What We Want For D&D 5e in 2021 | Dungeons and Dragons | Web DM

[@WebDM]

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[@jonathanbabcock9177]

Jim you nailed it with the dynamics of class features should have been expanded or even specialized to be more crunchy. Not a bless+ spell or a more power gaming options but expand options. I do feel tasha tried to expand it by eliminating race stats attributed and alignment changes. DM's did get a bit forgotten in this.

[@ezrafaulk3076]

You know, it's a good thing you mentioned Paizo and 1e Pathfinder, because you'll probably find a LOT of what you want from 5e DnD in 2e Pathfinder, ESPECIALLY since Paizo are still actively supporting it, and actively bringing a lot of 1e content back in a way in which it actually works in 2e (the swashbuckler class for instance); in FACT, I think you guys should make a video on what all 2e Pathfinder does that 5e DnD DOESN'T. I honestly think it'd be a GREAT video.

[@c_bass1971]

We love this hobby. We love 5e. Why is this popular channel not also a fan of this edition? No new classics? No new books worth keeping? I used to love this channel, but now I think “do I really want to hear complaints and downers about 5e?” Before I click. I have so much respect for the knowledge and history and understanding of the game on this channel, but seriously its just a bummer channel now. I totally understand complaints about the game. I have them too, but every episode could have a subtitle “why I am disappointed in this book...”.

[@lazarus845]

@@c_bass1971 I couldn't agree with this more. I couldn't believe when I watched the Tasha's Cauldron book review that they dismissed the new character origin/racial features with a sarcastic "thanks for the homebrew." I just had to stop watching the video after that. If your complaint is that Wizards isn't giving DMs enough solid options for how to deal with niche/custom situations, and when they do specifically lay out how to approach a problem that a lot of DMs have run into repeatedly over the last 6 years, then you can't just dismiss it as nothing. In this video, they complain that the rules and options are split up into too many books. But, in the review of Tasha's, they complain that there is too much reprinted material. You can't have it both ways! The only way to get rules integrated into a single volume is to reprint them.

[@TheBlackAshTree]

While I as a DM agree with the sentiment of the majority of this video, I do have to disagree on one account. If your players are constantly trouncing your monsters, there's only two problems that could be occurring. You as a DM gave them access to something that has allowed substantial power imbalance, or you're not running your monsters properly. Yeah, I said it. DMs need to be just as accountable as the players when it comes to stupid decisions, and that includes running monsters the way they would act. While I dont always agree with everything he says I cant recommend The Monsters Know What They're Doing enough. If you run monsters the way it logically makes sense for them to be run, and quit treating them like a semi sentient sack of hitpoint with basic attacks, then you will see a huge difference in both how the players react to encounters and how challenging they find them. That being said, I do find the reliance on DM fiat on WoTCs part to be lazy and bad game design. I shouldn't have to go back and add flare and razzle dazzle to half of the monster manuals abilities just to make it feel unique or interesting. To say nothing of the fact that the base Monster Manual rarely mentions monster tactics at all.

[@kalebrodenhausen3606]

Basically we need a “Vecna’s Eye of Hindsight” book.

[@beauparsons6662]

HA! i love the name, gave me a good chuckle

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

I would buy that book in a heartbeat. XD

[@MauroDraco]

Hahahaha!! Great!

[@Mr88spacepants]

Great name

[@chasebalcziunas4289]

We all know that with the sake of naming conventions, they’d ruin it as Vecna’s Eye of Everything ._.

[@z.adkins862]

Absolutely 5e needs more DM tools.

[@p-leif630]

that is a problem is with player option empowering players even with rules makes it harder for the DM

[@averydennie728]

A monster builder is my dream or at least more monsters.

[@p-leif630]

@@averydennie728 monster building rules are in the Dmg also there Koboldpresss and Sandy petersons 5e mosnter I have ore Horrifc monsters then I can use

[@averydennie728]

@@p-leif630 The DMG 5e has never really been helpful I take a lot of monsters from other things too but it would just be nice to have better tools to save me from having to brew things up or convert from other editions or games entirely.

[@p-leif630]

@@averydennie728 I would rather have evironment turns and effects that happen every turn and the monsters are save if the live in that envrionmeant

[@jeremypowell9260]

We need a 5e “Advanced DMG.” Desperately. If they insist every player should want every supplement, then make it a flipbook with an “Advanced PHB” on the other side. Throwing out a rule here and there for things like sleeping in armor and falling into water is great. Give us a book of those, plus rules for big missing things like hiding, and more robust adventure creation tools. It’ll sell like hot cakes and keep the game growing.

[@atomictree5000]

I wholeheartedly agree.

[@IdiotinGlans]

There are rules for Stealth. No one is using them. It's gonna be the same as wilderness exploration rules no one uses either and then they complain there is nothing but combat.

[@jeremypowell9260]

@@IdiotinGlans The rule for hiding in combat is: “The DM determines when circumstances are appropriate for hiding.” The only further guidance offered is “You can’t hide from a creature that can see you clearly.” I am using these rules. I just don’t think they’re adequate.

[@zeterzero4356]

I don't know how well it would sell. Some DMs would probably be more comfortable coming up with their own solutions to fringe rules than paying 30 dollars for "yet another book". Plus DMs are by and far the minority because, let's face it, very few people want the job. And that in itself is a problem, that DMing feels like a job. You're at once the one all the players turn to for answers, are expected to play multiple npcs, try to keep your players engaged to some degree, settle disputes, know or at least enforce the game rules, and then do this for possibly multiple weeks or months. Some people thrive on that but a majority do not. I've been DMing for years and it honestly requires a lot more time and energy than just being a player. It's way more stressful to. If anything they should reduce the rules to make life easier for DMs than add more, which may be shy the rules in the DMG are written as they are, with emphasis on giving the DM more freedom to do their own thing, but even this method has NUMEROUS caveats. I honestly don't have a sure first solution, but I don't think another dmg style book will fix a problem that's plagued ttrpgs since probably forever.

[@Amrylin1337]

It's funny because this is basically just reintroducing things that 3.5E did well. The numbers got crazy but the simulation was solid. 5E isn't a very good game as it is. It's underwritten and that is why "rulings not rules" is garbage.

[@theonlychadman]

As a forever DM, I'd love more books like Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Tales from the Yawning Portal; an easy to pick up environment with a collection of cool seperate adventures which I can tie together and customise for each campaign I'm running as I see fit. It would mean less prep time, less work, and less reading. They don't have to be updates or rehashes of previous edition adventures, but just having a collection of assorted adventures makes everything significantly easier to manage.

[@zeterzero4356]

A group of small stories can be every bit as impactful as a sprawling epic. I much prefer this method of dming over some years long campaign with a single bbeg at the finish line to overcome.

[@erichengel5045]

I have been playing since '88 and always like playing different modules. One of the cool aspects about them was in introducing new story arcs, places, concepts, traps, puzzles and enemies/monsters to go against. It seems 5th has tried to cram as much into it as possible without given dm's all the tools. The rehashed adventures are cool but overall seems lack luster. Our homebrews often used 2nd as a basis thru the first year of 5th. Now we are running 5th and referring back to earlier editions and home rules to source mechanics, plot and context. And as someone who has dabbled in dm'ing for past 10yrs, I have to say that I am constantly referring to older editions and honestly don't feel much inspiration for the 5th series.

[@luketfer]

Well seems like you got you wish with the Candlekeep adventure book which has 17 mini-adventures in it that can be inserted into campaigns.

