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Yes, I have. Only twice, but it generated such bad feelings at the table I still remember them years later. Though I did use slightly the wrong quote above, because both of the instances were statues not chests. One was something like, "I see if there are any secret doors in the statue." The...

I feel they do need to clarify a bit further. I have many times had conversations like: Player: I check the chest for traps. GM: As you touch the chest, it feels sticky. You are poisoned. Player: That's not fair! I didn't say I was touching it! So, for physical actions, there should be a bit...

I've realised recently that my biggest gripe is when players don't say what their characters are actually trying to achieve, let alone how. I've seen this in three sessions over the last couple of weeks. Player: Can I make a Persuasion check? GM: Why? What are you trying to do? Player: i want...

Agreed. To steal one of Dungeon World's Principles, "Begin and end with the fiction." Also, as noted above, but I feel it needs repeating... There is no such thing as a "skill check" in D&D 5E.

Yeah, that's the slippery slope I am talking about - allowing the PC to summon the shield or breastplate already donned. Or a differnet slippery slope similar to, "My shield is my hex weapon, so I can use Charisma with it. I use it to knock someone prone, so I can use Charisma instead of...

For me, that last quote takes me out of the scene. It is immersion-breaking. I mean, I know we are all playing a game, but I like to stay in the role. I want to hear something like, "Bob: Is he lying? What's his body language?" Asking for a game mechanic is jarring and interrupting. But as I...

Personally, I don't like the idea of a shield as a weapon because of two reasons. First, it can't be disarmed. Giving someone a weapon with immunity to disarm feels too powerful. Second, it leads to a slippery slope. If a shield is now a weapon, then what about a helm or gauntlets or boots? Why...

I'm going to disagree slightly, for two reasons. First, druids don't get revivify and remove curse spells. Second, a druid in beast form can't cast healing magic). I'm not saying a druid is a bad healer, mind you, just that clerics are better. As are bards evil grin.

My cleric never does the same thing in two combats in a row. Sometimes she uses bless and spiritual weapon. Sometimes spirit guardians. Sometimes she smacks things with a warhammer, sometimes she smacks things at range with a cantrip, sometimes she casts spells (heal, banish, curse animate...

Really? I'm not using it in any of the games I GM and play, and I haven't seen any games advertised at the local club use milestone. Are we just an unusualy exception to this number? My personal dislike of milestone advancement is that it disincentivises fast play. I have a group that struggles...

No, I don't know that. I ran a combat last week where some of the combatants were out of torchlight and darkvision range and that was exceptional. For almost all of the game I GM, combats have been at 60ft or less. In the Out of the Abyss game I play in, the same happens, though that is...

Yes, it would - the spell would now allow the use of Distant Spell metamagic! Personally, my argument for disallowing Distant Spell for areas of effect is the low point cost for exponential increase in targets. On a grid, a 15ft radius casting affects up to 36 medium creatures. A 30ft radius...

Why would you make a Feint when you can just take the Help action and get guaranteed Advantage?

Agreed. As an aside, I wish the writers had consistently and correctly differentiated "range" and "area of effect".

Has anyone read https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/239871/Ultimate-Ships-5E? Any comments about it?

Players don't want to play "one of the races". They want to play "whatever race you've not included." :-) If you allow all races, no-one will play a gnome. If you say, "Allowed races are human, elf, dwarf" then that guarantees someone will want to play a gnome. They will complain bitterly about...

I think it failed at the first two, just like pretty much every RPG, but I think it did a good job of the last one. A player who is not charismatic and eloquent can easily play a character who is, by having a high Charisma score. The reverse also applies (as long as the GM remembers to apply...

The biggest efficiency choice I've made at my table is, "Circles are squares." I couldn't be bothered with templates and measuring on the grid so I just decided everything is square. Movement, missile range, spell area of effect - all squares (except for cone effects, which are triangles). As...

You could go with very generic terms, like "The Fingers", "Those Who Walk", "The Silver Family", or "Brothers on High" (which is a literal translation of Morndinsamman, the name of the Dwarven pantheon). The pantheon in my TUesday game is just called "The Nine" because there are, no surprise, 9...

QFT. I think this point needs to be tattoed on the forehead of every GM, backwards so they can read it in the mirror: If there are no costs or consequence for failure then the GM should just say, "You succeed." If each attempt costs a significant amount of time or money or other resource then...