วีดีโอ

Whether it can or can't be rerolled shouldn't be so monotone. Sure, it is fine to claim that one roll encompasses every try, but in this case you can't just let it succeed in a single try unless it was a really good roll.That also means a lot of math due to various things spent, like time, or even tools. Worst of all is if that action has a potential to take a long time and now player needs to communicate how much he wants to spend on it or DM to decide if something will interrupt. On the other hand letting easily reroll can also be annoying. Unlocking a simple lock requiring to roll 3 or more but getting 2 for several tries is a weird spot where you can't punish but can let is succeed either.

I treat critical hits like getting advantage on damage. Take the higher result(s) and double them. Monsters and NPCs don't ever crit in my games either. The players are here to be heroes and do amazing things. It's not special if the tower guard can crit too.

So boring... Takes out the fun of rolling

I use BobTheWorldBuilder's improved crits that are tied to damage type (piercing/bludgeoning/slashing), and they're AWESOME!

I think the problem with any one solution is that it is ONE solution. I treat natural 20s in a number of ways depending on the character and circumstance. Double the dice (paladins & rogues are big fans), offer an additional attack, offer max damage, the attacker can give the next attacker advantage, or whatever else we come up with at the table. By using more than one solution it makes crits unique and real opportunities to change the tide of a battle and avoids rolling on charts. For monsters and NPCs I threaten extra damage but if the player wishes they can allow their armor to become damaged (go down 1 AC until repaired) or sacrifice their shield, to avoid the critical damage. RPGs are about creativity being added to simple procedural rules, not conforming to them.

My problem with crits is that every GM have different rules for crits. I never know what the crit rules are, I always have to ask, and I can NEVER remember whose crit rules are whose. I have a learning disability. Nothing takes the fun out of rolling a crit like not knowing what to do.

🥳🫂👍🏿 If considering party composition is wrong, I don’t want to be right

My critical hits like this: Damage die max + roll damage die + modifiers = total damage.

🥳🫂👍🏿 I’ve tried several versions - it is true that crit tables will slow things down, but when those were most popular, crits required a confirmation roll, so the chart wasn’t consulted even as often as 5% of the time - I tried using just max normal damage on crit, and as soon as I used it, it sucked the fun right out of the room - if you’re looking for exploding dice and speed, Nimble is fantastic - it and DC20 asked the question: why two rolls? One solution is roll to hit and use static damage augmented by your to hit roll. The other said, just roll damage and let the dice explode - I prefer the latter - your solution sounds similar to Fred’s on How To RPG - he lets the players choose before the dice are thrown - my feeling about crits, is that since dice are a gambling mechanic, the hedonic treadmill means the highest highs are only as potent as the lowest lows - if we guarantee big crits, it won’t take long before the lowest crit roll feels about the same as the previous lowest crit roll - one way you may be able to short circuit this is to have a rider that happens just for a crit happening at all - you and I agree that the random table slows things down - I’m a fan of Nimble letting you ignore the targets armor (which normally reduces incoming damage) as a part of crits, so that even when you roll 1 additional damage, the overall damage is still substantially more against an armored foe - so many possibilities in just one part of the game that is supposed to be essentially an edge case 😅 - many thanks 🙏🏿

We use Critical Hit charts/cards, but we also have a luck system! Luck Values: (-7) - 24 -Expenditure 1d4 Luck (Must have at least 1 positive Luck Point): You may use Luck to affect one event brought about by an action you take or one that directly affects you. (Examples: Hjalmar using Luck to make Admiral Blood fail a save against a spell HE cast. Timbo using Luck to disarm Admiral Blood. Slayn using luck to make a save vs Zone of Truth which he was affected by. Combat Rewind a la Rick vs. Pixies) -Expenditure (1d4) x2 Luck (Must have at least 1 positive Luck Point): You may use luck to affect one event brought about by someone else's action which has no direct impact on you. (Examples: Bob using luck to rewind Slayn's fireball thus saving 3/4s of the party, but having no effect on him because of evasion. Using luck to make the Shin ship's guns misfire. They were targeting the ship not one individual.) -Every time you advance a level, roll luck as per the table below. ADD this to your previous total up to the maximum defined below. Hopefully this will prevent Luck dump battles right before you advance. Only work for the last 10 rounds Player Luck Player Level Luck Roll Max Luck 1 1d4 4 2-3 1d6 10 4-7 2d4 16 8-15 3d6 20 16-20 4d6 24