[@theonlychadman]

@@luketfer hahaha lucky me :D

[@JacksonOwex]

See I think that is a waste of time! Most of those adventures already existed all those books did was reprint and convert them to the new ruleset for people who didn't want to or hadn't already!

[@fourganger88]

5e's signature campaign is the Lost Mines of Phandelver. As starter campaigns go it's pretty great. I'd love to see a proper sequel.

[@Exisist5151]

You don’t like dragon of icespire peak or are you saying sequel as in a continuation of that campaign to higher levels?

[@YourPalRowan]

@@Exisist5151 a continuation of that campaign to higher levels is what I want

[@paulbigbee]

Red Hand of Doom fits this very well in my opinion, and from what I’ve read in others’ experience.

[@JacksonOwex]

@@paulbigbee Red Hand of Doom is apparently an AMAZING adventure. Since I heard Colville talk about it WAY back when I have seen and heard MANY others at least mention it. I am actually half working on, don't really have players at the moment so it's slow going, my own campaign that I am taking things from RhoD, Scales of War(4E adventure path for 4E), the Tiamat 5E stuff and a few other adventures that escape me right now!

[@ianwhippie2533]

I'd love it if they brought back more adventure modules. Not like full adventure books like Strahd, but more like smaller modules you can drop into your homebrew world as part of a bigger sandbox

[@SilentStrike117]

So tales from the yawning portal like books?

[@ianwhippie2533]

@@SilentStrike117 i would love for them to do another TFTYP but have it not just be dungeons. Maybe another Saltmarsh type book too

[@zeterzero4356]

They used to sell smaller booklets in 3.5 that were basically adventures you could just do whenever. They were usually very small and cheap to buy to, being not much bigger than a comic book. Sometimes even smaller than that.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

The next book the just announced is 17 mysteries you can run as one shots or drop into a campaign.

[@ianwhippie2533]

@@CitanulsPumpkin i saw! Very pleased with that

[@heathenwizard]

Describing the 5e rules as something that “sings” is quite apt. The minute I picked up my PHB and started leafing through it that elegant simplicity really shined through. Further supplements need to emphasize monster building and encounter creation, because that’s something the DMG really hasn’t done all that well.

[@samgruenberg7540]

I feel like Matt Colville's action oriented monsters and Sly Flourish's Lazy DM books really address some of the lack of DM tools from WotC.

[@lukejackson3901]

YES

[@robertpaul6944]

I love the setup. It's like you two are still there!

[@WebDM]

Thank you!

[@kylearchbold5189]

I’d be perfectly happy with a magic item compendium with new artifacts and such as well as more rules for mundane items. I’ve been exceptionally happy with 5e and I think it says a lot that DnD has never been more popular than it is today.

[@Ebolson1019]

A magic item compendium would be nice, I got really hyped when I heard that Tasha's had new magic items and was disappointed to find that they were either tattoos, sorcerer and wizard only, or legendary/artifacts. The items that any class can use or fall in the rare/very rare category felt few and far between.

[@SomoneTookMyName]

Check out Arcanis Forged in Magic, Reforged. Great book if you want some new magic items and artifacts. It also has a magic rune system that is really nice. The whole book is nothing but magic items and whatnot, and its rather sizeable. Lots of cool stuff. I do agree that Wiz needs to come out with something.

[@kylearchbold5189]

@@SomoneTookMyName thanks for the recommendation!

[@dynamicbanteranimated8411]

I’d love to see some curses/ lasting effects with crunch that DMs can throw at their players. If fights are too heavily weighted toward the players and the only real consequence of failure is death, that can make things stale.

[@JacksonOwex]

Especially since most DMs don't want to actually kill their players, challenge ABSOLUTELY but not kill!

[@spencerwhipple625]

I get where this is coming from. I rely a lot on 3rd party stuff for extra meat. And I’ll say that my single biggest gripe about 5e is actually just layout. It’s just not as easy to find rules as in other editions. And yeah while the vague proficiency rules have their pluses, a little more guidance could be good, I think expect for newer DMs. I’ve been at this a while and even I get a little iffy sometimes in what the best approach to some situations would be. As a near-forever DM, I’m inclined to agree with the idea that it would be cool to throw us an extra book at this stage. I don’t buy the setting books because I have my own and like it, but I know there are sections in them that could be useful. I just don’t want to buy a $40 book for the 10-15 pages or whatever it may be. Grab all those into one book and I’d definitely buy it on day 1.

[@Fedes47]

The part where Jim talks about the lack of support for DMs that 5e provides is absolutely on point, WOTC should hear about this.

[@k2k4]

Tbh i would be interested in a splat book that focuses on structuring a coherent and interesting narrative and provides DMs and Players ideas on how to fill different archetypes within the stories. For example, discussing how a story has rising action, a foil, a climax, and a falling action and giving tables that fit together and allow you to construct a story almost entirely through random rolls.

[@RPanda3S]

There are so many 3rd party books of this type out there, you'd think WotC would take a hint

[@pedrobastos8132]

Yeah, stuff that *should have been on the DMG*, gee I hate that book so much

[@evangregory14]

Do people really need basic storytelling concepts in their rpg book? if you need that amount of handholding then just run a pre written adventure.

[@pedrobastos8132]

@@evangregory14 not everyone is a novel writer, let alone a game designer. A *Dungeon Master's Guide* should, you know, *guide* whoever might want to be a DM, which would certainly include the unitiated. And, serously, if WotC found space for a random furniture table, there should have been planty of space for some better guidance regarding basic storytelling. And to be fair, there is some of that content in the book, but is written in a really wonky way, throwing some random tables for stuff like plot twists and climax.

[@pedrobastos8132]

@Colin Deal I do agree with you here as I am a "pro emergent narrative" DM, but there are people that do enjoy a more "constructed" narrative, so it should be on the DMG too. But again, where's that on the DMG? The book begins with what might be the worst tip ever: building the whole freaking game world and lore before the very first adventure, and when it finally gets to that part, it is lackluster, as I've said previously. I mean, the point here, in case you missed it, is that the DMG sucks, and because of the that, running this game is a guesswork where you learn what works and doesn't by trial and error without any support (as far as the books go), which can be very tiring and frustrating in the long run.

[@BJBoyd]

I’d love to see you take a second run at the DM’s content of Ravinica, Theros, and Saltmarsh in one video and how they fit together as a set of DM tools.

[@troyschnierer2940]

I am a DM and own many (9 official plus Humblewood) books but none of these three. I am so curious as to why the DM sections of these books is so good. I can't justify the purchase of a campaign setting I'm never going to run, unfortunately.

[@pranakhan]

AND Acquisitions Inc.!

[@Thergood]

​@@troyschnierer2940 All three of those books have a "Creating adventures in..." section that give DMs examples and advice for creating adventures in those settings. I believe this is what Jim is referencing. They're not just "Here's a setting, good luck." They go beyond "here are a couple adventure hooks" or "here are a couple reasons the party would be working together." Theros, in particular, has a really great section on divination and communing with gods using spells like Augury, Divination, and Commune. What is weal and woe? What could an omen look like? How does communication between mortals and gods work? Visions, divine interventions, blessings, miracles, etc. This section provides great ideas for DMing Clerics and Paladins in any setting. Saltmarsh has stuff like this, but for nautical/pirate themed adventures. Ravnica is a great template for any faction heavy setting.

