Why the lash out at her? The idea of the card is a good one. Especially when you play with stranger and that session zero did not happen for some reason. I/we use a raised hand when we do exhibit games. But a card to answer question might actually be a good addition to our exhibit games. It is not because a solution does not suit you that it is automatically a bad one. It might not be for you, but it might be good for a lot of other people.
Like, say, a PHB2 and DMG2.
Can't sell that to every player though.
Yup, it just makes sense. They did a PHB2 and DMG2 combined in one book (Xanathar's), and a PHB3+DMG3 to boot (Tasha's).
WotC has different tools they use for published work, it involves spreadsheets that are trade secrets.
But they changed the spellcasters.
The CR guidelines allow you to make glass-canons, regardless of spellcasting. There is not a required "rate" to define CR in a monster. I like to mostly balance defensive and offensive CR, but it is not required. In fact, it is sometimes quite interesting to take on or the other to an extreme. And it is possible to make spellcasting monsters that are balanced offensively and defensively. In fact, in my updated Vecna (which includes slot based spellcasting) my initial design was a defensive CR of 23 and offensive CR of 23.
I would go further, give the default rules for Gygaxian exploration with optional rules to make it grittier and then consider what optional rules would be best for exploration and social for other play styles. For a least 2 or 3 styles.
You said "You might do fine without adding blue water, as long as there is some the problem will not arise. Being lucky does not mean you might not need some. Same with anti-viruses and VPN, you might never need one. Being lucky does not mean the problems will never arise." This is you literally saying that the problems will arise and that it's only because I'm lucky that they haven't.
Those are two very different things, though. If the DMG doesn't cover certain ground or explain things well, that's the DMGs fault. But it's not the DMG's fault if the DM doesn't read it in the first place.
That sounds good. A section for each of the standard styles of player, and a section for each of the standard type of campaign. The DMG has a couple of paragraphs on things like "heroic fantasy" and "sword and sorcery," but those should also be expanded, perhaps even with rules to help support each type.
X cards are for people that aren't comfortable. if your group has been playing together forever and everyone "gets" everyone else, they aren't necessary. They are part of the set of tools that has helped the game grow and become more welcoming and inclusive.
5E desperately needs a GM facing book with deep discussions on everything from dungeon crawling to magic item economy to war and domain management. We are WAY overdue.
That would be a glass canon! And there is nothing wrong with that. You are not required to have a balanced CR. But I will check the numbers:
That goes hand in hand.
That's their secret Cap, they never use their monster or encounter guidelines.
Who needs that when you have DM Empowerment!?!
