Search results

That's exploration distance over 1 minute. For combat movement over a round I think you divide by 10 or 3 or pi. Or do you employ the Quadratic Formula? I haven't run 1e in ages, but I do occasionally flip through the old modules. Anyhoo, I do know humans have a base speed of 12" in 1e, which...

It's a random encounter. The party can theoretically run away from it. However, in researching this post I noticed they increased the speed of the 5e purple worm to 50ft (basically double that of 1e's 9"). I'd just have avoid it taking the dash action on the surface, giving it a round or two of...

The majority of my 5E play has been feat-less (and quite a bit with just Basic/SRD classes). I'm most experienced with low-mid-level play. We've done some play at 15th or so and a 20th level one-shot that ran 3 sessions so I am not fully versed on high-level play in 5e. In my experience...

Those are some weak tea high-level obstacles if you ask me. It's not that you need a 38 on your lock-picking roll. It's that you need the King of Shadows' lockpicking tools to even make the attempt. How did you get those? And the only reason you can make the attempt in the first place is...

I'll often give a bonus (or much or rarely, an auto-success) for a particularly well-phrased bit of role-playing or persuasive monologue, mainly because I believe that players putting in that amount of effort and interest in the my game should be encouraged. However, much more critical social...

Everything else in D&D doesn't require a roll. Activating class features never does (at least I can't think of any). Action surge? No roll. Spending ki? No roll. Barbarian raging? No roll. Inspiration dice? No roll. Spells are essentially features of the character, in the same vein as these...

A sandbox is just playing in dirt. A roller coaster is a very fun type of railroad. Everything is subjective.

First: I don't put monsters in the PCs' path. I place the monsters, the players figure out their path. If it goes through monsters, it goes through monsters. That's their problem. Second: If the players ask: "Do our characters think they have a realistic chance of beating this monster?" I give...

I let any PC retreat from combat automatically if there is a reasonable path or potential for them to do so. No rolling necessary. They can grab a downed ally automatically, regardless of positioning, should they have the strength to do so. The loss of hp and other resources for no gain is...

It's most often used in our group to delay an attack, grab, shove, etc. until an enemy moves into range, out of cover or concealment or otherwise into a position where it is possible to affect them. It comes up maybe once every 2-3 combats. Using the ready action is often a gamble, since the...

For me, the question of "does the wizard waste some 1st-level spell slots?" is not worth slowing down play or muddling the quick and clean exchange of information. "Does an 18 hit your AC? Oh, you use shield. OK, mark off the slot." Done. Rolling the attack, checking the list of PC AC's...

Tall the Dead. Makes your zombie minions taller. Crown of Stairs. Summon headgear that allows your allies to climb up to higher places. Negative energy food. Puts people in a food coma. Temple of the sods. Umm...yeah... Enemies around. Summons enemies that surround you and your companions...

I dunno, let's take teleporting magic: Level 1 wizard. Teleportation potential = 0. Level 5 wizard. Teleport distance = 30 ft. Level 7 wizard. Teleport distance = 500 ft + additional uses of 30 ft teleporting. Level 9 wizard. Teleport distance = Anywhere (Circles only) + additional uses of 30...

D&D has long had a problem with making mundane 10+ level characters superhuman, which is what they should be. Trained skills at this level should be bordering on the implausible: melding ninja-like into the tiniest of shadows or disappearing in the blink of an eye; climbing sheer, almost...

Presenting 20 Alternate Advancement Systems for 5E! 1. Millstone Advancement. The party gains 1 level for every millstone they carry with them. 2. Saison Advancement. XP for buying the DM slightly fruity beers. [This one is a personal favorite]. 3. Story-Based Advancement. You gain a level if...

I'm in agreement with iserith and others. Rolling a 33 on a DC10 skill check is just a success at a DC10 skill check. You do the thing, congrats! Obviously, if you can roll a 33 you have little to no chance of failing a DC10 skill check and the roll isn't even necessary. Again, congrats, you do...

A fight becomes a slog if it is tedious and/or frustrating, causing a lack of player engagement. This can be traced to a few factors outside of specific game mechanics, such as the vagaries of luck and underlying math of the system (which can definitely cause and contribute). I think we all...

I tend to favor simpler combat turns in game design, rather than more complex ones with multiple decision points. Move + Action is a solid go-to system. 5e klutzes it up a bit with bonus actions, object interactions and weird multiple spells per round rules but, overall, it's not awful. Simpler...

I tend to parse the lighting conditions a bit more finely, but that's about it. In anything other than pitch black (or magical) darkness, I allow people to treat darkness as dim light to 10 feet. You can generally tell where people are and the general layout of the environment, but still...

My players: "Do I have to wear clothes?"