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Excellent point. As a DM I'll often take a faux-oppositional reaction when a player makes a well-chosen action or an excellent roll to avoid a bad outcome in a key fight. It's not because I want to foster a me-vs-them environment but because players like the extra validation of their action...

Exactly. And players who always choose the 'combat' solution where presented with a combat-optimized character will learn a valuable lesson when, lo and behold, provoking a fight was indeed NOT the correct choice for survival.

As the DM you have the power to insert downtime or extend the timeline where ever you want. In a non-organized play WOTC adventure nothing prevents the DM from tacking on options for the use of treasure, too. The fact that WOTC doesn't do so is simply an omission to allow for DM world-building...

I'd argue that's not a false impression, combat-junky optimization aside. One way you 'win' D&D is to not have your PC killed, because, rez magic aside, your PC dying is pretty much 'losing' D&D unless you're cool with it due to story/RP, etc. And one way to not die is to win fights, when you...

I suppose. But really the decision to spend money is up to the PC. "I'm not interested in investing my money in anything that doesn't increase my personal power", is a choice made by the PC. However nothing says that opportunities for that use of wealth must exist or if it does, be something...

I know players who select Lucky on every one of their PCs when they get a chance. I like the Feat as I like mechanics that allow rerolls, but am selective on characters I assign it to. So far only one of my PCs (out of around 10 active ones) has it.

Honestly, it's magic and 9th level at that. Don't sweat the 'real life' details, just narrate how the power of the spell conforms reality to suit it. For example, if indoors you can describe how a portal full of stars and comets yawns above the impact area as firey meteors streak forth to...

There is no lack of magic shops in 5e if you, as a DM, don't want there to be. Hell, Xanathar's has a whole section on buying/selling/creating magic items.

I miss TEMPLATES that I could apply to standard creatures. We have, what, ONE, in 5e (Half-Dragon)?

I agree about not getting rid of gold. Treasure is one of the core premises of D&D. I like getting gold, even if there aren't outlets for it (which there SHOULD be). I'm leery of pick-n-pay magic items. As was mentioned this will just lead to very focused optimization. I like to optimize my...

One thing I think needs emphasis is that DMs need to anticipate the use of powerful (and not so powerful) divination spells. They're part of the universe and should be embraced (and prepared appropriately for) in that spirit. I'm not opposed to their use, but they should be used within their...

Yep! "I got it ... I got it ... I got... damn!" :D

We had a large group in a high level encounter yesterday. Maxed out HP for the BBG and added some non-trivial battlefield support NPCs each round. It was a grand mêlée!

I think AL should move to the "Claw Machine" model for magic items.

I tend to think that looking for a particular kind of object means you need to be specific to what the object physically is, not it's intended purpose. Thus looking for a 'phylactry' (a purpose) does not work, but looking for a 'silver amulet' does.

Still looking forward to buying this from DMs Guild someday...

That's like, their opinion, man. :)

OPTIONAL RULE

I'm not too worried about power gamers in my home campaigns. Nothing beats my power as a DM. If a single character is so uber as to potentially 'break' the game, their power has not gone unnoticed and they will attract challengers who will want to suborn, suppress or eliminate them. It just...