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I expect players to push the rules to their absolute limit to seek advantage, as that's a normal behavior in a game in my view, but I believe most people are honest (more so than we give them credit for), so I would not expect them to cheat.

Right. One can imagine that a social interaction challenge works normally when the creatures can speak each other's language. But if one or both sides can't effectively communicate with the other, any Wisdom (Insight) or Charisma checks can be at disadvantage, or attempts to read, deceive...

One easy fix is to limit characters to standard languages only (PHB p. 123) unless they pick up new languages via a feat or through downtime training. Then strike Common off all monster stat blocks except for certain ones (like the more learned or worldly among those particular monsters or...

Overpowered relative to what? A version of the game irrelevant to the current version?

In D&D 5e, comprehend languages lets you understand any language you hear or see, but you cannot speak it. Tongues allows you to understand any spoken language and for creatures that speak at least one language to understand you. Each spell lasts for 1 hour. Comprehend languages can be cast as a...

I'm running a classic dungeon crawl for two separate groups in separate games right now. It's fun to see how each group overcomes the same challenges. They're all 3rd level. The first group TPKed on Thursday night. In the upper dungeon, they encountered a kobold guard post similar to one they...

Generally agree as long as the DM is reasonably trying to balance calling for automatic success/failure and calling for checks. The smart play on the player's side is to avoid the d20 as much as possible because given half the chance it will kill you and everyone you've ever loved. If they can...

I think the house rule would achieve the goal you're seeking without any issues of "balance" (which I don't concern myself with all that much in an RPG anyway).

What's the goal of this house rule? Once we have the goal, we can evaluate if the house rule may achieve the thing you're looking to do.

I agree with JAMUMU - it's not the game that will burn you out in my experience, it's managing the people at the table. I would frankly never go back to DMing with my last in-person group prior to moving overseas. It's not that they were terrible people or that I was ever at risk of burning out...

Put it wherever - let's see if it sells. There are probably plenty of people who want to inject a strong dose of D&D 3.Xe into D&D 5e.

"The DMG should be better organized" and "The DMG doesn't say anything about X" (when it does) are two different things. On the former, fine. It's the latter I'm objecting to.

You're right, after all why would anyone wanting to run a game of D&D 5e read the chapter of the D&D 5e DMG entitled "Running the Game" which contains the very information that helps them run games?

Yes, it lists other DCs in case you want to use them, thereby supporting DMs who choose to use DCs beyond the 10 to 20 range. It even tells them how characters of various levels would do with those DCs. What else do you want?

Not to focus too much on your examples, but sometimes thieves can't pick locks. That's not really a problem in and of itself. (Plus, they could just take 10 times the normal amount of time to do it to automatically succeed, provided the task is not impossible.) Further, why is the DM asking the...

And I'm saying DMs don't have to know a great deal about the underlying math because DCs are pretty constrained in this version of the game, which actually makes it more approachable. Pick 10, 15, or 20 and move on. You seem to be undermining your previous criticism about framing the guidance...

Assuming the characters are attempting the same task with largely the same approach, the DC is the same. Choose whichever DC makes the most sense to you, given the fictional context and what the players propose. The fighter will tend to be more successful than the cleric on average, but not...

D&D 5e DMG page 238: "If the only DCs you ever use are 10, 15, and 20, your game will run just fine." So if for some reason that eludes me the DM is mystified about which DC to use for a given task with an uncertain outcome, they can stick with just those three, ignoring all others, and...

I require everyone in my games to be the same alignment as Batman.

That's not a consideration the DM has to take into account. First, there is no ability check to jump in D&D 5e. It's just a matter of movement based on your Strength score. If your Strength is 20, you jump 20 feet if you move at least 10 feet first. If it's 10, you jump 10. Second, let's be...