Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8429722" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>Yes, that's largely my point. I think that they chose the words they did for a reason.</p><p></p><p>Generally speaking, there’s no question about how the rules work, and so they should work as described.</p><p></p><p>That phrase doesn’t just grant the GM total authority. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sure, some of these examples are what would then constitute a question. Others I don’t think apply at all, or in the case of something like Counterspell, they work exactly as described. This is my point; absent such potential mitigating factors, the rules work as described.</p><p></p><p>So yes, if it’s established that there is a question about how a rule works, then the GM decides what happens.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I’m not challenging how it’s worked for decades. I’m saying that taking the phrase:</p><p></p><p><em>"A Dungeon Master adjudicates the game and determines whether to use an official ruling in play. The DM always has the final say on rules questions."</em></p><p></p><p>and reading that as “The DM is allowed to do whatever they want” is probably not a good way to approach play. If you happen to play that way and it works for you, that’s awesome, go ahead and have fun. But for anyone new to the hobby, or as a general discussion of how to approach play, I wouldn’t recommend that approach.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8429722, member: 6785785"] Yes, that's largely my point. I think that they chose the words they did for a reason. Generally speaking, there’s no question about how the rules work, and so they should work as described. That phrase doesn’t just grant the GM total authority. Sure, some of these examples are what would then constitute a question. Others I don’t think apply at all, or in the case of something like Counterspell, they work exactly as described. This is my point; absent such potential mitigating factors, the rules work as described. So yes, if it’s established that there is a question about how a rule works, then the GM decides what happens. I’m not challenging how it’s worked for decades. I’m saying that taking the phrase: [I]"A Dungeon Master adjudicates the game and determines whether to use an official ruling in play. The DM always has the final say on rules questions."[/I] and reading that as “The DM is allowed to do whatever they want” is probably not a good way to approach play. If you happen to play that way and it works for you, that’s awesome, go ahead and have fun. But for anyone new to the hobby, or as a general discussion of how to approach play, I wouldn’t recommend that approach. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
Top