What works at your table?
Traps can be fun. A great myth is that traps need to be carefully curated to be worth anything. While curated traps are wonderful, even simple traps can be great. Here's a simple system for running fun and impactful traps at your table: Download the PDF via DM's Guild Elements of a Good Trap For … Continue reading Simple Trap System
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?
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!
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
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?
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!
Can we rewrite the Shield Master feat to fix its fiddly action economy?
Introducing the Warlock Eldritch Invocations Table including effect summaries, prerequisites, action economy, recharge, and source info.
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.
Examining damage outputs of cantrips vs. crossbows for the new Unearthed Arcana Artificer. It seems crossbows can outscale cantrips, but at what cost?
