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That's how most people probably play, and it makes sense, given that we tend to give DMs authority over this stuff. But... Right, but: 'DM decides' doesn't effect everything. At least, if we were playing out the fight, and the DM said 'you missed' after I rolled a nat 20 against the innkeep...

The thing about having a character created to deal with particular types of foes and terrain is that it's a signal to the DM to make those things important in the campaign. Unfortunately, similar abilities are pretty rare in 5e, and the DMG is far more interested in telling people how to invent...

I don't think it's confusion over the basic play loop (though I don't want to put words in other people's mouths). Suppose I say 'I want to punch this innkeep in the face' (using my authority over my character). The DM is expected to respond. Fine. Does this trigger an initiative roll? What if...

Put simply: I think a lot of people want non-magical characters to be able to do cool things and have interesting choices. It's not about gaming the system, its about a fantasy in which people who aren't wizards also get to be interesting.

I mean, the real 'system' is the one you use at the table. If your group always runs the game the same way, it doesn't matter that much which edition you're playing. D&D seems particularly prone to this, and I'm not sure how much of it has been by accident or design. I do think that 5e's...

Funnily enough, I'd already though about giving it a try. The exhaustion rules are a clear winner out of this UA, for me at least.

The real test of the ranger's wilderness abilities is going to be how skills interact with changes to the exploration rules (if at all). Personally, I much prefer design where the designer trusts an existing system (i.e. skills) and makes it work across multiple situations, rather than adding...

Don't remind me!

I understand where the class came from. But, I think there's a long distance between there and where it is now. This right here. The ranger is a hollow copy of a copy, and people project all kinds of different fantasies onto it. Something odd about 5e is that it seemed relatively light when I...

Also, you know, all these arguments about who the true archetype of the ranger is only reinforce my position that there isn't one! :p Maybe it's just an empty signifier.

My suspicion is it's not actually incompetence, so much as fear of change, lest it trigger a backlash. We've already seen a lot of gnashing of teeth about these two playtests (especially the fart in a teacup that was the critical hit drama). If they actually did remove spellcasting from rangers...

re: Ranger Expertise! They way it should always have been. OTOH, I second the complaints about everything else being a spell now. It's so lazy and unimaginative, and doesn't match the fantasy at all. That said, I think some kind of 'mark' ability would be OK.

Full disclosure: I also think the paladin should be a fighter subclass, and the bard a rogue subclass. I think the more interesting issue is: what is this archetype actually about, and how should that translate into the game? WotC doesn't seem to know. New houserule: bard players need to...

I see this as further support for my view that it should just be a fighter sublcass. There isn't enough meat on those bones.

re: The Bard It looks much the same as before, which is to say, I hate it. A jack of all trades who also has expertise, buffs their allies, and can cast any 9th level spell? Aside from the complete lack of spotlight balance, there's no coherent character concept here. Also, it seems like WotC...

They way I would look at this is: if the players are determined not to proceed, I think the DM needs to respect that. One way of respecting that is by making their actions have consequences. If they really are camping in the Forest of Death, they've decided they want to fight everything it can...

Anecdotally: I think most people run 5e with milestone levelling. I make a point of handing out XP when I run 5e (I use a 'quest' system), and it always seems to surprise players who are new to the group.

I think I would say that there are some structures that are more or less necessary, and some that are merely nice to have and a matter of taste and/or debate. Necessary structure might go something like: who has control over what, how to resolve conflicts or disagreements, and how the current...

Complete tangent, but: Morrowind had the best story of any TES game, IMO. The problem was that the designers were so averse to railroading people into following it that most people never found it. Later games learned from that, but also had worse writing, so. I think @EzekielRaiden 's analogy...

Lots of replies, and lots of things I feel compelled to make small comments on. I actually agree with this, in part. Modern gaming culture, in general, is extremely averse to tackling problems of information and communication, and I think poorer for it. That said, I don't think there is a...