[@troyschnierer2940]

@@Thergood Interesting. I have Eberron and really love the GM stuff in there. I found it very useful for running Ebberon adventures. Other KZbinrs have been hot or cold on it. It sounds like these other books are more widely applicable across settings perhaps.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

@@troyschnierer2940 Ravnica and Theros have the same chapter layout and once you see how they can easily be adapted you find the tools they offer can be used in any campaign. Chapter 1. Limited player options. Not all that useful for DMs. 2. 50+ pages detailing renown and piety. Reward systems to get your players to engage with the world. Both systems take up one meaningless paragraph in the DMG. They've been expanded into 10 factions and 15 gods that can be renamed and dropped into most campaigns. 3. The setting the book is named after. Not much help at first glance but the Ravnica book has random tables for rumors players will hear and people they'll bump into on the streets for each city district detailed. 4. Comprehensive guides and more random tables on how to use the factions and gods presented in chapter 2 as party allies, quest givers, villains, and all sorts of ways to throw these organizations/religions and their minions/followers at the party. 5. Magic items. Your mileage may vary. 6. Monster manual. There are some fantastic creatures in these books and most of them have unique tricks that set them apart from entries in the basic MM. A commentor in another video mentioned that the cyclops in Ravnica could be easily reskinned to be one of the Big Daddies from Bioshock. That got me flipping through the book and realizing that there are enough low cr equivalents to the enemies in Bioshock in the Ravnica book that you could easily run a low level survive the city of Rapture campaign with just the Ravnica book.

[@Butonz1]

In my personal experience the feeling that "Players are running rough shod over my monsters," comes from the fact that the CR system is overly complicated and while it is valid in that it measures what it claims to measure, the rules don't do a very good job of explaining what that metric is to new dms. Many new dms and I myself when I was new paid very close attention to the encounter table and scratched my head in confusion when my players breezed through what the point scale said was a deadly encounter. What I came to realize later, and have had to explain many times since, is that the CR values and XP tables are all based around an 6-8 encounter adventuring day. A CR4 monster isn't actually a good match up for a party of 3-4 4th level adventurers, it's a single slightly more challenging monster that is intended to be one of many combats over that adventuring day. It's a single piece of a puzzle, a dungeon most likely, that all comes together to challenge the players ability to play tactically and mange their class resources.This is fine for dungeon crawling, but I can't imagine throwing more then one big dungeon crawl at my players per ten sessions, but that's neither here nor there. Bottom line I feel like currently, there's no way to know how to challenge your party other then to run the game enough to know what your players, as well as their characters can handle, IF, you want to create challenging encounters outside of of that 8 encounter/day framework. A streamlined version of the CR rules or a metric to tell how to scale monster choice for single dramatic encounters when the players still have a lot of their resources would be nice. Because the boss doesn't always appear at the end of a dungeon. Sometimes the boss appears when the players discover the source of the Slaad infestation waaaaaaay quicker then you expect them too.

[@spooderous]

Make a 5e supplement recommendation video.

[@tensubde]

I was thinking a video of unofficial 5e supplements that WOTC should make official.

[@alexanderfloyd5099]

Yes yes yes!!!’

[@DontCallMeFlash]

*I would love to see you guys

[@Skyscraper125]

Tome of Beasts! Tome of Beasts! Tome of Beasts! Kobold press made it, and I made an island modeled off of the Isle of Dread specifically only using enemies from that book and it was the most fun I had ever as a DM and my players were flipped out by the enemies every time.

[@solaries3]

Make a 5e third-party campaigns recommendation video.

[@Blackpallyboi]

I know they've talked about this before but I really think they need to add material for high level adventures or even higher level stuff. The group I've been playing with since 5e launched has now gone through 3.5 campaigns with each finishing off at roughly lvl 13. As our DM puts it the fights are either way too easy for us or a fight to the death every time.

[@crimsonhawk52]

I'm just holding out for MCDM's monster book meant to replace the 5e MM

[@Pussinconverses]

When Matt spoke about this I though was such a cool idea. Completely unique takes on the iconic monsters are a great way to mix up the game.

[@F2t0ny]

THAT'S HAPPENING??

[@Pussinconverses]

@@F2t0ny it's a long way off, but it's an idea they're throwing around

[@erichengel5045]

I wouldn't mind a series of books, like the old compendiums, where they have a narrower focus but more tools for the dm. Something like Natural Beasts, Planar Beings, Demons Demigods and Devils, Constructs. That way you have a specific set of data to bolster and inspire adaptation.

[@Pyridius]

I'm just getting back into D&D content after a year's hiatus. I definitely resonated with your sentiment about combat scenarios which are trounced on by players. It felt frustrating to spend an hour or so every week preparing a session in a homebrew world with combat scenarios only to have things fall easily without simply buffing their hit points. Perhaps I'm not a good DM but I always envied players since they could spend all their time and enjoyment with one character while also simply rolling with the punches.

[@The_Letter_M]

What I've actually done with otherwise low-level enemies to help them scale with my players' party is to start adding TCoE's sidekick levels and using strategies that respond to my players' actions - my level 3 party spent a session fighting 6 orcs and an ogre that all had 3 levels of sidekick added to them and never noticed that the orcs had significantly higher health and skills than your default orcs come with, despite the fact that two of the players came close to death. it made for a much more interesting encounter, both for them and for me.

[@yellowbeard1]

This depends on what the group wants but there’s always the option of giving enemies player class abilities or having enemies smart enough to know what weaknesses players have. If you take the CR mechanic seriously and think that what the book defines as “deadly” is actually deadly that might be why you’re having this issue. Having multiple enemy sorcerers who twin spell Mental Prison, an intelligence save spell, and use Counterspell with Distant Spell on their reactions will certainly make a fight harder but depending on the party level it might be a frustrating and miserable experience for the players.

[@Ebolson1019]

I feel you, at the lower levels especially its hard to craft interesting encounters that aren't just a game of who can deal more damage. Most low level creatures don't have much besides 1-2 attacks and some hp. I want to see creatures with interesting abilities like the spectator's spell reflection. Far to often I've been stuck feeling that any monster with the hp to last a few rounds with the party or even survive long enough to do a few cool abilities would deal so much damage that the party has a chance of loosing a character. I don't want to have to resort to maxing hp just to have an interesting fight.

[@matthewakers7356]

I kind of love that this is literally an excerpt from your Tasha’s review video. Lots of great points.

[@bacchus8081]

At this point I think that WotC's "we are not going to adjust old material"-stance combined with their "slow and steady" release schedule for books is just going to lead to another 2 or 3 years of some-what underwhelming releases and then maaaaaybe a 5.5/ 6th edition announcement.

[@mithraldream6238]

Both methods on their own are dangerous when mishandled, but together they are what is killing 5e. That and just the empty design space and incompetence. I've lost all trust in WotC when I saw True Strike on the Spell list for the Githyanki Gish, a CR 10 creature printed 4 years after the PHB.

[@thetyrantofsyracuse]

What has been your favorite release for 5e? Sometimes it seems that petty negatives overshadow the better portion of games, so I'm curious what your measure for "good" content is as compared to your measure for "bad" content

[@bacchus8081]

@@thetyrantofsyracuse Mythic Monster Encounters from Theros comes to mind. The fact that it's like 5 pages in a relativly obscure side-content book says quite a bit about recent releases, I think. Xanathar's was exciting because it was a bit of movement in the right direction, and at that point in time it might have signalled a bit of a shift in game design. That has been proven untrue, unfortunatly.

