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My I introduce you to Magellen? Or pretty much any per-Rennaisance explorer you'd care to name? What, you figure the Vikings, heading into Newfoundland, just shook hands with everyone and everything they met? When Ibn Battuta toured around the known world, he was imprisoned a number of times...

Well, other than you're just adding house rules, but, sure, it's not a bad one. But, again, totally missing the point. The point is that a broom, or boots, will ALWAYS be chosen over something interesting but less practical. And, broom or boots will be chosen over carpet, every time, for the...

Not quite my point though. The players will look at the items that grant flight and will choose the item that is the "best" of any option. At cheapest, fastest, and easiest to use, the Broom of Flying beats out any other choice by a mile. And they will get a Broom of Flying LOOOOOONG before...

Oh, sorry. I thought I had. Obviously Perception is top, same as everyone else. Athletics ranks very high in games I run because I use a lot of obstacles and terrain. If you can't climb, swim, or do various other Athletics based things, your character is going to struggle at my table...

I'm sorry, I do not actually understand what any of that means. You can attack someone with manacles? Nice idea but, since I almost never use humanoid opponents, it won't come up. Heck, even as a player, again, since 3e, I am the only person I've ever seen whose character has manacles. No...

Would you not use thieves tools for that? Since 2025 came out, no one has actually tried to pick a lock, so, I actually don't know the rules.

Really? Yeah, my players are not like that at all. I haven't seen players try to randomly steal stuff since high school.

I think it also heavily depends on the campaigns that the DM is running. I mean, as @TiQuinn says, they play a lot of urban fantasy. So, sure, social skills and sleight of hand become a lot more called upon than, say, athletics (although, that depends on how much rooftop chases your urban...

I guess. Again, these are so situational that it's just never come up. Even as far back as 3e, pickpocking was just never done. Poisoning a drink? Again, never seen a PC do that. If they want an NPC dead, there are just so many other ways of doing it. Like I said, I've never actually seen...

Wow. Sleight of Hand? Really? I can’t say I’ve ever seen this used. What for? And you folks aren’t using enough hazards if you think athletetics isn’t top tier. I adore water traps. Oh, you dumped strength and no athletics training? Good luck not drowning. We use athletics all the time...

Oh, again, I totally understand why players do it. Heck, I probably do it to some degree when I am a player too. It's not like I don't understand the reasoning. I just don't like it very much. :p Like, why buy winged boots (uncommon) when a Broom of Flying is faster, can work independently...

I gotta admit it utterly baffles me. I mean, good grief, 4e's been dead and buried for over ten years now. Who cares? I LIKE 4e and I can't understand why every single time anyone mentions the dreaded 4e, the editions warriors come out of the woodwork to tell all in sundry how bad 4e is...

Yes, but, did you buy those items or find them? Look, again, I'm not really looking for a fix to be honest. I know this is 100% a ME problem. The players like it. They have no problems with it and seem to gravitate towards it every single time, so, obviously it's pretty clearly what they...

If that was true, I'd likely not have any real problems. But, the second I allow magic items to be bought, interesting goes straight out the window in favor of practicality. In all the years since 3e when you could build or buy magic items, on forward, not one single time have I seen a player...

I would point you in the direction of The Griffon's Saddlebag - Reddit - The heart of the internet - there are a mountain of really interesting magic weapons there. For example, one I gave out in my Phandelver campaign was a magic axe that negates Incorporeal for 1 minute. A minor magic item -...

Then go play that. 🤷 To me, it's so utterly pointless. If a player actually wanted to buy interesting magic items, or make them, I'd bend over backwards to make it happen. But, nope. It's +1 Swords with Smite charges or Flaming Weapons all day long. It's to the point where I'm just...

Really, I would be over the moon if a player gave me that sort of background. "You belong to some sort of organization? Would you like that to be a thing in the game? FANTASTIC!" I keep telling my players that I will not weaponize their backgrounds without their express permission. No one...

I mean, heck, squiredom is a perfect reason to become an adventurer. You became an adventurer because you were apprenticed to an adventurer. No tragedy required. It's not like a paladin or a druid or a ranger never took on a squire/acolyte.

But, isn't that what most artificers do? Whether you're the SUmmon the TUrret artificer blasting away with your arcane turret, or the pet artificer whose golem attack dog is doing force damage all day long. I thought the definition of gish was a character whose magical powers enhance their...

See, but that's my problem. It doesn't actually work. All it does is means that you wind up in this vicious circle where the DM just jps the baddies because the PC's are dealing more damage, so the PC's up their damage, so the DM picks bigger baddies. It's a treadmill with zero actually...