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I only got to grappling, which is the one I'm most familiar with having seen it royally fail across multiple editions as being too complex. It's an ambitious project you're trying to "tackle." Grappling. D&D has oft tried and oft failed to make complex, realistic grappling rules. Since...

We couldn't afford (lead) miniatures when we started gaming and the "5' grid" wasn't a thing yet, so "theatre of the mind" was less gimmick and more just what you had to do. Advice: let go of combat grid movement. It'll open up an entirely new way to game, though it does put an onus on the DM...

I'd be disinclined as, for example, almost no monsters have resistance/immunity to thunder damage, but a significant portion do to fire and ice. If I'm a caster, I'd simply make everything thunder damage to avoid limitations versus demons, etc. It would become an exploitation. Now, if you...

Personally, I feel it's a bad idea to reduce incentive for players to talk by adding lots of die rolls to the social aspect of the game. There's always been a core to D&D wherein players, even shy ones, find a forum to speak in the guise of their assumed persona, and it wasn't until 3E that the...

Artificer, Alchemist 18 + 1 = 19 Artificer, Archivist 19 Artificer, Armorer 22 Aritifcer, Artillerist 18 Artificer, Battle Smith 19 - 2 = 17

I like rewarding players for doing something other than charging in like maniacs, so surprise is a great way to do that. Normally surprise is easy because common sense prevails. I don't need a check. But when I do, the rules get a bit janky. Group Checks. A poor way to do it that doesn't make...

Nope. Grew up in the rural midwest in the 80s and this was my experience. So, I played D&D and was pretty quiet about it. One of my future friends and gamers was a shy kid at the time, would sit on the bleachers before school and read D&D books. A girl who went to my church and was in his...

Yeah, I found out the saving throw thing a few weeks ago in a "rules you didn't know" column. A5E reinstated that old-school rule for saving throws, and next campaign (I don't like to change rules mid-stream), we'll go back to how I've been erroneously doing it.

This quote caught my attention. If you read @GMforPowergamers's post, his DM conditioned players to focus fire by ensuring that enemies didn't surrender/flee even when critically damaged. There was no benefit "spreading the love" of damage. So, what about greater use of morale? D&D provides...

In an ideal combat, everyone would surround an enemy and whittle them down one-by-one. In real life, there is a heavy price to pay for diverting your attention away from an enemy, exposing yourself, and realistically, more than two trained similarly-armed foes is a near impossible experience...

PC killed by a massive critical hit. Next session after a new character is introduced into the party, another player takes a deep breath and confesses. He'd forgotten he had a Guardian Emblem (3/day use your reaction to turn crit into normal hit, Tasha's). If he'd used it, PC would've survived.

But sometimes for all the wrong reasons. If the lore allows you to bring the world to life, such as the superstition of throwing a pig snout over a house by a citizen you just rescued or customs about house domovoi that creep into the DMs routine descriptions, it's good. If the DM is waiting to...

My players extensively playtested the Korranberg Chronicles Psion, which already had playtest and costs $ on DMs Guild. My thoughts. If you're going to use existing spells, spell points, or variations on spells, you're not really creating a new class. A new class stands alone. D&D co-creator...

OD&D: never played Basic: "Roles." Elmore Red Box version; due to firmly set roles (e.g. only a rogue can do this), everyone gets a chance in spotlight develops. AD&D 1E, 2E: "Innovation." D&D finds itself by pushing never-before-seen dungeon, monster, and game design that would set the tone...

What makes you, as a DM, sit down and change a rule? It's a core tenet of D&D to make it your own as no two tables are, or should be, alike. I do it because I believe it will make the game more enjoyable for MY gamers. I then research prior editions, other game systems, compare notes with other...

My understanding is that it's like playing Dragon Age (video game) where so long as one person lives, the entire party lives, though the 0hp folks may be saddled with malaise (perhaps lesser degrees of exhaustion) when the battle is over. You'd still track death saves and complete failure...

For my gamers (current campaign 11th level), long drawn-out combats taste good when you've been RPing for 2 straight 5-hour sessions without one serious combat. Then, hacking away and unleashing all your hard-earned combat abilities feels great. Even more so is when that extended combat is...