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Agreed. D&D players might be a bit above the curve on actual survival knowledge, but most people are dumb as rocks about it. There are millions of people on the planet who know how to use an iPhone better than they do how to start a fire without matches or lighters. I do not consider myself a...

Most skill rolls are under the assumption that the PC has the right tool for the job. Lock picks for opening a lock as one example. There are DMs who might give a penalty to a survival check if the PCs do not have the proper equipment, however, PCs seem to almost always have a ton of a variety...

In fact, players often finagle bonuses to skill rolls from DMs by coming up with imaginative ways to use the supplies they have. Things that wouldn't really give them much of an edge in the real world. DMs reward players for imaginative solutions, even if they seem a bit far fetched. The real...

I would like to point out that unbuffed, the break even point is about AC 14 at level 4 (or level 1 for a human variant GWM PC). At level 5, it's AC 15. At level 9, it's AC 16. At level 13, it's AC 17. At level 17, it's AC 18. It increases by 1 every 4 levels without a single buff, a single...

The panga was actually primarily used in East Africa, not the Caribbean. A panga blade is effectively a machete, not an axe. But I was discussing an islander at sea, not inland. Surviving at sea rarely involves chopping thick heavy rope, wood, or other materials; or digging holes (something...

A Ulu knife is not an axe (and specifically, not a hand axe). The curved blade and pointed ends of a Ulu knife can be used for a lot of things that the significantly less curved blade of a hand axe cannot be used for (or is used less efficiently), and hand axes do not have hammers on the...

There is a certain amount of truth to what you say here. When one looks at the math for a 4th level Strength based PC with Str 16 and great weapon specialization, the DPR for +1/+1 is better at higher ACs than the DPR for -5/+10 (including the GWM extra attack for criticals). AC, DPR +1/+1...

This. A knife with a serrated top blade in addition to a non-serrated bottom blade does a lot of jobs. Creating snares, gutting fish or game, shaving wood, skinning, cutting branches. If you kill a large animal, try field dressing or deboning it in the field with an axe instead of a knife. Not...

It's not needed. It's preferred. A way to make combats shorter. It's a play style preference. Do not confuse how you want certain classes to work with how other tables expect them to work.

If the creature was not prone in the first place, it is not prone once it climbs up. Climbing does not add the prone condition.

I think it depends a bit on campaign and DM style. For my table, I like dungeons (crypts, barrow mounds, caverns, mazes, whatever) with a lot of encounters. I prefer the other two pillars to lead up to the dungeon. It is not always this way, but often this way. With this style, it makes more...

I think the main concern might be that your player(s) of the fighter is probably accustomed to this level of damage, so he might think that he is getting screwed over a bit. For a player who has not seen this mega-damage, he probably would not miss it. But when I look at the damage comparison...

I tend to do this as well for the most part, but when a set of math clearly indicates a significant balance problem, I also house rule to nip that problem in the bud. With all of their experience with the game, a lot of things were still changing within the last 6 months before the game was sent...

While this might be possible, many DMs will still limit its use. As DM, I would still limit poison applied to a weapon for a single minute (as per the poison kit in the PHB). So the PCs using it either have to get into combat right after applying it, or they have to use up an action in combat to...

I agree with you that one cannot equate the two DPRs, but I think you are underestimating the effectiveness of hitting 5 targets for an average of 20 each. Yes, the Fighter might do 100 DPR with a feat and buffs, but the Rogue is still doing 30 or 40 DPR. The Wizard is not doing as well as the...

Possibly. The basic poison in the PHB lasts a minute and a single dose can do 3 pieces of ammunition. As a DM, I would be comfortable with these rules for all weapon applied poisons. Yup. Interesting question.

It's only unlimited if the DM allows it. This doesn't actually occur at many tables. If using the guideline of basic poison, that would be 3 arrows per dose. I suspect many DMs would limit the poison from a companion to maybe 5 doses per day or so. Enough to boost the party for a single...

Yes. And all of these things are limited resources, unlike GWM which can be done multiple times per round. Can Fireball be cast multiple times per round every round each day? The DPR of a spellcaster over the course of an adventuring day is usually a lot less than the DPR of a normal melee PC...

Wow!!! Talk about contrived situations that will almost never happen at most tables. Let's see, if we add in an extremely rare damage buff 4 times stronger than sharpshooter, then of course removing the huge damage buff will result in the most change, removing to hit buffs will result in...

Note the phrase "can be". Is a damaging spell a "protective ward"? Plus, this is fluff. If a spells states that it can be used as a ranged or melee weapon, then sneak attacks "must be a weapon" phrase applies. Otherwise, spells are not weapons. Spells are in their own section of the book...