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Oh oops, there isn't really a calculation you can use since any particular build needs to be evaluated for how well the assumptions would play out at your table with your particular DM I'd go with Colby's calculations at D4 Deep Dive as the gold standard, but even with the rigor he puts into...

Oh I guess I mean 5e - seems like that would be true for any version since focus fire is a staple in basically every game ever, but as far as DnD goes I only have firsthand experience with 5e

Nova Damage is what I typically see as the definitive theorycrafting metric to optimize around. Damage Per Round is a good metric if you want to build an OK character who provides solid contributions to the party without outshining other players. But if you want to actually optimize, Nova...

I use an amalgamation of 3pp rules from the Hamund's Harvesting books and Heliana's Monster Hunting books, mixed with some impromptu winging it for determining what items can be crafted with their harvested components

Quite true but Healing Word yo-yo healing is also not the norm, and Venn diagram between players who utilize that advanced combat tactic and players optimizing their characters would likely show significant overlap.

The MCDM Kingdoms and Warfare book is a popular resource for this type of content Also might want to clarify your title that this is referring to hostility between the characters' countries and not the players. It reads like you have a real-world conflict going here between your players not...

Casters are far more durable than martials in 5e if they are optimized properly. Lower HP but higher AC and all sorts of reactions to reduce/avoid damage (shield, absorb elements, silvery barbs, counterspell, etc)

It makes sense because being in melee is generally more dangerous than being at range (unless the DM goes out of their way to make this not be true, which can easily be done), and because optimized casters are capable of much higher AC than martials are. Actual results would be highly dependent...

That's not how I have generally heard the word used (I've always heard it just mean an authoritative decree), but I'll take your word for it and clarify that I wasn't claiming a DM would be doing anything wrong by using LR. Just that the DM is choosing for the player's spell to not work, and...

Makes sense, thanks!

Does the term "fiat" imply that the DM decree is not following the rules? I don't believe it does but I could be mistaken. So you would use LR but then tell the players that the monster succeeded on their roll? That feels icky to me personally, but I'm not judging anyone who uses that style...

Has anything been stated about customizing backgrounds? I glanced thru the article but didn't see that confirmed anywhere Obviously it is easy to just allow customized backgrounds (which I would definitely do as a DM), but I'm mostly curious whether it's in the official rules since that...

Failing due to a dice roll is nothing like failing due to DM fiat. Basically every single thing you can do in DnD (besides magic missile?) requires rolling some clickety clacks and depending on the mercy of the fickle dice gods. The difference is that with dice rolls you have a percent chance...

I'll agree with you that players don't NEED to know what abilities work in combat, but I just think it makes the game more fun if they do. When you sit there for what seems like eternity waiting for your turn to finally get to do something, only to have the DM negate your entire turn with a...

This is true to a point, but yo-yo healing is a fairly widely disliked feature of how 5e works, so it's not unreasonable to hope for rule changes to something that many people view is an issue. I handle it with a Lingering Injury table, which is officially available as an Variant Rule (for 2014...

This is always the first question to ask about proposed rule modifications. I agree 100% with the OP and I use this as a homebrew rule modification, because I do think it solves an important problem. For me, the problem that it solves is that players no longer have to guess whether they are...

I said plot points, not an entire campaign plot. Advocating in favor of DMs having some idea about what plot points could be coming up in the next session is about as hot a take as claiming the sky is blue.

I doubt that a single person out there thinks that the entire session is read from a script with them memorizing every line - what people mean by "scripted" is all of the plot points are planned out beforehand (generally always true in any DnD game with a remotely prepared DM) and that all the...

Ok yeah that makes sense and I think the new rules could make things slightly slower with new complexity being added for classes that previously had few/no combat options. Plenty of players can be excruciatingly indecisive now though too, it's really just one of those things that is best...

I always find that min/maxers are the fastest at taking turns in combat. Part of analyzing the math on everything to the Nth degree to put your build together is that you are prepared to take your turns quickly without much analysis paralysis. If you are making any decisions in the moment...