Which Optional Rules from the DMG Do You Use

[Blue]

Folks, how well do you think a survey like this tracks 5e players as a whole? I got into a discussion here a few months back and was told that all feedback and frequency of discussion on ENworld was worthless at best and actively misleading at worst when it came to identifying any issue with the mechanics. Anything we bring up a lot, like -5/+10 feats, is meaningless in terms of showing that there might be a problem with the system. That we do not have much in common with the median player.

I think it is skewed, but to a smaller degree. We're those self selected to read online D&D forum, this one in particular vs. the others. But I still think if we brign up something a lot that does have legitimacy in critiquing, defending, or investigating mechanics.

So how does this apply to these? Do we see these variants are other tables as well? Or just those with the particular mindset we find at ENworld?

 

[Satyrn]

Folks, how well do you think a survey like this tracks 5e players as a whole? I got into a discussion here a few months back and was told that all feedback and frequency of discussion on ENworld was worthless at best and actively misleading at worst when it came to identifying any issue with the mechanics. Anything we bring up a lot, like -5/+10 feats, is meaningless in terms of showing that there might be a problem with the system. That we do not have much in common with the median player.

I think it is skewed, but to a smaller degree. We're those self selected to read online D&D forum, this one in particular vs. the others. But I still think if we brign up something a lot that does have legitimacy in critiquing, defending, or investigating mechanics.

So how does this apply to these? Do we see these variants are other tables as well? Or just those with the particular mindset we find at ENworld?

I don't think it tracks 5e players as a whole at all. And I agree with whoever told you that our discussions are useless for identifying* any issue with the mechanics when it comes to 5e players as a whole.

But that said, these discussions are of worth to me, because they are about our games, each poster's individual experience, and I'm here to learn about actual experiences of my fellow players and posters.

Amusingly, what I like about this place are the anecdotal posts that get dismissed so readily in the same sort of conversation.


*Edit: More precisely, it's useless for reliably and conclusively identifying such issues.

 

[Reynard]

I am actually a little surprised at how prevalent alternate rest systems are. I have often considered using one variant or another but never implemented it. For those that checked it off, do you tend to make rest times faster or slower?

 

[iserith]

I am actually a little surprised at how prevalent alternate rest systems are. I have often considered using one variant or another but never implemented it. For those that checked it off, do you tend to make rest times faster or slower?

I knew right away that rest variants would be one of the biggest results, just given how much space on the internet is taken up by discussions related to it. Plus people nowadays don't seem to like standard XP (or understand it) like they used to, so story-based XP is no surprise either.

In a town-to-dungeon campaign I was running, I wanted to set it up where each delve was a single adventuring day and the recovery period was a week to allow for a variation on downtime activities. This was also to set up a method by which each session was self-contained as the players and characters may change from week to week. So the resting was: short rest is 8 hours, long rest is one week.

The 8-hour short rest meant that, since the otherworldly dungeon was only "in this world" for 24 hours tops at one time, travel time, exploration time, and resting time were all at odds which made for meaningful choices. So if you went at a slow pace to avoid danger on the way to the dungeon, you'd have less time to delve and rest. If you went faster, you'd have more time to delve and rest, but you were at risk of getting jumped with surprise on the way. If you spent a lot of times really scouring the dungeon, you'd cut into how many rests you could take. And so on. This, combined with which characters might be on a given delve (short- or long-rest based classes), made for interesting choices.

 

[77IM]

I'm surprised so many groups use flanking, since I tried it and hated it. I wonder if they're using flanking exactly as written in the DMG, or using a house-rule of a variant.

 

[GreyLord]

I am actually a little surprised at how prevalent alternate rest systems are. I have often considered using one variant or another but never implemented it. For those that checked it off, do you tend to make rest times faster or slower?

I play with younger individuals in many games who want to get right to the action. I find that having the Epic Heroism option utilized makes the game move faster for them and thus instead of spending more downtime moves it along which matches the pace that they prefer.

As a note in regards to proficiency dice...I do the opposite option in regards to a fighter's specialty dice. Instead of them rolling, they have the choice to make it more set rather than rolling the dice to see what their bonus is (makes it more tactical and predictable so they have better choice on WHEN and WHERE to use their ability to their best advantage). Thus instead of rolling a d8 for the bonus, they can decide to use a straight +4. It means that they may not get that +8 and 50% of the time will have a worse bonus than if they rolled, but they are also not going to get a +1 when they need that +4. I leave the choice up to the player.

Also, another way I use to speed up the gameplay to a more hectic level is to allow them to use Healing Surges.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Simply put, most but not all, and none of the rules I use for those are out of the DMG...at least not the 5e DMG. I usually house-rule something if I feel I need or want it, but I will look to see if the system at hand actually handles it. If not, well...house rule. I've been doing this whole "RPG thing" for longer than many players have been alive and feel I have a 'pretty good grasp' at what I like and what will work.

So yes, I do us, for example, "Story based XP"...but mine is based on a percentage of what the PC needs for next level, and it may or may not involve specifics related to the story interacting with that PC. If a PC is 2nd level he needs 900 for level 3. Typically my "story based XP" is based on some particular story-outcome or resolution, and my standard rate is 10%. Ergo, a PC who finally reaches a story goal of "discovering who killed the kindly farmers that helped out the PC's family when the PC was a kid", that PC will net 90xp at minimum. I have gone as high as 25% , but usually stick to 10 or 15 and just allow/have more story threads going on. Many never get resolved...but some do. And those net the PC(s) a XP bonus based on their level...not a flat amount.

Most of the other rules that are found in the DMG I have already house-ruled or prefer my house-rule, so I use those.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Li Shenron]

Of the Optional Rules presented in Chapters 9 of the 5E DMG (plus a few others) have you implemented in your game? How did it go?

Only the story-based XP during the playtest years (also to speed up advancement in order to test more levels), but in our current game I just give monsters XP as the default rules.

 

[CapnZapp]

None.

 

[Blue]

I am actually a little surprised at how prevalent alternate rest systems are. I have often considered using one variant or another but never implemented it. For those that checked it off, do you tend to make rest times faster or slower?

I find that the balance between the classes that are primarily at-will, primarily short-rest, and primarily long rest is best maintained by doing the DMG recommended 6-8 encounters between long rest, with two short rests breaking it up. My pacing usually has a fewer encounters than that in a 24 hour period, so I extend how long between rests to hit the design goal. I rarely run "standard" dungeons - combat takes a lot of wall time and my players aren't up for a grind of a dozen or more encounters - that would be half a year of actual play at our rate.

I like how Adventures in Middle Earth (5e Tolkien) modifies rest times - during their "Journey" phase (exploration/discovery pillar of 5e but with more structure) you can only get the effects of a long rest at a sanctuary, like Elrond's in LotR. Very flavorful and fits my DMing style. Planning to try that out next campaign I start.