[@thetyrantofsyracuse]

@@bacchus8081 I agree about Theros, there were many great snippets in that book. I'm glad they have a habit of keeping things shorter and concise, I dont have fond memories of some older edition books that would waste 30 pages on unnecessary exposition. Seems we have gone from to many unnecessary over detailed releases of yesteryear, all the way to less books that have dozens of smaller/vague concepts that dont seem to satiate DMs as much.

[@Taricus]

@@thetyrantofsyracuse I actually didn't mind the fluffy exposition of older edition books. I remember in 4th edition, I was disappointed, because I'd buy the books and they were boring. It was just stat block after stat block and no flavor at all. It made it difficult for me to even be interested in them. I have 4th edition books that I never bothered to read and didn't buy many of them, because I wasn't interested in reading power and stat blocks. I liked it when exposition snuck back into 5th edition books, because then they started being entertaining to actually kick back and go through the books to read them again. I have 2nd and 1st edition books that I still read, just for entertainment LOL! Especially campaign settings ^_^ Those are a just full of fun stuff to read. --And the exposition sparks my imagination and helps me imagine the world and how the rules work and what it looks like. Spell descriptions and magic items were the most fun to read, even if I never used most of them LOL!

[@ezrafaulk3076]

You know, it's a good thing you mentioned Paizo and 1e Pathfinder, because you'd probably find a LOT of what you and other people want in 2e Pathfinder, ESPECIALLY since Paizo are still actively supporting it, and reimplementing a lot of content from 1e Pathfinder in such a way that it actually WORKS in 2e Pathfinder (the swashbuckler class for instance); in FACT, I think you guys should make a video on what all 2e Pathfinder does that 5e DnD DOESN'T. I'm CERTAIN it'd be a good video.

[@jasonr.6123]

This. Despite a couple of videos recently put out by a certain KZbinr denigrating the system I think Pathfinder 2e offers the exact supports for the game that Jim bemoans is lacking in 5e.

[@Silkspar]

yeah, WotC could learn a lot about how to layout a book from P2E. I also think DMs and players who want to know exactly what to do, and how to do it for everything, may want to look at P2E. I think the math is to tight for me and the 3 action economy is to "war gamy?" I like the battle mat over the theatre of the mind 100% but I'm still evaluating. Regardless if i play P2E or not i'm using it as a reference and probably "borrowing" from them :)

[@DAEDRICDUKE1]

pf2e does fix 5es problems, but now you get pf2e's problems. The Dungeon Master Guide is fucking amazing, but now your stuck with the 3 point action system that does nothing but make combat take twice as long. Embrace OSR, reject modernity.

[@ezrafaulk3076]

@@DAEDRICDUKE1 what the Three Action Economy does is make combat more dynamic by allowing players and NPCs to do more on their turn than just perform one attack, and even interrupt an opponent's turn; for instance, if an orc barbarian swings his axe at you, you can use your reaction to parry it aside with your scimitar, and immediately counterattack to deal THEM damage instead of just stopping them from damaging you. That's kinda the irony of TTRPGs when they're properly structured; within reason, the more complicated you make it, the more flexible and freedom affording you make it at the same time.

[@Silkspar]

@@ezrafaulk3076 I don't think it's more dynamic, but it does encourage more tactical play. It does that by more or less forcing you to be. D&D combat CAN be boring but that's a fixable problem without the need for infrastructure.

[@herbertkraft7379]

Jim giving some love to the Champion Fighter warms my hearth, because Champions are awesome and not enough people aknoweldge that.

[@JacksonOwex]

I think it might be because they seem too simple for people, which is odd since most people that even I have played with can't handle much more complexity than that! Plus fighters get all kinds of hate anyway for being BLAND AND BORING!!!

[@herbertkraft7379]

@@JacksonOwex In a world with magic and gods that actually interfer with the events that happen on "earth" a person who uses a "normal" weapon to kill things seems a bit boring or bland, I understand people who think that. What people don't understand is that for great art all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil and not some fancy colours and shit. There are sketches that are more beoutiful than some oil paintings. The tools don't matter, all you need is a good character idea and your champion fighter can be more interesting than some basic warlock.

[@jeffrossi1642]

I really think that Rime of the Frostmaiden addresses a lot of the concerns in this video. It references the DMG where exploration rules are repeated or expanded. It provides environmental and roleplay based encounters that challenge the party on the character sheet level - like potentially deadly exploration and social interaction encounters. I think RotFM is definitely that adventure that should define the future and legacy of 5e.

[@TheLordWinter]

For what it's worth, maybe it's because of the setting but Rime of the Frost Maiden did really wow me. It's got some structural problems, but the "Pick anywhere you want to start, throw content in as you go" approach resonated with me. Plus the big set pieces were pretty awesome.

[@barlotardy]

Jim lookin' like Russel Crowe's stunt double....

[@Brass_Heathen]

Always thought Pruitt looks like max Payne from the first game.

[@WallyDM]

I like where 5E is at and where it's going. With that being said, the main thing I want for D&D in 2021 is for the world to be safe enough that we can attend conventions... AND, Jim and Pruitt can record together, once again. Cheers to a new year Web DM!

[@stephenvotaw1636]

I like how this video is literally just the conversation you guys had in the second half of your review of Tasha's video, just given a new title. I mean literally the same conversation cut from one video and thrown into another, and passed off as new content. Well done gentlemen.

[@ShaneCopen]

6 years and no usable rules for Mounted Combat despite having a cavalier subclass and spells such as summon steed. 100% unacceptable!

[@nownamedrob]

Get on a mount. Are you good at fighting on top of another creature? Yes? (Mounted Combatant feat, Cavalier Subclass) Then regular combat applies to you plus the details in the Feat or SubClass Features. Otherwise, you aren't that good at it, and instead of calling you incapable or incompetent, you simply gain no bonuses besides having your movement speed/type augmented. It's that simple. Having a whole extra section dedicated to it is exactly what the community is empowered to do, but as far as the base system, it does have "usable rules", they are just simple to keep things moving since combat is Emulation, not Simulation.

[@NxtGenDragon]

Phb has mounted combat rules

[@DanThePropMan]

I'm so glad you called out passive skills. Is "passive Investigation" referenced ANYWHERE besides the Observant feat?

[@MartinRouge]

Tasha's was a missed opportunity, as the book really feels like it was rushed out, with just lip service to cohesiveness. They put little tidbits to keep the feel of Xanathar and Mordenkainen, but nowhere near the amount needed to give it a personality. It would have been better served just giving it a more neutral identity, just calling it a material supplement, and do a much better job fleshing out Tasha separately, instead of what this turned out to be.

[@Ebolson1019]

I agree, I like the way Dungeon Dudes put it by saying that most of the book should have been a brief pdf with stuff like the reworked druid subclass. Some aspects I like getting like the new class abilities, subclasses, magic items, and spells. Other parts like reprinting spells from other books were unnecessary and things like running a session zero didn't belong. Session 0 should have been in the DMG or a free supplement. The new DMs who need to know how to run a session 0 likely aren't buying Tasha's and the DM's buying Tasha's have already run a game likely and don't need the information. I agree that it feels rushed and loosely thrown together. As the Dungeon Dudes put it Cauldron of Everything doesn't really for Tasha, it might have worked for Xanathar but Tasha should have been different.

[@Taven03]

the thing that seems to be happening is that they are trying to serve to adventure league. they want as many subclasses and things in a few books for them so they reprint. they have four main books that you want to play d&d DM guide, player hand book, Xanathars and now Tashas.