I also use crits on nat ones for saving throw spells. When a spell is cast that requires a save and the recipient of the spell rolls a nat 1... Spell casters finally get to crit.

What is with the malicious visual design captions?

We use the max and a roll

Magic, among other things, in D&D has always imo been too restrictive on pc imagination and creativity. At the very least, a "you can always try" approach seems best in many cases. And I've had too many experiences where the rolls were more fitting -- good and bad -- than any script or hard-and-fast ruleset could ever be. That said, no matter how high the Bard roles, they can *not* seduce a dragon. Unless it's in human form and, you know, "on the market."

Thoughts about them defaulting to 5.5e spells on DnD Beyond? We play at a table so no harm for us for now. I was hoping you could just choose between Legacy or new.

In my CoS campaign the Bard found one off a corpse inside of a corpse flower. I rolled pretty low for the gem count. They were stoked, but are intent on holding onto them for Strahd 😂

I'm late, but on the rewatch!

This was actually very helpful insight. We're in Level 8 5E campaign right now and are undecided as what to do. We started a DC20 campaign for our channel. And, I gotta say, after experiencing the joy of that system, most of our players get grumpy on the days we have to play D&D.

“Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.”

Come over to Dragonbane. Free League's forums are pretty much free of controversy and are super laid back. I've found them to be incredibly helpful. Dragonbane doesn't have tons of wonky rules issues or spell clarifications. Homebrew magic items are encouraged because there aren't a heap in the core book. Some of us have been warning the D&D community for about a year and 8 months that some of this stuff was coming. Wizards of the Coast does NOT give a rip about retro compatibility or how we feel about it. It's all digital rules and walled garden all the way to the bottom from here, y'all. I hope D&D comes back to us some day in the future and becomes an analog, tabletop game again.

I go away for a couple days... And everything catches fire 😮

I do not understand why people do not print their D&D Beyond characters to PDF so they have it locked down? I haven't used D&D Beyond for over a year & I am not reliant on it as a result, but is there a reason you don't export to PDF?

Thank you

Instead of changing the classes, they should have just tried to fix and clarify the rules. They put so much focus on trying to fix the classes that they left all the rules update as a second thought creating one or more loopholes or issues for each one they tried to fix. From that lens, they did a bad job.

Main "controversy" that I find fascinating...no character sheet? Seems like, once again, that VTT is really the only way your meant to play?

🥳🫂👍🏿 Gotta open this in 5 tabs and watch in 1/4 speed ❤😊

So many times portrayal of mental illness and mental health are linear and stereotypically. This is often magnified by bad mechanics for such things. It seems to me that those that role-play such things need to be careful to avoid mocking these things and doing things for laughs. Furthermore, I'd would suggest that players/GMs that use such things check with the table to ensure that they are not about to step on toes of someone who suffers from what is being role-played. In sum, my advice, without writing a multipage reply, is to proceed with caution.

Yes notes are important I need to read that book, I have it I just gotta read it Yes one session prepped at a time NPCs are a must to have prepped too

Interesting

This was a lot of fun, I like the dueling dice rolls for difficulty!

i'll soon start a short pirate-themed campaign, and this is some great inspiration! I have sreamlined the spell amplifier to just double the range of any spell, no resource management needed, (located in the crow's nest so only 1 character can be there) and the spell shield to - once a turn, as a reaction arcana roll, dc 10+spell level, a bit like counterspell. for simplicity's sake. Thanks :)

🥳🫂👍🏿 Another for the house rule question #2245