Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chupacabra" data-source="post: 1579814" data-attributes="member: 17708">No perusing thru spellbooks or the PHB during your turn (but before you make your declaration of action).  Everyone should know the capabilities of their feats, spells and powers up front.  If you don't want to play a complicated character, stick to a sword swinger.  Keeping a 15-20 second rule on for delcarations before the player is skipped for the round.  (although I don't count down out loud or anything, I just keep a somewhat running clock in my head and give them about a 5 second warning that I'm about to skip them, words to the effect of "(insert character name) appears to be gripped with indecision while his foes advance".  Get skipped twice in an encounter and I will drop your character's initiative to zero for the rest of the fight.  D&D combat should be swift, exciting and deadly.  Even though 3.0/3.5 is tons more tactically based that its predecessors, we ain't talkin' chess here, folks.  I agree with your limiting your players to a non-birds eye view of the action.Also, and most importantly, as a DM I keep to the above rules myself.  There is no excuse for me not knowing the powers of the critters and NPC's that I am running.  There is no excuse for me not knowing the AC of the PCs I am fighting against.  There is no excuse for me not having a general idea of the tactics that my bad guys will employ as the fight unfolds.  As a GM, if you are going to throw a dozen bad guys at your players, you better darn well know how to run a dozen bad guys at once, spellcasters included.  Nothing slows the game down more than a poorly prepped GM.</blockquote>

Verification