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

[Snarf Zagyg]

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.

 

[TerraDave]

Alternate question:

Who knows more about how the PCs' abilities, spells, and items work? The player or me?

​

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

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]

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.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Nope.

I can't even keep track of all that in the game I wrote.

 

[payn]

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

 

[Vaalingrade]

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

That is not a real spell. Bigby would never make a spell about balls.

Only Hands.

He was the Anti-Tarentino.

 

[Burnside]

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.

 

[Stormonu]

PCs are responsible for knowing what they can or cannot do. The DM reserves the right to check your work.

 

[el-remmen]

"Remind me how that works again" is definitely something I usually say about once per session.

 

[schneeland]

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]

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.

 

[FrozenNorth]

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.

 

[jmartkdr2]

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]

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.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I know all the abilities and items of everyone, because I have a very good memory for those things.

 

[Umbran]

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

 

[iserith]

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]

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.

 

[bedir than]

When I DM my most common phrase is "that sounds cool. What's it do?"