[@JacksonOwex]

I feel like a LOT of the books the last couple years have been "lip service", I have been comparing them to "shut-up rings"! I want to be excited about Van Richten's Guide but after two Eberron books that at a glance look like copies of each other and I didn't feel like the Ravnica book gave enough information about the plane, world, or whatever to actually run adventures there, there are a few tidbits about some characters

[@Ebolson1019]

exactly, there's roughly 1 DM for every 5 players so of course the books are going to be geared towards the players. I just want a way of making fights interesting without feeling the need to resort to monsters what have the hp to last 3-4 rounds but have the damage dealing to kill a PC. When the party just walks through encounters its frustrating.

[@Gibbons3457]

Giffyglyphs monster maker has been my go to solution to this. Using it to rejig a monster's HP, AC, to hit, damage, saves and DCs. Really freshened up my combats and my players are loving the changes.

[@JacksonOwex]

@@Gibbons3457 I believe that those are all things the OP DOESN'T want to have to do though! I would also like to add not having to throw what seems like a stupid number of monsters at them too!

[@SpookyGhostIsHere]

Some rules about how gods work mechanically (don’t need a stat block even, just some form of mechanics)

[@Pancakeli]

If you haven't already read it, the Mythic Odysseys of Theros has good inspiration for how gods interact with mortals, and the world as well. The gist is they can produce any spell on the Cleric spell list, as well as spells associated with any Domains the gods might represent. The piety system is also an excellent resource if the gods take a more direct role in character's life In Chapter 7 of the DMG, there's a small section at the end about Blessings that gods might grant to certain adventurers, either before or after they do something of incredible importance to the god, like restoring a long-destroyed temple or defeating a powerful undead being. In the "Gods of your World" section in Chapter 1, there's also a small box that defines the different levels of godhood, and how they exist and typically interact with the multiverse. There are also already a couple stat blocks to match up with some of the ranks they have. Empyreans for quasi-deities and Tiamat for lesser deities. Greater Deities can manifest avatars of themselves that would be similar in power to lesser deities, but themselves are incomprehensible and unsummonable. So if you wanted to make up some stuff, those stat blocks would be a good start to look at how strong a typical deity would be. Hope this all helps, it's what I do/use for running deific beings :)

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

Get the Theros book and swap out the names of those gods for their closest equivalents in whatever campaign you're in. The piety system and tables for how to use all 15 gods as both allies and villains is worth the price of the book alone. Seriously, Theros is the 5e Dieties and Demigods book.

[@The_Letter_M]

I don't think "the majority" of people playing D&D want more crunch - I think there's a vocal minority who loved the crunch of 3.5 and want 5e to be 3.5+, or want it to directly compete with the crunch of Pf2e. As someone who enjoyed 3.5, I really love that 5e is much more open to a wide berth of storytelling options. None of this is to say that 3.5 is *bad* for storytelling, but 3.5 definitely had more of a focus on crawling dungeons, in my opinion, and 5e is trying to move toward a rules light storytelling system. Yes, there need to be more DM tools (and better DM tools), but adding more crunch isn't that.

[@snooz3d998]

I don't want more crunch, I want more options as a dm. I don't know if that makes sense ?

[@The_Letter_M]

@@snooz3d998 100% agree. I loved that Tasha's introduced a more standardized method of homebrewing races, where you pick out x, y, z. I'd love to see more like that - recommendations for how to balance homebrew items and monsters, clarification on how to balance classes, etc.

[@joshuaandersen1075]

I'm not sure how 5e isn't still focused on the dungeon/ combat? every mechanical piece is geared directly towards the act of getting past violent obstacles.

[@The_Letter_M]

@@joshuaandersen1075 never said it wasn't - only that it was less focused on it than 3.5 and that it was more focused on storytelling Though, if we're going there, there are so many example mechanics that are built for story with no mechanical benefit/drawback.

[@snooz3d998]

At least you get books. French speaking fans had to wait until 2017 for the phb. Next year they announced a french version for tales of the yawning portal and Volo's

[@binolombardi]

I think it’s probably incredibly difficult to balance the game. From reading through some forums, it seems dnd is incredibly different based upon everyone’s first and quick interpretation of features and rules. There is such a disparity between what I think the game developers “know” the rules/features are when designing content and how many tables play in so many different ways and have so many house rules between them.

[@TheRedVelvetScare]

I feel like I solved 5e's system for higher level play, and I might be stating the obvious, but I overpowered my PCs by design as a challenge to myself to see if I could give them the kinetic and wild combat my friends crave while still providing them with a challenge. Action economy is king. Never build high level play with a party vs one npc. For an epic finale that is going to push the players, meet their number or surpass it. I had a party of three at level 7, so I put them against a lower level threat, but higher number, so 8 hostiles. Now the PCs could one shot each of them with a heavy enough hit, but by 2 rounds of a militaristic enemy focusing their attacks, one PC was unconscious, another had 10 HP left, and the Monk dodge-tank was the only one largely untouched. But they were able to stop messing around, work together intelligently, and they won easily. Since then I made sure that my NPCs match their number for final fights to keep it challenging. I am legit interested in trying to get my three players to fight 20 level 3 fighters and see how it goes.

[@drmann15]

Overall I agree that action economy is key to challenging encounters. But it sounds premature to say that you’ve “solved” any problems yet. A party of three level 7 PCs is not high level play. That’s tier 2 play, the best and easiest tier to manage for a DM who wants to challenge a party without killing them. You’re talking about a party that combined can probably only cast a couple 4th level spells

[@allstatejake]

Level 7 isn't really high level, but yeah numbers are a strategy that's been in use for a looooonnggg time. The issue is what if I don't want to use 20 mobs to fight my heroes I just want one, so far Matt Colville's action oriented monsters is the only way I've been able to do it.

[@TheRedVelvetScare]

Yeah, I just wanted to use the party of level 7 pcs as an example of using more action economy with low level monsters, more fit for a party of level 3 pcs, which is a substantial difference in levels of power, but in my experience it has held true in 14+ and 17 level and up encounters. And I'm not familiar with Matt Colville much, I don't enjoy his videos, but I'm watching it now.

[@pedrobastos8132]

There's been a serious lack of support for DMs in 5e: most splat books are way too focused in giving stuff for PCs (and by stuff I mean power creep), the DMG is a terrible book filled with useless stuff, and the monsters' stat blocks are just a joke. 5e right now is a very fun game to play, but it is a pain to run.

[@pedrobastos8132]

@ReallyBurntToast they are easily beaten by PCs (supposing you're using the "correct" CR) because they are just lacking in the action economy and/or stats and abilities in order to make them interesting to fight against. So, in order to make somewhat decent encounters, the GM has to go out of the his/her way and come up with crazy shenaningans, stuff like making some crazy layouts or using stronger monsters than what the CR would suggest, which may sound fine, but on the long run it gets reaaaaally tiring on the GM. Unfortunately, the lack of proper support for DMs makes running 5e a sort of guesswork in which you have to learn what works and what doesn't by trial and error. The DMG should be there to help out most DMs and make that process smoother, but its content is just soooo lackluster, from the useless tables (i mean, there's a just *one* random encounter table, what the hell) to the outright wrong assumptions like the 6~8 encounters in a single session or the instructions on how to use the CR to make encounters, so on and so forth.

