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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saracenus" data-source="post: 5358527" data-attributes="member: 47839">The D&D Essentials Dungeon Master's Book (DMB) definitely expands on pg. 42 of the DMG. DMB Page 107-8 gives you the updated charts, but the real magic is the whole Using Checks section (pg. 101-109). It is a big tutorial on being flexible with checks.Unfortunately, the Rules Compendium (RC) inexplicably leaves out the Damage By Level table and only provides the DCs By Level table on pg. 126. There is some improvisation guidance in the RC (e.g. improvising with skill X) but its not as concise as the DMB. This improv advice is also present in the Heroes of the X books.As for showing DMs and Players how to improvise during combat, I think that is something that needs to be refined. I think there is much to be learned from the Penny Arcade video from PAX (Chris Perkins did a great saying yes moment when Jim Darkmagic used prestidigitation to make a bad guy look like the local rocks that the "Hell Cow" fed on).I think that folks that have done much looser systems (e.g. Dread, Burning Wheel) or are brand new to RPGs tend to do things that most "experienced" 4e players wouldn't. For example...When I was organizing D&D Encounters (DDE) the very first table we ran had a guy who took the Monk pre-gen PC and proceeded to describe all of his attacks like he was in the Matrix movie. He was running on walls and kicking folks in the head. His crowning moment of awesome was his leap onto a rickety rope bridge which he broke and road down to smash the final bad guy in a death from above attack. He did not use a single power for it. DM set DCs and damage and said do it. We waited with baited breath as he rolled and bam! Down went the bad guy.The player was dropping in after being away from D&D since 2e in the 90s. He missed 3e completely. He just did things that the rest of us 3e/4e Vertrans would never think to do. It was humbling and exciting to watch.My two coppers,</blockquote>

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