D&D 5E Jeremy Crawford Discusses Details on Custom Origins

[Paul Farquhar]

Bold words. Place yourself in the shoes of a 15 years old teenager. Not so easy to do. And these are among the most numerous players in my area.

I was DMing when I was 12.

And you can't be a good DM if you let the players dictate the rules - it's not fair on them.

The DM's job is much tougher than the players, they do far more prep, they spend more money. If the players can't respect them they should go away and try DMing themselves. And DMs need to realise that - the players need them far more than they need the player.

 

[tetrasodium]

How many tables do you know that do not allow feats? Not a lot. How many tables do not allow the optional PHB races? Even fewer...

This is entirely the fault of wotc for making a system so tightly tuned with skills attacks, & dpr sameness that they were ridiculous enough to over hype things like bounded accuracy while throwing out things like feats & magic items that cause the whole thing to collapse into a farce because "those things are optional so it's designed to work fine without them" to absolve themselves of responsibility for either balancing themselves against bounded accuracy & such or admitting the core conceit they keep pointing at like it deserves respect was an unworkable failure to begin with..

 

[Remathilis]

You could. But a half-elf would still be a better sorcerer or a wizard (or anything non-melee) than a half-orc.

More it's an argument for completing rethinking how races are designed all-together (if flexibility for all races to be equally good at all classes is the goal), rather than the half-baked approach we appear to be getting.

A half-elf has nothing that innately makes it better than a half-orc at sorcery, once ASI is eliminated. They both have darkvision (wash), so the half-elf gets immunity to sleep, advantage on charms, and two skills and one language. Half-orc gets a specific skill, a bonus to melee attacks, and the ability to withstand one attack that would otherwise drop you. Frankly, the only useless ability is savage attacks, and I think more PCs will get use out of Relentless Endurance than Fey Ancestry.

 

[Helldritch]

I was DMing when I was 12.

And you can't be a good DM if you let the players dictate the rules - it's not fair on them.

The DM's job is much tougher than the players, they do far more prep, they spend more money. If the players can't respect them they should go away and try DMing themselves. And DMs need to realise that - the players need them far more than they need the player.

And I was 13 when I started DMing. A game is as much the DM's as it is the players'. They all decide what rules they are willing to use to build a story.

The DM's job is to be an impartial referee on the adjudication of the events in the game/story. Your players are perfectly within their rights to ask you to use some "official" rules, even if they are optional. Remember that at this age they are palying with friends. Rare will be the teenager that will be ready to antgonize his friends ovor what is an official rule.

Yes the DM does a lot of work. Yes, sometimes it ia the DM that pays for a lot of the books. But it does not change the fact that without players, all these pretty hours of work and preps are for naught. You need players and players need you. It is a symbiotic relationship.

It is easy to deny one player. But what about 2? 4? A whole group? Or even all your groups? You may resist, but you might also have to cave in or see your group(s) going to greener pastures.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And I was 13 when I started DMing. A game is as much the DM's as it is the players'. They all decide what rules they are willing to use to build a story.

The DM's job is to be an impartial referee on the adjudication of the events in the game/story. Your players are perfectly within their rights to ask you to use some "official" rules, even if they are optional. Remember that at this age they are palying with friends. Rare will be the teenager that will be ready to antgonize his friends ovor what is an official rule.

Yes the DM does a lot of work. Yes, sometimes it ia the DM that pays for a lot of the books. But it does not change the fact that without players, all these pretty hours of work and preps are for naught. You need players and players need you. It is a symbiotic relationship.

It is easy to deny one player. But what about 2? 4? A whole group? Or even all your groups? You may resist, but you might also have to cave in or see your group(s) going to greener pastures.

Players are within their rights to ask, but the DM has a responsibility to say "no".

There are no "greener pastures". The reason I DM is that there is no one else willing or able to do it.

 

[Helldritch]

A half-elf has nothing that innately makes it better than a half-orc at sorcery, once ASI is eliminated. They both have darkvision (wash), so the half-elf gets immunity to sleep, advantage on charms, and two skills and one language. Half-orc gets a specific skill, a bonus to melee attacks, and the ability to withstand one attack that would otherwise drop you. Frankly, the only useless ability is savage attacks, and I think more PCs will get use out of Relentless Endurance than Fey Ancestry.

That, good sir, is debatable. Even at high level, the power of the sleep spell is dangerous, especially when the group is low on HP. Charm can be always be a threat. Getting back to your feet at one hp is not always a good thing. One good hit and kapow! You're dead.

The ASI are way more useful than anything else anyways.

 

[Helldritch]

Players are within their rights to ask, but the DM has a responsibility to say "no".

There are no "greener pastures". The reason I DM is that there is no one else willing or able to do it.

I both agree and disagree. It is a right to say no. It is not a responsibility to say no.

Yes it is your game. But it is also the players' game too. Whether you want it or not. Whether you like it or not. You are playing with other people. It is your duty and theirs to make a game to their and to your liking. This means that you might have to make compromises.

And, at some point, if a DM get too stubborn and refuses to adapt, one player will step to the fore and offer what the DM do not offer. This is why I have very democratic game groups. I saw that happen to others when I was young and it gave me a good lesson as the DM was a good friend of mine.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I both agree and disagree. It is a right to say no. It is not a responsibility to say no.

It is the responsibility of the DM to tell a good story. And part of that is maintaining the integrity of the world building. If it can change on the whim of a player you end up with a world with no set rules, and pretty soon suspension of disbelief is lost.

The thing is the players are not privy to the whole story - they might not even know why they can't have the thing they ask for. For example in one campaign I said "no elves". This was because elves would be the main antagonists. The players did not know why, but they have become used to following the DMs instructions, no matter how arbitary they may seem.

Yes it is your game. But it is also the players' game too. Whether you want it or not. Whether you like it or not. You are playing with other people. It is your duty and theirs to make a game to their and to your liking.

The DM needs to gauge his players and use his judgment to tell a story that the players will enjoy. And the players need to trust him to do that.

If they can't or won't, they need to find a different game.

This means that you might have to make compromises.

And, at some point, if a DM get too stubborn and refuses to adapt, one player will step to the fore and offer what the DM do not offer.

I would love it if a player stepped up and offered to DM. I would step down in an instant. But I've been at it for 40 years and it hasn't happened yet!

 

[Helldritch]

I would love it if a player stepped up and offered to DM. I would step down in an instant. But I've been at it for 40 years and it hasn't happened yet!

Similar experience. Different approach. Me too I'd like to be a player...

 

[Remathilis]

That, good sir, is debatable. Even at high level, the power of the sleep spell is dangerous, especially when the group is low on HP. Charm can be always be a threat. Getting back to your feet at one hp is not always a good thing. One good hit and kapow! You're dead.

The ASI are way more useful than anything else anyways.

Sleep effects are limited, attacks targeting HP are plentiful.

The issue of course is that if half-elves were +2 Cha +1 float, they'd be weak (weaker than elves) so they tried to boost them up with the extra +1 ASI. Same with mountain dwaves (free armor profs that don't benefit 2/3rds of the classes in the game). Which leads us now to where we are.

The obvious solution would be to revamp MD and HE, but that doesn't seem too likely. So here we are.