[@seanhavern2384]

One of my concerns with 5e is how player focused it is. Part of this is beyond the control of WOTC to the extent that the online community and conversation tends to focus on player wants vs DM wants. Other things can be addressed are more DM resources. Whether that be official maps of well-known locations, more monsters, more NPC blocks, etc.

[@drop_that_bass]

As a forever DM, I completely agree with Jim's point about making adventures easier to run and digest. The informational layout of many WotC adventures makes prepping a stressful burden. DM burnout is a real killer!

[@JnJake]

A reference guide would be an outstanding resource. Even if Wizards just made a PDF that was free. I've been writing pg numbers on character sheets and DM notes since the TSR days too. I feel your frustrations and agree that this edition is overall in a really good spot, but there are just some very odd and silly oversights that really make you scratch your head. Great video as always! I hope you all have had a restful holiday season!

[@DM_Kat]

By chance You got a picture of a blank character sheet with page numbers? I'd love to hand that out to my one shot players!

[@JnJake]

@@DM_Kat unfortunately I do not. I’ve used dndbeyond and fight club (4e character builder too) because they removed the need to even look in the books :(

[@DM_Kat]

@@JnJake yea I'm just trying to teach younger players how to write up a sheet, not just use technology. I feel it really helps explain & learn about your character more. Thought your idea would be very helpful. But I can look up page numbers, just bring lazy.

[@JnJake]

@@DM_Kat I completely understand

[@AzraelThanatos]

For the iconic adventures, the major reason the older adventures are remembered and people keep going back to them is because they were early ones when there wasn't much else. It's one of the things that brings people of different editions together to talk about how they managed i some iconic adventure. It's the same as the Haunting adventure for CoC, it's one of the first adventures for so many players.

[@williamfawkes8379]

What you need is "Halaster's Tome of Everything, A maddening opus of various vicissitudes."

[@RC-bl2pm]

Word! The statement that the adventures need to be more filled out is accurate. I ran waterdeep heist. I had to read the whole book and make notes and then put together some homebuilt stuff and some stuff from the DM's guild to try and hold it together! If you want to homebrew thats what the rules set is for, if you buy a module its because you don't want to make it up, you want it made! I'm sitting on frostmaiden right now because I don't have time to put it all up. Back in ancient times (D&D 2 like the 80's) modules were really laid out. I like that better. You can change it if you want but if you want a cohesive adventure then youre set up.

[@Wineblood]

I feel like I've seen this before, is this taken from your Tasha's review video?

[@KnightlyProphet]

This is an excerpt from the Tasha's review yes.

[@WebDM]

Some of it is, yes!

[@wyattweber9983]

Thank you, I thought I was losing it for a moment

[@drmann15]

They’ve been doing that a lot lately

[@mr7shesha001]

I thought it was just me. Thank you.

[@thesilvercircle4582]

Two cuties just hashing it out over D&D!

[@johnlbailey2]

I like and appreciate the insights, but this is a clip out of a long episode on Tasha's Cauldron from Dec 3rd. I was hoping by the title that this would be an update of sorts, maybe with some new insights? I don't know, maybe I'm way off base here, just feeling weird about watching the same content for the second time and realizing about 1/3 of the way through that I had seen this before.

[@georgelilly1847]

I really wanna see more dm material. Spelled out rules for like vehicles, crafting, downtime ect. As 1 of the main dms in my group I am aching for it 😭

[@georgelilly1847]

@ReallyBurntToast yeah dude I am dming a spelljammer campaign right now actually. Converting the ships sucked lol

[@am25deek]

The DM support is needed. Thank you. Because Xanathar was the only DM aid. The traps and monster encounter guides. Everything you've said so far it's exactly what I stress about and I'm trying not to cry but it's true. It's such hard work to run any trpg these days. I think I get so much push back as a DM. I'm not playing. I'm a social worker. I'm a cop. I'm a psychologist. But I'm never feeling like a player lately.

[@pandorawolf8239]

I would love to have a complete DM book with just skeleton frameworks to make adventurers. With several options of how it could go. That could be adjusted for each different party.

[@dcharris555]

One of the biggest things I struggle with as a DM (and this may sound silly) is monster tactics. There are lots of random resources online, and I know that the Monster Manual has descriptions of "archetypal" monster behavior or society, but I found the battle tactics descriptions I'd sometimes find in Pathfinder monster stat blocks very helpful when in the middle of combat. It also helped reduce the "soft game" (e.g. going easy on a new player or attacking the paladin even though the wizard is closer), which makes my players feel as if I am not playing favorites or going easy on them.

[@copperclockmaker]

One of the observations that I have made is that the CR tables and calculations are based on the player characters not having any feats (since these are optional). I started a list of "monster buffs" that are similar to, but not identical to feats that I give monsters based on their CR. This gives them some unknown factors when you fight them, and helps balance things back out. You can also use enemies that are levelled characters with access to the same abilities as the players if you want your named big bads to be something unusual.

[@toshomni9478]

Still trying to get my mind around Tasha's and it seems pretty wonderful to me as both a DM and player.

[@sirconstantine8329]

I would personally like to see more martial based subclasses. It just seems like every new subclass for the martial classes are always magical in some way. It feels to me like 5e places way too much emphasis on giving characters magic.

[@elliotbryant3459]

right? berserker and battlerager are the only 2 non-mystical barbarian subclasses out there. 2 out of 9. Fighters and monks are at about a 1 to 1 magic to non-magic ratio. Ranger subclasses have been kind of drifting off into pretty 'high fantasy' lately too.

[@TheBlackAshTree]

That and giving every bloody race darkvision. When over 2/3s of the races in a game have an ability that throws a wet blanket over an intrinsically useful DM tool (Darkness) then you have a problem. "You step down the half rotted steps into the basement of the creepy house in the hill, the smell in the air is dank and musty, and the darkness spreads before you like a yawning aby-" "Actually we all have Darkvision. With a 60ft range. Two of us have a 120ft range. Sure we can only see in grayscale, and not the best. But we can see." "..-ss, concealing every nook, unknown danger, and... wait, what? You ALL have darkvision? Even the human?" "Shadow sorcerer. They can actually see in the dark better than I can." "..." The classic atmosphere of the creepy forest at night, or the dark monster infested cave/dungeon is dead in 5e.

[@TheOldOwl8]

@@TheBlackAshTree But didn't you know? All races have to be exactly the same and have all the same powers and abilities it would be racist otherwise.

[@DAEDRICDUKE1]

@@TheOldOwl8 5e community get what they deserve, they voiced for more "equality" now they can suffer for it by buying shitty books.

[@biggusligma8036]

@@DAEDRICDUKE1 Time to pick up a new system instead of defaulting to DnD 5e, plenty of games out there with more community focused companies taking the reins instead of indifferent corpos doing whatever their sensitivity readers suggest and hashing out half-baked supplements. Problem is finding players for these games.

[@silverjaiden2450]

Id love a book that solely catches up old bland classes and subclasses that underperform (monk, early Ranger subclasses, wizard half casters, etc.) to current great classes. It’d feel new but not creep up the power to any level beyond current classes. Same with mechanics like crafting, downtime, food, magic items etc

[@pranakhan]

You made some important points here. When I DM, I feel a lot like I'm playing a Bethesda game; yeah, Skyrim is just fine, but if I learn how to code and open the console up, I can put in a hell of a lot of work to make this game sing. I love the work, don't get me wrong, but the more The D&D Toolset supports my inspirations instead of making me have to build the foundation that they stand on, the easier it is for me to make great player experiences.

