D&D 5E (2014) Have you actually read the 5e DMG?

[Tallifer]

My players insisted I run 5E. I told them straight up: you can make your characters with 5E, but expect me to fall back on 4E and OSR 1/2 the time. They like my adventures enough to put up with it

 

[JeffB]

My players insisted I run 5E. I told them straight up: you can make your characters with 5E, but expect me to fall back on 4E and OSR 1/2 the time. They like my adventures enough to put up with it

The Basic Rules are free.

That said, if everyone is having fun, that is all that matters. I'll ignore half the rules in every game if it gets in the way of the fun.

 

[Hussar]

I'm pretty sure I haven't read the PHB cover to cover either. And that freaking index is the bane of my existence. If you've got access to the internet during play though, pretty much any question is a google search away for an answer.

 

[Ringtail]

I read only what I needed at a given time but since its release I've probably read the whole thing, just not cover to cover. (Sans the Magic Item descriptions)

I like the world building stuff, though if you are experienced in this or already have a world it isn't that useful. Adventure creation seemed. . . fine, though if I create my own adventures I hardly use it. (I use the Lazy DM method from Sly Flourish.) Encounter building is garbage. Way too complex and the balance doesn't work anyway. Treasure tables are good.

Optional rules are. . . meh, hit or miss. I've never liked any of the optional rules about damage or healing as they seem to mess up the game. We used to use Massive Damage for a little while but it seemed OP and so it fell out of favor, getting used rarely. Both of my groups use flanking and when I DM, I use all the optional combat moves like Shoves/Tumbles/Overrun though most of my players seem to forget they exist and frankly aside from a few niche situations (a chokepoint or a sharp drop) they don't seem useful.

Overall I don't care for the DMG too much. Its my least used book and is only frequently referenced for Magic Items.

 

[was]

I have read it cover to cover, over the course of several months.

 

[jasper]

I am not changing my vote but due to the lockdown:; I did just finish reading from cover to cover. ALL NEW DMS should read it cover to cover as it has some great ideas for beginner dms. US OLD FARTs just need to read up on the magic items and a few other chapters. It does a lot of book dropping in some places. However, some of the suggestions for new people have been covered better than the small write ups. It does not contain exact details like the 1E DMG did with castle building. (Suggest new dms review the castle building cost from the 1E and make changes. )
I did learn I have not been running broom of flying correctly. It had a 200 pds limit for the 50 foot speed.

 

[Tallifer]

Tallifer claims to be running 5e games without having read the 5e PBH, if I read him correctly (post #77). Of course you can wing it but it is a bit nonchalant. I expect my DMs to know the rules of the edition we are playing, not just make calls on how he «imagines» the rules work.

Update: I have persuaded my players to switch back to 4E. Fairer to them and me as you have pointed out.

P.S. I can see how active 5E is by how deeply I had to dig for this thread to mention this! Nonetheless the 4E discord server The Living Guild has allowed me to live the dream. Square fireballs from now on!

 

[Tallifer]

I think if I actually could play in a 5E game, I would read more.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I've never read it cover to cover, so I can't honestly pick the first one. However I weirdly seem to be more aware of a lot of the stuff actually in it than some people who have.

I suspect this is because I regularly dip back into it and read specific sections or entire chapters, rather than reading it once, assuming I "got it" and not going back unless I have to!

Tallifer claims to be running 5e games without having read the 5e PBH, if I read him correctly (post #77). Of course you can wing it but it is a bit nonchalant. I expect my DMs to know the rules of the edition we are playing, not just make calls on how he «imagines» the rules work.

One of the DMs I play 5E with has clearly taken this approach. And he's likes 5E, which is the funny thing. He tells me about how it's so much better for him than 4E and I'm thinking (not saying) "Well mate maybe that's because you don't actually know the rules and I have to keep explaining Diplomacy checks 'aren't a thing' in 5E and so on...", I basically have to act as sub-DM, because in the first couple of sessions he got the rules so spectacularly wrong (and like, even the casual players noticed) that he just refers people to me for a ruling now.

Read the damn PHB people. Also stop getting people to make checks constantly for no reason! I shouldn't have to make 6 Persuasion checks in the same conversation (roughly one per 1.5 sentences my character said), especially when I'm asking some fairly straightfoward questions and not actually trying to persuade the allegedly friendly NPC of anything!

(This is why I abhor people who leap on 1s on skill checks as "critical fails" btw - they're always same sort of people who want you to roll 3x more than is reasonable, making 1s vastly more likely!)

 

[Asisreo]

I've told people that identical monsters get the same initiative and some of them were floored. Like, for some reason, they just assumed they knew initiative and didn't read the actual rule in the book. It's not even that hidden. I can understand not getting stealth since it's very spread out and there's still some questions with how darkness works but initiative is very basic.

Also, surprise is a very common misunderstanding. It drives me up the wall when a DM let's any character make a damaging attack roll outside initiative. People don't see how surprise is much of an advantage but...the surprise benefit is right there and it's very powerful so how? Idk, it just bugs me.