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High-level spells are exceedingly powerful, capable of trumping a whole host of challenges in and of themselves. If casters had, for example, eight high-level spells, a caster can trump virtually every challenge a party faces in an adventuring day. With just two high-level casters the party can...

Easy. I'd go with #1. The specter inflicts 15 damage: the Temporary HPs take 10 damage; the fighter takes 5 damage and loses 5 HP from his max. Now if it was a Super Death Specter that could cast Power Word Kill at-will and the fighter had 95 hit points + 10 temporary hit points, the fighter...

Agree with DMMike...my last bard was a dapper politician who disliked to get his hands dirty (and since the barbarian's hands are always dirty, it just makes since to give him extra attacks). I really liked the 4E bard. Haven't played the 5E one. Won't touch 3X bards or before. I think...

I'm in agreement with most of the above advice. Also, the villain's plot should fit in (or even be an outgrowth of) the campaign setting. Consider the factions, artifacts, history, etc. of the campaign world and use them for inspiration. If you're doing a homebrew world, what about it might...

Wine. Lots of wine. Nothing ruins a game so much as a having a clear head.

I don't care about any of the published settings. If I wanted to use any of them, I could convert the old books easily enough. I want a new setting. My pick would be a gonzo cosmic sword & sorcery setting inspired by beauteous majesty of 1970s prog rock and vintage Heavy Metal magazines. Were...

OSR: Where :):):):):):) rules are a feature, not a bug! It's not that most DMs are capable of deciding what a spell can do, it's that the DM must decide what a spell can do. DMs are busy people who must, while running a game, prioritize what they will focus their attention on. A DM that stops...

Flaming sphere is another case of lame 5E spell text. It completely ignores what happens if someone moves into or through the flaming sphere's space--a very common situation given the function of the spell. If one goes by a strict reading of the spell, you don't take damage unless you end your...

You don't have to give them NPCs or multiple characters to have fun solo gaming. As the DM, you just have to realize they are a party of 1 and have limited resources and secondary options available to them. Vastly cut down on the opposition in combats and give them plenty of opportunities to...

I use ADV and DIS in game notes, always in all caps and sans + or -. This seemed natural when I started 5E and it's second nature now.

I think it's a great idea. Yearly broad-reaching surveys can do a lot to give specific information to the developers in how D&D is being played, where the weak points are, what needs clarification, and potential avenues of expansion. Hopefully, the form of any updates or extensions will be...

As a DM you have to stress INTERACTION with your players: If they're primarily interested in gaining XP for their PCs, give them options for getting that XP. Do they want to fight the dragon or protect the kingdom from the demon invasion? Never just give them a clear path of steady XP...

I don't run them, but I'll peruse them for ideas on occasion. I find them a boring read, totally impersonal to my campaign, and not much of a time saver. I honestly don't see how reading/memorizing a 30-60+ page adventure is any sort of time saver. I run most of my games with a couple of pages...

I picked Lemon Curry, since a nonsensical answer is the best fit to a question that is completely antithetical to how I view the game. I don't much care for RAW/RAI analysis. It is far more useful to view RPG systems as guidelines or toolboxes rather than iron-clad strictures that shall not be...

Four words: Adventuring Party Mount Rushmore.

The 5e hiding rules are just horribly written. I get the "rulings over rules" ethos and agree with it, but the hiding rules are such a jumble of vague concepts and poorly worded corner-cases and inconsistent language that they do next to nothing to help a DM or player make a ruling. The primary...

I dunno: Lighter. Cost: 1gp. Weight: -. Sheds light as a candle. Requires a move action to light and a free action to extinguish. Holds 10 minutes of lamp oil (worth 1cp). Does this really require writing up?

Seagulls have figured out that they can open clams by dropping them onto the ground--and seagulls are universally regarded as the village idiots of the avian world.

The 5e tarrasque looks like weak sauce to me. No regeneration, no rush, no sharpness effect on the bite, gimped magic weapon resistance, lame frighten effect that ends after a minute, and no wish requirement for final defeat. Also, the numbers don't look that astounding for a Challenge 30...

What's past is prologue. A dragon can take out a city of 50,000 dwarves if the adventure says: "A hundred years ago a dragon took out a city of 50,000 dwarves." *Maybe the city was at the center of a peaceful kingdom in a peaceful era and they grew complacent about their security. *Maybe the...