D&D 5E Some Gems I Have Forgotten In The DMG

[doctorbadwolf]

The DMG is a dense book, full of options, tables, and sundry rules and particulars, so it's no surprise most folks tend to forget some of this stuff is even in there!

Here are a few that I was surprised to be reminded of recently, that I'll be putting a printable document soon in order to avoid forgetting them again, and to incorporate them into my games.

First, Laser weapons.

The pistol deals 3d6 fire damage, has a range of 40/120, and can do 50 shots before needing to reload the energy cell.

The Rifle is basically the same but 3d8, longer range, and more shots per energy cell charge.

so, the basic blaster weapons from Star Wars Saga Edition! With how beefy 5e PCs become at even tier two, I see no reason that these weapons shouldn't be perfectly reasonable for a simply deadlier space-faring game, or for a space opera game wherein the heroes start with extra HP equal to their Con Score?


Add to all that how easy it is to tack on a simple modification or two to a weapon and make it a "magic weapon", with things like extended range, X/day charges of extra damage, different damage types, or even just "Stun setting. As a bonus action you can set this weapon to deal non-lethal "stun" damage. When you do so, damage that reduces a creature to 0hp still renders them unconcious, but does not cause them to be dying." and oh hey you've got most of what you need to Stars War in DnD, as far as the non-jedi weaponry goes.

Next up, special combat actions!

Mark. This is really fun. Requires hitting the target, so it's not like your rogue can just OA every creature on the field and deal full sneak attack damage every turn, or whatever, but it does allow a "tank" to be "sticky", especially combined with other existing defender options. Why don't more people use this? It's even more effective in the hands of a fighter than anyone else at high levels, but also allows Barbarians and Paladins, the other two classic defenders, to really punish enemies to who try to circumvent them, all without giving up other reactions like Protection Fighting style.

Disarm, Shove Aside, Overrun, and Tumble. I love these, both in their simplicity, and in how they are great examples of just extrapolating existing rules onto a mechanically similar situation.

Cleave. I love the basic idea here, but I do kind of hate the implementation. In my games, after level 11, we simply say that your overdamage carries over to another creature within your reach or range. Done. If that mows through 6 zombies in one attack, awesome! Tell me what that looks like!

What about y'all? Any gems you feel are underused and underrated in the DMG? Any items in the DMG tht are close enough to great that you've made a simple change to get the most out of them?

 

[Weiley31]

Cleave. I love the basic idea here, but I do kind of hate the implementation. In my games, after level 11, we simply say that your overdamage carries over to another creature within your reach or range. Done. If that mows through 6 zombies in one attack, awesome! Tell me what that looks like!

I like to think that the DMG Cleaving rule would work wonders/be awesome to use with the minions from Flee, Mortals!

 

[Ondath]

The social interaction rules in pp. 244-5. For a long while, I thought 5E offered no guidance on social encounters, which led me to running them as "Roll whatever check seems to be appropriate to what you're trying to do, and if the number seems good enough to me you'll succeed". But the rules provide a really nice base on which you can build a quite robust social encounter system that feels natural. You've got the three basic attitudes as well as the DCs that would be needed to get someone at a specific attitude to do something. Add to this some makeshift rules for giving advantage when the party plays into an NPC's traits/ideals and you've got 90% of what you need to run actually good social encounters. In fact, the only thing I added to these in my own games was a 2d10 Reaction Roll system from older editions, and that's only because I couldn't be bothered to think of a starting reaction for each NPC they met, so rolling felt easier.

Also, +1 on the expanded combat maneuvers. Tumble, Climb Unto a Bigger Creature, Disarm, Overrun and Shove Aside are always allowed in my tables (and in time I added the Bind and Gag maneuvers to disable spellcasters - though it's a lengthy process to avoid trivialising spellcasters), though the players never seem to think of using them grumble grumble

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Wait. We are supposed to read the DMG?

 

[cbwjm]

The DMG is far better than many give it credit for. Some of the things I found in the book which came in handy were:

• Social interaction rules
• Morale rules
• Guns

I've learnt to crack open the DMG first when I wonder about a specific system.

And of course, the DMG has the basics for things like factions, guilds, and piety that appear in more detail in later books like Ravnica, Theros, and Eberron. It really is a great book and was worth the purchase.

 

[Parmandur]

Wait. We are supposed to read the DMG?

Only WotC shills read the DMG, Real Fans just wing it and complain that WotC didn't bother finishing the game. /s

 

[Weiley31]

You know, if you use the Marking rule from the DMG (page 271 or 272 I think), you can pretty much mark multiple enemies in "one strike" thanks to the Sweeping Attack combat maneuver. Marking doesn't "require" an action technically so any Battle Master or Squire of Solamnia feat users can do such a thing if they have said Maneuver.

 

[pukunui]

Marking is the only one of the additional action options from the DMG that I don't allow. Not that the others get used much, but I refer to them on the odd occasion someone wants to tumble, disarm, jump on a large creature, etc.

 

[JEB]

We used Disarm, Tumble, the Injuries rules, and the Massive Damage rules. Cleaving Through Creatures was also integrated, but as part of a custom feat.

We also used the example Eladrin and Aasimar from the DMG, and stuck with them past the release of the full-fledged 5E incarnations (since they diverged quite a bit).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The social interaction rules in pp. 244-5. For a long while, I thought 5E offered no guidance on social encounters, which led me to running them as "Roll whatever check seems to be appropriate to what you're trying to do, and if the number seems good enough to me you'll succeed". But the rules provide a really nice base on which you can build a quite robust social encounter system that feels natural. You've got the three basic attitudes as well as the DCs that would be needed to get someone at a specific attitude to do something. Add to this some makeshift rules for giving advantage when the party plays into an NPC's traits/ideals and you've got 90% of what you need to run actually good social encounters. In fact, the only thing I added to these in my own games was a 2d10 Reaction Roll system from older editions, and that's only because I couldn't be bothered to think of a starting reaction for each NPC they met, so rolling felt easier.

Great catch! I’ll read up on that more next time I’ve got some time!

Also, +1 on the expanded combat maneuvers. Tumble, Climb Unto a Bigger Creature, Disarm, Overrun and Shove Aside are always allowed in my tables (and in time I added the Bind and Gag maneuvers to disable spellcasters - though it's a lengthy process to avoid trivialising spellcasters), though the players never seem to think of using them grumble grumble

Climb Onto A Bigger Creature is a perfect example of how most of this stuff is just extrapolation of what’s in the PHB. It’s just a grapple check, but turned to a slightly different purpose. But pointing it out reminds players of what they can do.

The DMG is far better than many give it credit for. Some of the things I found in the book which came in handy were:

• Social interaction rules
• Morale rules
• Guns

I've learnt to crack open the DMG first when I wonder about a specific system.

And of course, the DMG has the basics for things like factions, guilds, and piety that appear in more detail in later books like Ravnica, Theros, and Eberron. It really is a great book and was worth the purchase.

Absolutely.


Another thing I’ve started to extrapolate from the existing rules is that most Battlemaster manuevers, and special moves from feats, are things anyone can do. Tripping and disarming are already good examples. You can disarm someone without being a fighter, you just can’t disarm someone in addition to the normal effects of an attack and then get a damage bonus to boot.