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If it honestly serves the purposes of the game, I would absolutely have a character's attack roll or saving throw rolled in secret. I have rolled player saves before. At the end of the day, for me in my game, it's just not an issue that deserves an absolute position. I try to be consistent...

Ha, fair. I'd probably go for the lowest-work solution, looking to allow the PCs to eclipse the NPCs. Pegging level to hit die, as you've suggested, seems reasonable enough. I'd probably then peg further proficiency bonuses to HD a la PC classes, and maybe basic ability scaling (sneak attack...

Agreed. I doubt that the adventure is written with the intention of the companion NPCs gaining levels as they go. The fact that they absorb XP that would otherwise go to PCs doesn't mean that they can actually use that XP. It is just to keep the PCs from getting too much XP when there are NPCs...

Couldn't you fire the first crossbow, bonus action fire the second crossbow, drop it, reload the first crossbow and fire it again as your "extra attack"? If you can move in between your attacks, I don't see why you couldn't bonus action in between your attacks. That seems to make sense to me...

A rogue could still benefit. This is similar to how a rogue uses two-weapon fighting. If you miss with your first attack, you can still get an off-hand attack and a chance to still get your sneak attack for the round. A hand-crossbow wielding rogue can get this without having to be in melee...

I think the answer to this is dependent on a much larger issue of group dynamics. To have or not to have hidden rolls is a pretty minor issue. I would never walk away from a group over an issue like that alone. On the other hand, I might walk away from a gave a DM a really hard time about how...

So many things to like! But since it hasn't been said yet: Quick level 1-3 with subclasses separate from character creation. (It's hard for me to articulate exactly, but I love that a new player can pick a class at level 1 but wait a level or two to worry about nailing down a concept.)

This might be a little too obvious, but Vance's Dying Earth series is some great proto-D&D. You get to see Vancian spell-casting at work. Plus Liane the Wayfarer is a classic CE murder-hobo. I found these stories really fun to read after playing D&D for my whole life. I of course second...

One option might be to always roll "uncertain outcome" checks as opposed checks, instead of against fixed DCs. Player: What's my sense on how truthful this guy is being? DM: Alright, give me an Insight check. [PLAYER ROLLS A 16+3] [DM ROLLS AN 18+2] DM: You don't see any indication that he's...

If it's a magic item and requires attunement, I'd say it's fine. Especially if it is given out at a similar pace with +1 magic items. (Because, by allowing her to use her Dex instead of her Str on a higher damage weapon, you are effectively granting her bonuses on her attack roll.) Nothing about...

I think the "lack of trust around metagaming" is sort of missing the point. I don't hide a roll because I don't trust my players not to metagame. I hide a roll because surprises are more fun if they are not spoiled. Now, most of my games aren't built around tons of surprises, but sometimes they...

If you want to be traditional, you really can't go wrong with the good old goblin. Relatively easy to hit, low enough hp to one-shot with a good hit, but not autokill. Dangerous to first level PC. And the nimble escape feature is a simple, visible way for the monster to "do something tricky"...

And I'll add: If it is because your encounters are too difficult to survive more than a few in a row, decrease the difficulty of your encounters. (As long as you have enough of them, I believe the game gets harder when encounters get easier, because players are will take more risk and push...

To be clear, we are specifically talking about wandering encounters during a long rest in an area that players have not sufficiently cleared and secured. There are plenty of monsters still out there (3-4 more encounters worth, because your players are trying to shirk their duties on 6-8...

Personally, I'm totally averse to any sort of coded in encounters/rest rule. It feels like too much of an external game-ist pressure that has no in-game justification. But, if it's the easiest way to keep your game humming, I think it's fine. (I'm also not a fan of putting all adventures on some...

I think you are slightly over-exaggerating the role of the scientific method in EVERY ASPECT OF OUR SOCIETY. None of the things that we make in my line of work are made using the scientific method. But I digress. Wizards admitted when they released the DMG guidelines on encounter creation that...

The Rakshasa is a weird-butt monster. Most of its abilities are not combat-related — it is geared much more towards NPC villainy than combat bad-assery. At the same time, it also has some abilities that make it pretty daunting for a low-level party. Being immune to all spells below 6th level...

Quibble. The Monk still needs to spend a full short rest in order to get his Ki points back. However, during that short rest, he must spend at least 30 minutes meditating: PHB page 78: "When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you...

The most important scary aspect of zombies in films is that all it takes is one bite to turn you into one. This is missing from the D&D zombies, which are just a pain to take down. So why not re-introduce it? Maybe give the zombie a grapple attack, and then it can bite grappled creatures with...

It is nice to be able to look at a CR and know the corresponding XP value when totaling up XP for a session or encounter. I'd find it a headache to have to track those numbers separately. Also, with all the challenges in creating a more precise CR, I don't know how you could make the XP even...