D&D 5E What Do You Not Like About The 2014 5E DMG?

[TiQuinn]

How would I fix the DMG?

Eliminate it completely. Break up the content and move it into the Everything Guides that come out once a year, covering a few different topics in greater depth for the DM portion than trying to cram it into one book.

 

[Parmandur]

The problem is finding it. I have read the book fron to cover and still need to search for rules I need in one situation which are scattered all over the book.

People read it... and then give up. That is the problem with this book.

Yeah, I love the material and have an extremely good memory and it can be some work to double-check what I know is in there.

 

[grimmgoose]

The reason no one reads the DMG is because it's largely pointless. No, the solutions to problems often aren't found in the DMG. At best the rules touch on things so lightly that they might as well not exist in the first place. That's the result of the whole "rulings not rules" mantra that went into the design of 5e. They couldn't actually go into any depth because they weren't allowed to.

This is my main issue with the DMG. It has nothing interesting in it. The biggest changes it allows you to make to the 5E chassis is to increase or decrease the length of time required for a Long Rest. That's it.

I recognize that most of this is due to the inflexibility of the 5E engine, but the DMG is basically a giant nothing-burger. Even if the CR system worked as advertised, it'd still be hardly used.

Compare the entire DMG with Savage Worlds' Adventure Edition pages 111 - 145. That is what I want from a good DMG: an Adventure Toolkit.

 

[Scott Christian]

This is my main issue with the DMG. It has nothing interesting in it. The biggest changes it allows you to make to the 5E chassis is to increase or decrease the length of time required for a Long Rest. That's it.

I think this is one of the perspective problems about the DMG. Some readers want it to be full of rules, which can be used to alter the game or min/max aspects of the game (such as flanking). This is sometimes in contrast of those that want a guide to build creativity in their world. For these people the rules are already in the PHB. They don't need more rules, they want creativity, which, at the end of the day, is the primary role of the DM.

Of course there are people that exist in both spectrums, but it seems to me that most fall a little more to one side or the other. And that creates some of the consternation we see around the DMG.

 

[Shardstone]

This is my main issue with the DMG. It has nothing interesting in it. The biggest changes it allows you to make to the 5E chassis is to increase or decrease the length of time required for a Long Rest. That's it.

I recognize that most of this is due to the inflexibility of the 5E engine, but the DMG is basically a giant nothing-burger. Even if the CR system worked as advertised, it'd still be hardly used.

Compare the entire DMG with Savage Worlds' Adventure Edition pages 111 - 145. That is what I want from a good DMG: an Adventure Toolkit.

5E engine is not inflexible, and the variant rules in the DMG have bigger impacts. Ability Score profs reshape the game too, etc etc. They could have done more and done better but no, 5E is by no means inflexible.

 

[Aldarc]

5E engine is not inflexible, and the variant rules in the DMG have bigger impacts. Ability Score profs reshape the game too, etc etc. They could have done more and done better but no, 5E is by no means inflexible.

The 5E Engine is so rarely flexed in any capacity for fear of rocking the boat even the slightest.

 

[grimmgoose]

5E engine is not inflexible, and the variant rules in the DMG have bigger impacts. Ability Score profs reshape the game too, etc etc. They could have done more and done better but no, 5E is by no means inflexible.

From my perspective at least, it's very inflexible. 5E is a superhero fantasy game. You can't turn it into a horror game; you can't tweak it into a gritty/low-fantasy; it is superhero fantasy. It isn't LOTR - it's Marvel Superheroes with swords and spells.

Further than that, it is a resource-management game. There's nothing you can do to take out the resource management - that is the game. Meaning, the game revolves around Long Rests.

That's what I mean by inflexible. There aren't any tweaks to make the 5E game you want - you're very much locked-in to what the designers intended. And that isn't what I want from my TTRPGs.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

The 5E Engine is so rarely flexed in any capacity for fear of rocking the boat even the slightest.

This is more a problem now than in the past two editions?

I really don’t think that is true.

 

[Aldarc]

This is more a problem now than in the past two editions?

I really don’t think that is true.

The claim is being made about 5e not about prior editions.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

From my perspective at least, it's very inflexible. 5E is a superhero fantasy game. You can't turn it into a horror game; you can't tweak it into a gritty/low-fantasy; it is superhero fantasy. It isn't LOTR - it's Marvel Superheroes with swords and spells.

Further than that, it is a resource-management game. There's nothing you can do to take out the resource management - that is the game. Meaning, the game revolves around Long Rests.

That's what I mean by inflexible. There aren't any tweaks to make the 5E game you want - you're very much locked-in to what the designers intended. And that isn't what I want from my TTRPGs.

You know what is very flexible? Some of the OSR B/X games.

Just add a d6 roll or something. “New mechanic.”

However, I don’t think it has mass appeal.

With 5e, no one wants to do what is required. Change healing, change rests, look at a few key spells. Curate the subclasses. I don’t see so many people that want that.

I would enjoy a change in an upcoming campaign but buy in his hard. I don’t think the requisite changes are…