[@shktech6026]

Shadowrun 5e came out with a Master Index version of the core rulebook The index contains information for all of the 5e supplements, what book and what page each thing is in. It's an absolute life saver at the table when everyone is using special rules. something like that would be really useful

[@Azrealophion]

110%!!! Old school DM and I’m supporting this! Support US!!!

[@SevenWondersProd]

It is great to hear someone else say something about characters rolling over encounters. I spend more time prepping to challenge and entertain the players than we do playing. The lack of rules involving exploration, procedures, and hazards are vague are unhelpful. Though with options to see in magical darkness, never be surprised, negate critical hits, get advantage for nearly any roll, and so on, would make the addition of rules clarifications mean little. I have played D&D for over 40 years, have a ton of experiences to draw upon, and proudly run a solid game. The only point I'm making is the super hero level abilities the PCs have available has turned the feel from Lords of the Rings to an Avengers movie.

[@porkysilver1792]

I didn’t even get past the ads yet but I just want dark sun transferred into 5e

[@JacksonOwex]

From what I have heard about Dark Sun it was a pretty... "harsh" setting that is unlikely to be updated in today's "this got my panties in a twist" world, especially considering they did a complete revision of Curse of Strahd!

[@dylancox631]

A DM toolbox book would be amazing. Something akin to the Unearthed Arcana book from 3rd Ed.

[@Hayderino42]

I'd love to see a video on specific previous edition books that you recommend!

[@Silkspar]

OMG yes please! and can I add- other books from other systems, or system agnostic, that can be useful or pillaged?

[@WebDM]

Thank you for the request!

[@JacksonOwex]

@@Silkspar Outside of pretty much EVERYTHING lol! Yeah that would be awesome! Is awesome, maybe? I feel like they did actually make this video since and I may have even watched it! There just isn't enough time in the day! Anyone have a time machine, or Professor X with his time stopping powers from X2?!

[@PatrickHaeslerMusic]

Matt Colville's action-oriented monster design (outlined in a video on his channel) is a great option for DMs who sympathise with the point Jim Davis raises about DMs being trounced by players. It helps shift the encounter scales back, and also makes encounters more fun fore everyone, plus it's great for encounter stroking telling, and ratcheting up tension throughout a combat. Yes, Wizards should be putting stuff like this in official books (especially for those DMs who are sticklers for avoiding homebrew) but if you're open to it, there are lots of homebrew options for DMs out there on the web.

[@michaelmao6180]

I agree. More DM tools and better written pre-made adventures are going to be great. Currently, even prepping published adventures feel like a chore. It feels like you have to read through a huge chunk of the book to understand the overarching story, the motivations I can give my players, etc. I'll also need to take a lot of notes as I find key information difficult to find in the way they present their materials. The time it takes to use those books aren't too different from me creating my own world, and I'm paying to get these books. Not really friendly to busy DMs and busy players that these books are intended to serve: providing fun for months to come without having to spend too much time creating your own world, designing cool and quirky NPCs, forming storylines that build tension, coming up with events and plot hooks that create suspense, and essentially writing a novel. I want the books to function more like my notes that I use to prompt me during games, making sure that my improvisations are true to the world, not tomes to read through before I can get a good idea of what the world is like. It's worth the time to learn the pre-made campaigns through and through if you run the campaign for more than 2 or 3 groups, but most DMs are just DMing for their friends. I'd also argue that WotC needs a better campaign to help initiate new DMs and new players. I find the LMoP campaign not super effective without the DM making modifications to expose game mechanics step by step.

[@piece1309]

Reducing player HPs has been the best thing I’ve done to make it so players don’t crush every encounter. After 7th level I only let them get half HPs. This is something we did as group decision and it’s been great.

[@jonpfister5042]

Another GREAT 3rd party DM support book is Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers! Referring to 4th editions combat (monster traits) helps prevent the players "running over the dm" tremendously.

[@MrSilvUr]

Ah, this is a cool idea for a video. You guys have kind of danced around this topic in previous videos; it's cool seeing it come to the fore.

[@MrSilvUr]

Ah, this is _from_ a previous video. That's a bit of a disappointment to me... But, yeah, it'd be to get like, a DM's Tricks kind of book. Especially since _Rulings_ _Not_ _Rules_ leaves out to dry DMs who don't have the gross system mastery or insight to calibrate their rulings to get the effects they want.

[@echo1tango]

Bring back dragon magazine and let the community build adventures

[@griffdaddy5579]

Aside from a rules spruce as you suggested, clearly a Monsters Manuel 2 and I really think a refresh of an existing world setting such as Greyhawk or even better a new world setting as well as perhaps Spell Jammer all would be of value and interest to the hobby as well as clearly sell books

[@trentwolfgram9571]

It's almost like it's a direct conflict between the profit motive and natural artistic growth and development. Almost.

[@emmettochrach-konradi2785]

lol

[@JacksonOwex]

If I understand what you mean correctly that is what happens when you are owned by a TOY COMPANY(Hasbro)! They just want results and to them results is money, something WotC did rather well in comparison to other parts of the whole(well maybe I should say WE since WotC just puts words in books, WE actually give them the money if we want said books)!

[@trentwolfgram9571]

@@JacksonOwex Well gorsh! Is this part of that there capitalism I keep hearin about? I'll be dad gummed. I'm just a dumb yokel, so I guess there's a reason that seems self contradictory and unsustainable to me. Thank my Lord and savior that there are smart folk like you out there to do all the book learnin' fer me

[@MereMortal1010]

I don't know about the gentleman from Web DM, but when I'm really looking for in a future 5th edition book is the expansion or addition of things like crafting, alchemy, and survival. I definitely feel that those have been neglected in 5th edition despite being common elements of TTRPGs and RPGs.

[@eXdXgXe4life]

Those would be nice. The artificer class kind of has crafting elements... Kind of.

[@a.9913]

I'm a DM. I can't say I agree that power is in the hands of the players. I also don't need rules, but inspiration would be nice. A lot of books with inspirational ideas and mini adventures would be great.

[@calevenice]

Something iconic would be a 1-10 hardcover adventure around phendelver that combines and improves upon both starter kits and DM's Guild content.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

After having a few months to go over it, there are some good DM options in Tasha's. Every second or third time my players fight the warlord stat block from the back of Volo's guide I'm gonna roll on the wild magic barbarian table each time the warlord attacks, and something is gonna happen. Every time they fight a kraken priest he'll have at least one of the pet tentacles from the fathomless warlock, and that tentacle will have all the stuff swarmkeeper ranger gets at level 3. The PCs will be flying all over the place.

[@corporatemerger653]

One of the great things about the campaign books of the early 80s that he mentioned are that they were simple, short and gave you wiggle room as a DM. Now the campaign books are hundreds of pages. Its like reading a textbook. I just began to run The Keep On The Borderland. I used an original copy to throw it together. Read the whole thing in one night and a week later had my own reboot mapped out. Descent Into Avernus took me a week to read and it was so meticulous. It almost made the work I had to do "work". It eventually became a pain in my ass.

[@bahamutkaiser]

I don't understand how DMs could struggle with challenge, I just threw CR out the window and overloaded the foes with my META players. They squeaked by.

[@therocketboost]

This is one of the best conversations you've had in a long time. Amen about how so many rules have remained vague or without examples. Hell my own bugbear is the pitiful selection of traps! How is that basically a half page table? There should be a big section on that and actually using them in play! I also agree there needs to be much better cross referencing between books. And yeah there has yet to be a book in this edition that makes you go wow. They need more stories like Phandelver and less like Dragon Heist. Stuff that grips and keeps you and your players engaged. Masterful soapboxing guys.

