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If you're in a skill challenge, then the DCs have to go up. If you're not, they don't. The DM is deciding that they want something that challenges a party of level X that is not a combat, but a set of skill checks. If something isn't actually a threat, you can handwave it or let the story...

It comes from me. Early on in 5e, I ran the math of a 'typical campaign' and basically, you should expect to get +9 to hit/+6 to important skills instead of +18 to hit/+12 to important skills over the levels of 1-20. It is much fuzzier, it might be the equivalent, and no one gets aware of this...

Thanks, glad people are finding it useful. It was very helpful for really understanding how 5e worked(and in some cases was attempting to work)

Thanks!

Just because this guide doesn't cover a near-Gold theme for Wardens... Order Adept+Heal Skill lets a Warden pick Wizard utilities. Namely Herbal Healing, which allows a PC to use 2nd wind as a minor action+get a saving throw. So hit 5th level, retrain your U2 into Herbal Healing, and minor...

I think one of the problematic aspects of D&D is that there are a set of levels not typically designed to be played, but are in fact merely aspirational. And a significant percentage of players want to see those aspirational levels in existence. And if they're not there, they'll get mad. An...

I think that really, 4e kind of has about 18 levels, because that's where most campaigns tend to finish up or collapse. I mean, I'm MwaO and I've played literally almost all the time 4e has been in existence up until now about 1/week. And I still have never gotten a PC to Epic, even one who...

Give a +2 to hit on your next attack roll if you get your turn done in under a set amount of time. A minute is good. No chaining immediates or OAs — if something provokes from you and you slide it next to another MBA person, they don't get an MBA also. Or if you do an immediate forcing someone...

https://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/UpdateCompiled.pdf

Yeah, I set up a horror scenario in a Living Forgotten Realms adventure I co-wrote. There's no chance of PC death at all and maybe even kind of obvious about it, but I used it to set up a choice.

Not for nothing, but if you're a D&D designer in Seattle, odds are you might have other options that pay a lot more than WotC... Greg Bilsland is now Head of Launch Marketing of Amazon Web Services as an example.

Yup and fast-talking the GM* too! *In baseball, GM = General Manager, and he got paid a lot of money to be a good offensive shortstop, bad defensive one.

Yup, all of this. Another good example from baseball is actually defensive play instead of offensive. As mentioned, baseball is a series of one on one events. Ball goes to point X, fielder in the area tries to stop it, do they succeed or not? Golden Gloves are typically given to the player...

No, it wasn't. Next was explicitly designed to work assuming no magic items and then without telling anyone that they changed their mind, they designed 5e to no assumptions of having the items you wanted, but you would have approximately certain values. And we can know that by how Champion...

Not very well? The assumptions in 5e are 1 good magic per 4 levels that changes the numbers and 1 good consumable per level. That created a lot of problems for Adventurer's League where 2.5 adventures to go up a level divided by 6 adventurers per mod = ~1 good magic item per 2 levels given...

Right. Having played since the '70s, both 4e and 5e have expected amounts of wealth and magic baked into the system.

Next has no assumed wealth or magic level. 5e does have those, they're just not very clear about it and by the time it becomes clear that maybe things are off, you're already in levels that are unlikely to be played at all. This ambiguity causes a lot of easy to avoid problems on the other end...

Living Guild isn't a very good example of treasure under 4e rules for the following reasons: Has approximately double the expected magic items found, possibly even quadruple if you use inherent bonuses. It is possible to find items of your level+7 which can also potentially be choice of any...

No, the guidance is not wrong. If the DMG recommends doing something a particular way and the DM decides to ignore that guidance, they should know there's going to be a problem. Which stunningly enough, there is. It is up to the DM to realize they're ignoring guidance and then realize they...

A DM should most certainly be designing their encounters such that not getting a short rest every 2-3 combats should be exceedingly rare. And to realize that if they don't do that, they are deliberately going against DMG guidance and a consequence of that is that it will punish primarily short...