D&D 5E As a DM what spell / ability do you find most annoying?

[Eltab]

My DM hates goodberry - and probably create water by now - because of how readily it circumvents the need for food.

That whole page in Tomb of Annihilation about 'the germs in the water' is NOT pleased.

 

[Mouseferatu]

As much as I love paladins and almost everything about them, I could really do without the saving throw bonus granted by their aura. With a good Charisma, it can come very close to an "everyone saves against everything all the time" button.

 

[jgsugden]

The PCs are heroes. They're supposed to have abilities that make them heroic and powerful. A DM should not hate it when the PCs have an ability that makes it easy for them to defeat some villains tactics - it is something that should be celebrated.

You can't steal from PCs because they have locate object prepared? Cool. They get to cast a spell, track down their stuff and be heroes.

A druid turns into a super powerful bear at low levels and rips apart your goblins? Cool. That is heroic.

The monk charges in and stuns a few bad guys long enough for the PCs to take them down? Again, cool and heroic.

Your job as a DM is to provide challenges that make the heroes feel like they are achieving something great. It is not a "DM versus party" challenge. It is a DM creates opportunity challenge.

 

[fil512]

Your job as a DM is to provide challenges that make the heroes feel like they are achieving something great. It is not a "DM versus party" challenge. It is a DM creates opportunity challenge.

I agree with most your points. I think what some of the DMs are talking about here is restricting narrative options. D&D is an exercise in collective story-telling with extra emphasis on the DM contribution to the story. I love it when players burst out a novel way to use a spell or ability to overcome a challenge. After every session, I publish a “Play of the day” to celebrate such moments.

But when it’s the same trick over and over again, it can get boring and undermine the DMs narrative options. Want a villain to run away? Too bad, the Moon Druid Dire Wolf will always outrun him. Want to build a story around finding clues to locate an ancient artefact? Some spells rule out that option for a story. For me, it’s all about the ability to collectively create a rich story.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

A DM that chooses 8 pixies when the druid casts Conjure Woodland Beings has no one to blame but him or herself if it "breaks" the narrative. Just don't pick pixies, right? Or better yet, do let it be pixies in a situation where it would be cool. Then... you as DM decide if that would be fun for the table to repeat... if not, Blink Dogs it is!

But when it’s the same trick over and over again, it can get boring and undermine the DMs narrative options. Want a villain to run away? Too bad, the Moon Druid Dire Wolf will always outrun him. Want to build a story around finding clues to locate an ancient artefact? Some spells rule out that option for a story.

I'm sure you can figure out a way to foil the Moon Druid Dire Wolf if that trick is being overused. For example, the second or third time it happens, bad guy might have Cloak of Woodlands and lead Moon Druid Dire Wolf into ambush where he gets whacked a few times, perhaps even knocked out, by the bad guy's friends before rest of party can catch up. Or bad guy had secretly cast Haste upon herself during parley before running. Or bad guy is actually 15th level monk. Or bad guy has speed of 55ft, just because the DM says so. Use sparingly. Let the PCs feel heroic most of the time.

For me, it’s all about the ability to collectively create a rich story.

Agreed. But if a player is spamming the "auto-win" tricks, they might actually have different goals. Speak to them in private if it is ruining the fun for all at the table - maybe it isn't the table for them.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Oh, I dunno, 8 Pixies that each cast Fly on a different member of the party is a handy way to get around / over the "dangerous flimsy bridge over lava" obstacle.
Even if it DOES take 30 minutes of IRL time to resolve the combat when the bad guys on the other side attack us in frustration that we aren't already crippled upon arrival and all strung out in penny packets.

Seriously: My current Yawning Portal group effectively nerfed an important chunk of White Plume Mountain with a swarm of pixies and (afterwards) a swarm of mephits. There aren't many monsters that can take focus fire from Team Hero plus a cloud of extra attacks that swoop around just out of reach.

I always make the assumption that if PC's are flying, it really means they want to fight a flying monster and I just can't deny my players anything like that: oh come guys, it is only a gargoyle, barely a challenge for your group, it is not like it likes the taste of pixie or anything......

 

[Uller]

Damaging cantrips that allow low/mid level parties to defeat the signature abilities, resistances or immunities of iconic monsters....like sacred flame shutting down vampire regeneration or acid splash vs trolls.

 

[Volund]

I hate the Sharpshooter feat. I see a certain type of cheesy player drawn to SS, smugly doing massive damage from the safety of the back, but acting like you have it in for them when some high AC monsters teleport right next to them and they have to actually fight in melee, or when your NPC archers have SS and target them for return fire. GWM players at least know they are giving up a shield and are going to take their fair share of damage.

 

[jgsugden]

...But when it’s the same trick over and over again, it can get boring and undermine the DMs narrative options. Want a villain to run away? Too bad, the Moon Druid Dire Wolf will always outrun him. Want to build a story around finding clues to locate an ancient artefact? Some spells rule out that option for a story. For me, it’s all about the ability to collectively create a rich story.

You mean, The Moon Druid always outruns the villains, heroically catchingvvthem before they flee! Or the powerful wizards use their arcane powers to solve even the most complex problems!

PCs gain abilities thatvtrivialize certain challenges. They do so over time, and they generally do so in ways that are limited (can the low lever moon druid outrun a flyer) or come at a level where it is time to outgrow certain challenges (do you need high level PCs flumoxed by the location of an object)?

And PCs do not have the opportunity to grab all of these wonderful abilities. Being able to cast locate object comes at the expense of being able to prepare a different spell. Nearly any type of reasonable challenge can be trivialized by an 11th period party, but no party can trivialize all challenges. They pick what they do well.

As a DM, I try to build my adventures agnostic to the powers of the PCs. Then I go through the adventures to make sure the PCs have one or more techniques to solve each problem. If I recognize that they have a capability that trivializes a problem, I ask myself if the bad guys would know of the party abilities and try to counter those abilities. If not, then I figure out how to make their inevitable use of their abilities as awesome as possible.

Superman is bulletproof. However, the authors of his comics did not stop having bad guys shoot him because it had been tried before and failed. They have him shot, constantly, because it is heroic for him to show off his abilitiy to ignore bulets.

 

[Shiroiken]

The only times I've been really annoyed as a DM, was by Hero's Feast when the party went to face Lolth (whom I'd statted out to deal mostly poison damage).

In general, I don't like Revivify, because I feel it takes away the fear of death way to early in the game. Other than that, I haven't run across anything super obnoxious, but part of that might be my players (who are super awesome at not being d-bags).