[@mefirstandthegimmiegimmies5160]

I love all the different classes but I agree that my players tend to try and power build their characters. I have been steering them into some of the newer combinations because really until you take the stats and play with them you can’t get a good feel. It’s like when Ravnica came out my players were skeptical but a couple of Minotaur tanks flanked by a centaur paladin worked out very well for them and it was fun to use the different races to their strengths and weaknesses. Keep the videos coming guys. And I too would like an official release that makes tweaking your own monsters easier.

[@thecrazyturtle]

I'm just starting my first D&D 5e game soon as a DM, i have the opposite view as the guy with blue earbuds, there is so much stuff to absorb and so many options and so much potential..its nuts, at least for new players

[@SquatBenchDeadlift455]

I want there to be alternate features for literally everything in every class not named Spellcasting. Maybe toss in Rage, Divine Smite, Sneak Attack, and Pact Magic as well. When my DM says we get to level up, I want to look at my character sheet and say "What am I going to pick?" instead of "What do I get?" I also want more spells and variety so that there's enough options between top spells that things aren't so cookie cutter for my casters. Also, I want more intricate combat options for my attack action. Battlemaster existing doesn't do anything for satisfying my interest in maneuvers.

[@RichMerry]

You guys hit the nail on the head, power creep is a big problem. Take examples from video games that constantly update there base game. Just be thankful they haven’t tried to implement a loot box style mechanic.

[@madaxe606]

Can’t disagree with anything Jim said. Spot on: Some suggestions for WotC: Wilderness guide with extended travel rules, skill checks, equipment options, mounts and vehicle expansions, cooking and rest benefits/penalties, etc. Dungeon survival guide: Expanded and clarified stealth rules, support for exploration, templates for dungeon creation, ecology guides for varying levels of realism, etc. DM Stuff: expanded guidelines for customizing magic items and creating new ones, spell customization etc.

[@ff-pj3de]

I can heartily recommend Red Hand of Doom! Just finishing the second-to-last part of the adventure with my group, and running it has been a blast! Tight theme, so you can pick out monsters and adapt them to suit your vision, if you feel that is necessary. There are plenty of discussions and 3rd party supplements that can help in adapting it to 5e. It feels like an epic quest, but is not so large in scope that you loose sight of everything. Great adventure, that would definitely benefit from a modern update. Probably wouldn't even be that hard to do.

[@spookishness]

I'd be happy if they'd just clarify whether you can see out of magical darkness instead of making us compare vague RAW against cryptic tweets.

[@JacksonOwex]

To be nice, like my mother taught me, I will just say that regardless of his job title I am NOT a fan of Jeremy Crawford or his rulings(heard about a few from another video a couple days ago that were just, gotta be nice, strange!

[@punkassbamboo]

I recommend using Class levels on NPCs. Fight fire with fire! Anything that's available to the players is available to the DM as well, and we have so much more in our arsenal than any single player character or adventuring party could throw at you. Use it!

[@etherd]

I was just saying that the monsters need a update book or something. Characters have gotten a bit out of hand.

[@cameronmaas2644]

This

[@kurtoogle4576]

3rd party publisher Dragonix has made some great 5e Monster Manuals, Loot Tables. I use them constantly.

[@charleswain6124]

This is why I love the 4e monsters. They were really cool, had awesome abilities and were eventually updated.

[@Pancakeli]

I just dump a ton of sidekick levels onto my big boss monsters, and that tends to even it out pretty well, and gives some monsters fun new abilities that wouldn't always be expected. It's all fun and games till the dragon casts heat metal at 9th level on the paladin.

[@Midnightv]

@@Pancakeli laaaame...

[@Maxbeedo2]

Add a goddamn Index at the end of every single book. The Table of Contents isn't sufficient to find singular rules or tables, but Indexes are absent in all but the core books. Out of all the settings, Planescape is my favorite, and there's so much more they could explore there. They could make an entire book simply for the Outlands, describing the spire's effects, layout of the 1000+ mile diameter circle between the gate towns, basic layouts of the gate towns and quest hooks for each (perhaps requiring brief jaunts into the linked outer plane), etc. The terrain could even be modular, with tables for what a mountain/forest/lake/etc. look like when closer to a Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic planar portal (Can there be a "good-aligned swamp"?). It's varied enough that any group could run a campaign there, but I end up relying on previous edition books for the material (Manual of the Planes for example).

[@thetyrantofsyracuse]

Descent into Avernus, and Ghost of Saltmarsh. Descent into Avernus is an absolutely awesome adventure.

[@LFielding07]

Adventure Lookup is a fantastic resource as far as looking for older edition adventures that can fit the bill

[@Ebolson1019]

I totally agree in giving the DM a bit more guidance. For example the lycanthrope rules, according to the MM the player gets improved strength can transform and if they accept the curse they might become a npc. What if they resist, do they forcibly change on a full moon or every night, when transformed do they have control of themselves, can they transform during a fight? In my opinion its to vague to be something that has a real chance of happening in a game.

[@slusc30]

I think your point about more support for DMs is particularly important when you consider the number of people out there stepping behind the screen for the first time. The hobby has exploded in popularity and if 5e is your first experience running a game, I can understand why people would decide that they would rather play than run. I think WoTC need to remember a fundamental factor of their game, without a DM you don't have a game.

[@lancearmada]

I think there are elements of 5e that would be interesting if redone like maybe making downtime and crafting more synced with the rest of the system.

[@dford4014]

I tried this: give the monsters upper level class abilities from the character classes. I used Storm Herald Minotaurs and minds were blown!

[@eXdXgXe4life]

I want people in 2021 to realize that you don't need to worry about power creep or changes from wizards. It's a non-competitive game! Homebrew any and all things. Make d&d what you want it to be. That's the amazing part of d&d. Do what you want!

[@itzybitzyspyder]

Omg page/book reference for real.

[@JacksonOwex]

Right, because that is SUCH a hard thing to do! Colville totally didn't have side notes in Strongholds and Followers! Wonder if that was something that gave Pruitt the idea most recently to this video!

[@funwithmadness]

The indexing within and between books is huge pain. And I agree overall that the DMs need more love for 5e. I like the system as a whole, there is just a lot of vagueness to some areas that I don't think should be. Beyond general DM help and rules clean-up, I'd like to see a move away from the enormous campaigns and go back to small modules. Those were so much easier to incorporate into a homebrew campaign. I find it very difficult, both as a player and DM, to do any real character development with the published modules. They're just too damn big. Plus for the DM, it's a monumental task to familiarize yourself with the thing.

[@jacobbalensiefer3846]

I would really like a combat tactics guide of monsters. Maybe specify some monsters that go for the throat like a orc might drop a character and move on to the next one but a goblin will immediately finish of a player that is down. DMs mostly rule in favor of the party (at least the ones that want to keep playing). So giving the DM tools like Gnoll ambush tactics or Hobgoblin fighting formations, things that make the monsters behave in a more deadly and smart way would be very helpful.

[@goudawgs]

Absolutely would love to see your guys 3rd Party Supplement Round Up. I think there are a lot of awesome stuff out there that folks are missing

[@andrewhalverson6974]

Dungeon Master's Primer...a tome full of insights from our favorite animated guide. "Beware cavalier, the further you travel to reach home, the further home becomes."