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But those pictures are also over centuries of usage. The collection of coins that an archaeologist deals with is quite different to the collection that an actual living Roman would use. A living Roman would only see one or two versions in circulation at a time. If you were actually living in...

No, I don't think that's very realistic. Most currencies have quite gross differences between the coins of different dominations. Different shapes, weights and sizes. Different denominations can be twice as big, or twice as heavy. By design it is easy to note whether or not coins are unusual...

Absolutely fine. There are two problems here: One, as others have said, the illusion can't move so that might cause problems if the coins are removed from the pile/chest for inspection. Of course, you could have a few real gold coins on the top of the pile to get around this. Second...

I do the following: Get the player to write a cheat sheet of the relevant information for all their spells. Getting the player to do this is much more valuable than the DM doing it for them, or acquiring pre-prepared spell cards. Have a limited time for players to decide what their character is...

Yeah, but that's because Gandalf was the leader. If the rest of the "party" had been dwarves, then sure Gimli would probably have been the leader unless a more highly ranked dwarf-noble was present. He's pretty clearly a "leader" amongst dwarfs. That's why he's at the council in the first place...

I'd much rather that the player PCs identified and sorted out the problem themselves, by re-assigning or purchasing magic items, changing spell selections, or adopting tactics that protected the vulnerable PC (or whatever else the players devise). As DM, I would i) allow such efforts of the...

While something like that sort of works in literature, it gets really old fast in-play (in my experience). NPCs (whether friendly or hostile) are plot devices (or alternatively one of the sources of plot), and can be whatever level or power is appropriate to the adventure. But DM PCs, who are...

Agree. If you must have one or more DM PCs in the party, make them weaker than the player PCs. A couple of levels behind is usually fine.

Usually if a PC has a retainer or similar, rather than making it an NPC, we make it a kind of "second tier" PC. In fact, thinking about it, this is reasonably common for us. Most parties (3-5 players) usually have 1 or 2 additional "retainer" PCs who may be with the party for either short or...

Yes. Ars Magica has a system like this. PC magi can invent formulaic spells (effectively during downtime, takes one or more seasons), they can also cast spontaneous spells on-the-fly, in a combat round. Usually an individual PC can invent greater magnitude (i.e. more impressive, more damage...

Absolutely. The caster and target just need to have a shared understanding of the one-word command that the caster says. It's entirely possible that neither caster nor target is actually proficient in the language used.

That's why you (the DM) should begin the session with a brief "Previously on..." monologue and explicitly tell the players stuff that you want them to remember from the previous session(s).

The damage part of a 20 critical is not really that relevant to hordes of monsters. Critical hits just double damage. If the PCs are attacked by 20 monsters who can roll critical hits, it is much the same in damage terms if the PCs were attacked by 21 monsters without the critical rules...

In my experience, this intensity of combat encounters is only achieved when a) the PCs are in a region with multiple "independent" foes (a dungeon, for example), and b) when things are going well for the PCs. In wilderness type scenarios the PCs (in my experience) normally only have one or two...

A five foot pole has a side that is more than three feet. So, technically not allowed. Having said that I probably wouldn't complain, as DM, about "reasonable" objects that merely fit within a volume of 27 cubic feet, or around 1 cubic metre.

Yes, I agree with all this. The only difference seems to be that I consider "say[ing] you're drawing upon your knowledge of medicine to perform some task" to be using the Medicine Skill. Whereas, you seem to be drawing a distinction between that "usage" and a usage where a dice is rolled.

It seems to be mostly an argument of semantics? I do get what you mean that players don't/shouldn't usually explicitly ask to make Stealth roll (or some other game mechanic), for example (although depends on context a bit). However, as far as I can see, it is totally legitimate for players to...

I guess it depends on what you mean by "asking to use a skill". In my experience (both as player and DM) players tend to say things like "OK, I'll use my medicine knowledge to work out whether that rash on the fighter is contagious", or "Right, I'm proficient in operating Land Vehicles, so I'm...

The issue is that your version is still unclear. I think this is a simpler and clearer and cleaner version: Whip Master +1 DEX Gain proficiency with whip. When you make a successful melee attack with a whip on your turn you may use a bonus action to make another attack upon the target of the...

Yes, I think this is one of the big differences of peoples in-play experiences with skills. One option is that the players mostly (or at least often) initiate the idea that the Medicine Skill (or whatever) is going to be useful in a particular circumstance. As long as the DM tends to run with...