D&D (2024) DMs what do you think of the new PHB?

[Micah Sweet]

Have you considered creating a Tik Tok account? Creating Level Up content on Tik Tok would garner far more support than any amount of posting here.

You're probably right, but I kinda hate social media. This place, a few discord forums, and one Facebook group are pretty much it for me. I barely even use YouTube, except when I'm trying to figure out how to do something.

 

[Charlaquin]

Absolutely. That's why over the last year or so I've purposefully been reminding myself to add in more "In my opinion"s and "I think"s into my posts just to drive home the fact that I'm talking about my own personal feelings and not some generalized truth.

I mean more often than not, normal forum discourse implies that most statements given are in fact meant to be interpreted as opinion without the need for "I think"s added through every post. But depending on how... strident... someone gets their opinion across, it can make the reader sometimes feel like its no longer an opinion but instead a statement of truth with the implied "And you're stupid for not knowing it!" following along behind. And that's where potential hurt feelings come into play.

Also apparently if your opinion is that you prefer when DMing not to allow players to declare their own ability checks. People really hate that particular opinion for some reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don’t think anyone has said that

I felt it was implied, since I was hearing very little praise that didn't feel targeted at new players. But fair enough. I apologize for my misrepresentation of the discussion.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Also apparently if your opinion is that you prefer when DMing not to allow players to declare their own ability checks. People really hate that particular opinion for some reason.

To be fair, the rules have always suggested the opposite, and a lot of DMs prefer that players just say what they're doing sans game terms. But if your group wants to call out Insight checks, that's of course fine if everyone 's ok with it.

 

[Charlaquin]

I felt it was implied, since I was hearing very little praise that didn't feel targeted at new players. But fair enough. I apologize for my misrepresentation of the discussion.

Well the OP specifically asked for assessments not from a player’s perspective. I think there’s plenty for long-time players to like, but most of those things would fall under the category of player-facing stuff the OP has already heard from other reviews. The ways in which it’s better for new players are more relevant to a DM’s perspective, since a DM typically has to pick up the slack when introducing new players if the PHB doesn’t do that very well. Of course, many of the ways in which the new PHB is better for new players will also be beneficial for long-time players too, that’s just not really relevant to the OP’s question.

 

[Charlaquin]

To be fair, the rules have always suggested the opposite, and a lot of DMs prefer that players just say what they're doing sans game terms. But if your group wants to call out Insight checks, that's of course fine if everyone 's ok with it.

Yeah, agreed. It’s just that in my experience people here get very touchy about people expressing such a sentiment.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Also apparently if your opinion is that you prefer when DMing not to allow players to declare their own ability checks. People really hate that particular opinion for some reason.

Do you couple it with the suggestion that other people are doing it wrong if they do it the other way?

 

[Warpiglet-7]

To be fair, the rules have always suggested the opposite, and a lot of DMs prefer that players just say what they're doing sans game terms. But if your group wants to call out Insight checks, that's of course fine if everyone 's ok with it.

This is really what I want to move toward….

And have a list of skills for everyone on excel and just say roll d20…

If it’s close maybe ask how they can nudge it and then look at synergy with other skills that hey then declare.

For immersion though, I would like describe action, dm adjudicate without reference to skill unless absolutely necessary or implied with a shove or something

 

[Charlaquin]

Do you couple it with the suggestion that other people are doing it wrong if they do it the other way?

No, but people sure seem to read that into my posts despite my regular and explicit testimony to the contrary.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I often say 'I want you to roll something for that' and let them try to justify whatever.