D&D General What's your best D&D tip (50 words or less)

[GuardianLurker]

Also - it seems that a high proportion of the advice here is GM-focused. Interesting...

Player focused advice?

Always be polite.

Know your character sheet.

• Be aware of what's in your inventory. This isn't about keeping track of encumbrance, but remembering what you have.
• Don't let unidentified items remain that way any longer than you have to.
• For spellcasters, you shouldn't need to look up your commonly cast spells at all. You should know what fireball does, its range, area of effect, etc. without having to look it up.
• Again, for spellcasters, when you acquire access to a new spell, read its description as soon as possible. You don't need to memorize it, but you should at least review it once.
• If you have feats/special abilities, know when they apply. ESPECIALLY if they are conditional effects.

DON'T lose your temper at a player or the GM.

If your rule discussion with the GM persists longer than a few minutes, and critically after a ruling has been issued, STOP. Bring it up after session.
* As a subset of this, if you are a GM who is playing under another GM, realize that his rulings may be different than yours. Even if it's blatantly, severely wrong, discuss it AFTER session.

 

[Mort]

On the DM side:

Keep things moving. Both from an action perspective and a game perspective. If there's a dispute, decide and move on, hash it out after the game.

On the player side:

I'll second or third the following (a version has been said a few times):

Be prepared. Know your character well enough to act promptly when it's your time to do so.