D&D 5E Conjure Animals NERFED

[Blue]

Sure, a 'player empowerment feature,' say. 5e focuses more on 'DM empowerment features.' They don't always have to be at cross purposes like that, but in this case I guess they are.

Saying that the DM should communicate to they players rule changes and be consistent about applying rules isn't "player empowerment", it's an expected courtesy for a group to play. At my table (whether I'm DM or player) a minimum requirement. It has nothing to do with if you are playing 5e or not, that's irrelevant.

5e recommends rulings not rules. That doesn't mean you can't tell them to the players and be consistent unless something is broken.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Saying that the DM should communicate to they players rule changes and be consistent about applying rules isn't "player empowerment", it's a courtesy for a group to play.

It's both.

5e recommends rulings not rules. That doesn't mean you can't tell them to the players and be consistent unless something is broken.

And it doesn't mean you need to, either. 5e is very amenable to being taken 'behind the screen,' that way, to a degree that 3.5 & 4e weren't and 1e very much was...

Part of the idea of 5e was to be useable by fans of prior editions, and while it runs quite naturally, IMHO, in the style I associate with AD&D, the Empowered 5e DM can also go ahead and turn on some optional rules (MCing, Feats), make some consistent house-rules and run it in a more player-empowering 3.x/PF style.

 

[Blue]

It's both.

5e recommends rulings not rules. That doesn't mean you can't tell them to the players and be consistent unless something is broken.

And it doesn't mean you need to, either.

Yes, yes it does. EVERY. TIME. If I play a character and ten sessions in you tell me that you don't think Great Weapon Master feat I took should do +10 damage so the whole time you've be secrretly changing it to +3 damage without telling me, I'd be IMMENSELY ANNOYED. (And that's after cleaning up my language for Eric's Grandma.)

The game is a GROUP OF PEOPLE. A DM can make rulings and change rules. But the DM can't go and hide that rules have changed, since the rules are something the whole group uses. That's not acceptable at any table I've ever been at.

Plots, monsters, special abilities, campaign arcs, curses, the setting, NPC motivations, what that magic item actually does - absolutely keep those hidden. But the rules are shared and everyone needs access to them. If armor suddenly is DR instead of reducing your chance to hit, you can't hide that from the players. No how, no where.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You'd be surprised what you can hide from players....

 

[seebs]

You'd be surprised what you can hide from players....

I think the claim is not "you can't" as in "it is not possible", but "you can't" as in "it is unfair and violates the spirit of the game".

 

[KahlessNestor]

You'd be surprised what you can hide from players....

And back to having trust issues again. ..

 

[hejtmane]

How I handled this is I let him summon creatures he has seen just like wildshape so I let him pick the animals since it did not specify and I never saw the sage advice clarifying. Seems to have kept everyone happy and seemed like a balanced way to approach the spell and keep it fun for the player.

 

[Endur]

Did you bring animal miniatures? Minis might help the GM to go along with your suggestion for which animal shows up. i.e. If you have several bear miniatures, the GM might agree that you summoned several bears. etc.