Torching the whole party with a dragon's breath weapon is one of the most fun moments as a Dungeon Master. How can we tweak this rule to have greater control over its power and establish ludonarrative harmony?
Breath Weapon Dice Pools
Speak Your Secrets
Metagaming is one issue we encounter in tabletop RPGs. Players have their characters act on player knowledge that their character does not possess. A DM's defense against this is to gently remind the player to act within the confines of character knowledge. This can lead to an overcorrection where every time a single PC finds out information, the other players ask "do you tell us that?" Any time a strange routine like this becomes habitual, we should streamline the process.
Artificer Survey Results
Shortly after the release of The Artificer Returns, we ran a survey asking D&D fans some more general design questions than you get from the typical Unearthed Arcana survey. Here's the results!
Design Tips: Trap Features
We used to build characters a different way. Back in 3.x, the splat got so numerous that you were practically forced to "work backwards from 20." In other words, you would build your ultimate character concept and work backwards to see what you needed to take at each level. For example, failure to properly plan … Continue reading Design Tips: Trap Features
How Often Do Critical Hits Underperform?
Critical Hits are often the subject of homebrew rules. Driven by the perception that critical hits frequently underperform, these homebrew rules juice up the damage of critical hits to a more impressive level. They're often implemented after a player waits 20 rolls (on average) to score a critical hit that lands with a thud. But, is this underperformance a reflection of perception or reality?
Player Screen
Why do we only use one side of the DM screen? Make use of the player's side to your DM screen to keep your D&D sessions running smoothly!
Shield Master Unleashed
Can we rewrite the Shield Master feat to fix its fiddly action economy?
Warlock Eldritch Invocations Table
Introducing the Warlock Eldritch Invocations Table including effect summaries, prerequisites, action economy, recharge, and source info.
Pole Position: PAM over GWM
Why to take the Polearm Master feat before the Great Weapon Master feat.
Schrödinger’s Orcs
This is my dirtiest DM secret: I don't fudge dice. I fudge entire monsters. This DMing tip can help you manage the tide of combat to dramatic conclusions.
