D&D 5E "As DM, I Know How All the PCs' Abilities, Spells, and Items Work" (a poll)

"As DM, I know how all the PC abilities, spells, and items work to the best of my ability."

  • True.

    Votes: 59 46.5%
  • False.

    Votes: 68 53.5%


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HaroldTheHobbit

Adventurer
In D&D 5e I'm lazy. We play over AboveVTT with Beyond, ie everything is instantly accessible for everyone, and my players have a very good grasp of their abilities. So if it's stuff I don't know, I just let them link stuff or tell me.

And I have stopped trying to balance things for combat encounters, I just let them fight stuff that I feel are a little bit too much for them, often pushing in a few extra high level spells for caster opponents etc, then it's usually a fun challenge for the players. If necessary I fudge a little up or down.
 

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I do my best. In fact, I periodically look over what my players' PCs can do to remind myself as I build encounters. So that I can set up appropriate challenges, opportunities to shine, and otherwise make things entertaining. So have a reasonable overview of what people can do with their powers, spells, magic items. But I also don't beat myself up if I'm overlooking or forgetting something.
 


payn

He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I hear how my players describe how their abilities work, but it bothers me, so I change it to how I want it to work.
So, true. I had a player notorious in 3E/PF1 to find odd ball combos and spells buried deep deep into supplements. I told them it was fine as long as they knew how it worked. They never knew how it worked. After pouring over book after book to find this special spell I would just start shouting out ways I think it works.

"Oh so its Bigby's Amazeballs spell o' do lots of things? LEts go down the check list;
Is it Tuesday?
Does the target owe the spellcaster exactly 2 gold pieces?
...."

Whole table is cracking up except for supplement Sally :LOL:
 

Vaalingrade

Legend
So, true. I had a player notorious in 3E/PF1 to find odd ball combos and spells buried deep deep into supplements. I told them it was fine as long as they knew how it worked. They never knew how it worked. After pouring over book after book to find this special spell I would just start shouting out ways I think it works.

"Oh so its Bigby's Amazeballs spell o' do lots of things? LEts go down the check list;
Is it Tuesday?
Does the target owe the spellcaster exactly 2 gold pieces?
...."

Whole table is cracking up except for supplement Sally :LOL:
That is not a real spell. Bigby would never make a spell about balls.

Only Hands.

He was the Anti-Tarentino.
 

Burnside

Space Jam Confirmed
Supporter
I try to. I don't know how every last spell works off the top of my head, and there are some newer subclasses that I have never seen in play whose abilities I don't have memorized or anything.
 



I try to have a good idea about things, but for any non-rules-lite system (such as D&D5), I don't have all the rules memorized. Thus some cooperation/knowledge on the player side is required and my expectation is that generally players will know the rules for their class/archetype and equipment better than me. But I try to know enough rules so I can keep the game going without constantly having to ask.
 

DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin
Yes, often better than my players do. 🤷‍♂️

But, in all fairness, I've been playing D&D for a long time, and most of my players never played before 5E, and most for less than a year, so they are still learning stuff, especially if they choose a race/class combo they haven't played before.
 

Yes, I trust my players, but several of them are just rather bad at understanding how their spells, abilities work.

I had one player who asked me every session for 7 sessions how many spells his warlock could cast per short rest.
 

All? Nah. I don't even try with spells, although I'm pretty good at remembering abilities if I've played a character with them.

Edit: put another way, it's not a priority to know this stuff when I'm dming, although I have a pretty good grasp of most of it just due to playing a lot.
 

TwoSix

Unserious gamer
Yes. To be fair, I also know how all of the PC's abilities and items work even when I'm just a player. I just have a good head for rules.

I don't have every detail 100% down, but I have at least a familiarity with every class, spell, and item I see in games I'm in.
 


Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Individually, generally yes. I don't take time to think through all the combinations, so those can still surprise me sometimes.
 

iserith

Magic Wordsmith
I might know how a character works if I'm played the class before. Otherwise, no clue, and I don't really go out of my way to learn it. I have a sense of what seems right for the game having played it 8 years now, so I'll have a feeling if something is off, but I leave the details to the players and trust they are doing their best.
 

pogre

Legend
My youngest son has an amazing knowledge of the classes. I really don't know the classes at all. I rely on him to say - "I don't think that is how that works." He's never wrong. Having said that, any mistakes my players make are innocent - they try to play according to the rules. We all trust each other.
 


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