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<blockquote data-quote="Melba Toast" data-source="post: 6623699" data-attributes="member: 80591">Sorry to say but I'm not impressed with the WotC DM's screen.I bought it thinking it would help me transition from 2 decades of AD&amp;D into the new world of 5th edition. I can't fault the screen for it's sturdiness, and it does suffice to hide my notes and rolls, but the charts on the inside are mostly useless. (Compare it to the 1st edition AD&amp;D DM's Screen, which finds a space for virtually every chart in the PHB and DMG)I've accepted that I'm just going to have build my own DM's screen, and when its done I will share it with the community. To that end, I wanted to poll the forum for suggestions about what to include.To me, a good 5th edition DMs screen would include:&nbsp;- Frequent Advantage and Disadvantage situations&nbsp;- Weapons chart (damage and properties) &nbsp;- Armour by AC and stealth impact&nbsp;- Ability Score modifiers (??how could WotC forget to include this!!??)&nbsp;- Monster Stats by Challenge Rating Chart from p. 274 of the DMG (this is so KEY! It contains enough basic info for a DM to generate an enemy combatant for any level at a moment's notice)&nbsp;- Spell lists by class up to level 3 spells (maybe just cleric, wizard and sorcerer, space permitting)&nbsp;- Conditions&nbsp;- Attack actions w/ rules (hide, disarm, dodge, ready, help etc) &nbsp;- Difficulty Classes with common examples&nbsp;- Random physical trait chart (to help differentiate minions. i.e. &quot;the one with the face scar&quot;, &quot;the one with grey skin&quot;, etc)The WotC 5e DM's Screen has a lot of charts for randomly generating NPC personalities (a name generator, NPC ideals, NPC flaws, NPC bonds). While they aren't bad to have, in my opinion they aren't essential. I think a DMs screen should put the codified rules at your fingertips so you don't have to go rifling through the books. So what do you lot think?Has somebody already done this and am I wasting my time?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Melba Toast, post: 6623699, member: 80591"] Sorry to say but I'm not impressed with the WotC DM's screen. I bought it thinking it would help me transition from 2 decades of AD&D into the new world of 5th edition. I can't fault the screen for it's sturdiness, and it does suffice to hide my notes and rolls, but the charts on the inside are mostly useless. (Compare it to the 1st edition AD&D DM's Screen, which finds a space for virtually every chart in the PHB and DMG) I've accepted that I'm just going to have build my own DM's screen, and when its done I will share it with the community. To that end, I wanted to poll the forum for suggestions about what to include. To me, a good 5th edition DMs screen would include: - Frequent Advantage and Disadvantage situations - Weapons chart (damage and properties) - Armour by AC and stealth impact - Ability Score modifiers (??how could WotC forget to include this!!??) - Monster Stats by Challenge Rating Chart from p. 274 of the DMG (this is so KEY! It contains enough basic info for a DM to generate an enemy combatant for any level at a moment's notice) - Spell lists by class up to level 3 spells (maybe just cleric, wizard and sorcerer, space permitting) - Conditions - Attack actions w/ rules (hide, disarm, dodge, ready, help etc) - Difficulty Classes with common examples - Random physical trait chart (to help differentiate minions. i.e. "the one with the face scar", "the one with grey skin", etc) The WotC 5e DM's Screen has a lot of charts for randomly generating NPC personalities (a name generator, NPC ideals, NPC flaws, NPC bonds). While they aren't bad to have, in my opinion they aren't essential. I think a DMs screen should put the codified rules at your fingertips so you don't have to go rifling through the books. So what do you lot think? Has somebody already done this and am I wasting my time? [/QUOTE]

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