can insert pages you've printed for quick reference, superior to the default screen.

 

[5ekyu]

It's the heat of battle. You need to quickly look up the rules for jumping. You look in the index. The entry for jumping says "see movement, jumping." So you have to cross reference, look at another section, go to the movement chapter, etc.
Why in the holy hell can't you just list a page number? It would take less text to put a page number than "see movement, jumping." Then you have underwater combat in three areas, no indexed rules for downing. Etc.
These are rules I have used in the past three sessions I've run. They aren't obscure rules.
The original DM screen devotes a panel and a half to random NPC generation and ideas for random things to happen. No movement rules. No sample DCs.
The quality of 5e seems to be "just enough." But it's this strange middle ground of milquetoast where it doesn't seem to do anything well. It's not rules light, and it doesn't give the DM the freedom, flexibility, or guidelines to make judgements. Nor does it provide tactical richness and definitive rules to support most situations.

I use ebooks so the index is not an issue at all.

 

[DQDesign]

I use ebooks so the index is not an issue at all.

I surely missed something. Is it possible to buy ebook files of the 5e dnd core rules? I mean offline files, not dndbeyond.

 

[S'mon]

I tend to write important page numbers in pencil on the front inner page of my books, so I can find them when I need them.

 

[5ekyu]

I surely missed something. Is it possible to buy ebook files of the 5e dnd core rules? I mean offline files, not dndbeyond.

DDBeyond
Then their app downloads for reading offline.

 

[Retreater]

Yeah. I was hoping to avoid repurchasing them. And I'm always hesitant to write in books. But honestly they feel really not user friendly.
I suppose a custom DM Screen would improve things. But why? I mean, shouldn't there be something made that's more useful?