D&D 5E What can be dispelled?

[Nebulous]

I remember a while back someone posted about wanting an annotated Player's Handbook filled with designer sidebars and clarifications about what they intended as the rules were written. In cases such as this, i would LOVE to see another edition of the PHB filled with little clarifications and examples that have accumulated over the past year +.

 

[iserith]

This doesn't logically follow. If the DM isn't beholden to the rules in the book, then why should he or she be beholden to prior rulings?

Because how the DM rules is the basis for players making decisions in fictional situations that are exactly the same or substantially similar in the future. That is why the DM should be consistent with his or her rulings in my view. Those rulings may or may not be based wholly or in part on the rules as written.

From the player perspective, both situations are identical - you think you know how things are going to resolve, based on your prior understanding, but the DM decides to do it differently and you had no way of knowing this beforehand. As a player, you're essentially flying blind, because you have no basis for guessing how any action will resolve. And with no way of knowing that, you don't have enough information to decide which actions you should or should not take.

As I mentioned above, if a player has seen his or her character's dispel magic work to counter the succubus' charm, then the player should expect that it will work that way the next time a succubus charms his or her companion. That may not be so with regard to a vampire's charm because the monster is entirely different. I personally would rule it works in both situations; however, I would not carry that expectation with me to someone else's game. I would try to recall lore first to see before casting the spell, if that was feasible.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I would try to recall lore first to see before casting the spell, if that was feasible.

That's a solid piece of advice, at least.