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I've refused one legit character in the last couple of years, not because of class choices, but because the flaws and quirks were all along the lines of "don't tell me the plan, I won't follow it anyway" and "I do what I want when I want". It was a character pretty much designed to mess up the...

Alternatively, keep DEX for Attack and Damage roll but gives bows a minimum STR to use. Maybe a shortbow (d6 damage) has minimum STR 12, longbow (d8) has STR 14 and a greatbow (d10) has STR 16? After all, if you are not strong enough to draw a bow it doesn't matter how well you can shoot it...

Not many. I'm getting sick of players saying, "Can we make a skill roll?"

"Who said the frog now?" I'd look at media for inspiration. For a comic tone, think of Bebop and Rocksteady from the TMNT cartoon, or the two guys from Dumb and Dumber, or anything by the classic masters of dumb comedy, Laurel and Hardy. For a darker tone, consider the characters in any Guy...

Bonus Actions.

I was contrasting it with the scenario that started this thread, the use of Intimidate on a Player Character. You're right. In real play, I'd have decided already "this guard is good at intimidation" or "this guard is good at shaking down people" or "this guard can't back up her words so her...

I've been called on this before (on these forums), not because I was telling players what their characters thought but because I was using words like "think" and "believe" instead of "perceive" and "notice" and "observe". As a GM, it's my job to tell the players what their characters see and...

"OK recruits, listen up. You all seemed to work together well during training, so you are grouped for your first assignment for the Order. A trade delegation has gone missing. They were traveling overland from Mirabar to Waterdeep. Their last communication mentioned stopped in the tiny village...

Agreed. My response to "Can I make a Perception check?" is, "Why? What are you doing?" or (stealing a line from Apocalypse World), "Cool, what does that look like?" As a GM, I need to know details of what the character is doing, where they are moving, if they are touching anything or not...

I think that is in the rules. The big rules, that is, the ones that underpin almost all RPGs, the ones that rulebooks are often really bad at explaining (D&D, I'm looking at you). Namely: How To Run an RPG 0. GM describes the scene. 1. Players state their goal and approach. 2. GM and players...

I would phrase it differently: my house, my rules. When I play Monopoly, fines will not go into the middle for people who land on Free Parking. When I watch movies, there will be no gorno. When I eat pizza there is no mushroom on it. When I play D&D, there are no evil PCs. Everyone has...

6 characters will murder your monster. For every one of its actions they have six (or more, if features like Action Surge are used). I suggest you make it a multi-part monster, with multiple actions of multiple initiative counts, steadily losing actions as the PCs do more damage to it. For...

Let me turn the question around. Why should a GM be required to allow any WOTC material?

Some distinctions that come to mind: Weapons can be disarmed; fists cannot. Weapons can be silvered or enchanted or made of cold iron, etc.

I can't. Shields are 6 lbs in weight and take an entire round to put on. That's not light. In my games, I rule that weapons are something you pick up and use; not something you wear. If you want to hit someone with something you wear, like a shield, then I use exactly the same rules as if you...

The way I rule it: Clubs, greatclubs and quarterstaves are made of wood. Whips are made of leather. Everything else is metal. They might have wooden handles (like axes and hammers) but the dangerous end is always metal. There may be exceptions but they will be noted for particular items. For...

How do you rule when someone casts a spell without using a spell slot, using a feature like magic initiate or spell master or signature spell? How about Action Surge? And am I right in saying that a paladin or cleric with multiattack can't smite on two or more attacks? Why not?

That is a great idea. Consider it stolen. :-) Thanks

It makes more sense if you treat magic missile as an AoE spell, just one with interesting targeting. When you cast fireball, you roll damage once and apply the same number to every target. Apply the same reasoning to magic missile, with the only difference that a creature in a fireball only gets...

From the magic item rules in the DMG, "Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item." The user is casting the spell. The user has to maintain concentration, if required. On the other hand… You don't spend spell slots when casting a spell from an item. You can't use metamagic...