D&D 5E Most useful DM tools at the table? Please share

[the_redbeard]

Folks,

I'm getting geared up for a new 5e campaign, and wondering what I should have on my laptop or printed out and have on hand. What have you found that you use frequently at the table?

Do you use the DM screen, and which tables do you use?

What tables from the DM's Guide or the Player's Handbook do you frequently look up?

What do you steal from other editions or other games, or home brewed charts that you use?

thanks muchly

 

[DaveDash]

Advantage/disadvantage mechanics are the most powerful tools you will end up using.

 

[Gilladian]

I like to have a list of the conditions on hand. Otherwise, names for NPCs, and random encounter tables are about all I've wanted.

 

[the_redbeard]

Advantage/disadvantage mechanics are the most powerful tools you will end up using.

Do you keep a list of circumstances that provide ad/dis-ad? How often do you use it per session?

 

[Aoirorentsu]

There is a list of the rules-as-written circumstances in which one gets advantage or disadvantage around the interwebz somewhere. (Here's one for just the things that appear in the basic rules: http://community.wizards.com/forum/rules-questions/threads/4118171 )

Beyond that, it's up to you how to use it. Some people say "only when the rules specifically say you have it", and that's reasonable because having advantage on a check is pretty powerful. On the other hand, because it's so significant, it's practically begging to be used to incentivize the behaviors you want to see out of your players. Inspiration is specifically and explicitly designed for this purpose.

For example, there's currently no rule that grants advantage for firing from an elevated position. However, "death from above" is a trope that comes up in a lot of the fiction that informs D&D conventions, so you might grant an attacker advantage for firing at range from a significantly elevated position in order to incentivize your PCs to look for chances to get such a tactical advantage without the complexity of thinking about how elevated positions interact, say, with line of sight and cover rules.

So ultimately, it's up to you what grants advantage or disadvantage. But the various commenters are right that it's probably the most important "tool" (you know, other than imagination and maybe some improv skills) in the DM's toolbox.

 

[DaveDash]

Do you keep a list of circumstances that provide ad/dis-ad? How often do you use it per session?

Nah that's kind of the point, and why it's so powerful. You don't need a list or table, you introduce the mechanic when it makes sense to.

 

[aramis erak]

Folks,

I'm getting geared up for a new 5e campaign, and wondering what I should have on my laptop or printed out and have on hand. What have you found that you use frequently at the table?

Do you use the DM screen, and which tables do you use?

What tables from the DM's Guide or the Player's Handbook do you frequently look up?

What do you steal from other editions or other games, or home brewed charts that you use?

thanks muchly

The tables I use most: Weapons table, Weapon Ranges Table, Cantrips ranges table. Then the conditions summaries.

The most useful tool? a ruler marked in scale feet, at the same scale as the battlemap.

 

[iserith]

What have you found that you use frequently at the table?

Dice. A bottle opener. Foul language.

Do you use the DM screen, and which tables do you use?

I don't use a DM screen. I don't need any tables, though I do have some random name generators bookmarked on my laptop. I throw a copy of the page from the pdf with the conditions on it in the middle of the table.

What tables from the DM's Guide or the Player's Handbook do you frequently look up?

None. I don't find it's necessary.

What do you steal from other editions or other games, or home brewed charts that you use?

Not a thing.

 

[Ktulu]

For combat tracking, I use DMMinion on my iPad. There is a pc version as well. Otherwise, I have the conditions page printed out for players and I ordered Gf9's spell cards to assist with quick lookup of players spells at the table.

 

[davout1805]

I use the Everchanging Book of Names http://ebon.pyorre.net/