When Amateurs are in Charge of D&D's DMG

[@destroso]

They are like the undead. They kill what we love and keep it alive in a grotesque manner. Like zombies.

[@RPGPundit]

Exactly. They're wearing the skinsuit of D&D.

[@destroso]

@ they infest everything they touch and never create anything themselves. Did you see the headline on half of UCLA med students failing basic tests?

[@CruentusV]

mind if i borrow this analogy. it's beautiful...

[@destroso]

@@CruentusV spread it like they spread their infestation

[@CruentusV]

@@destroso thx, i will...

[@nad3936]

Wokeness inevitably breeds incompetence. The two are necessarily wedded.

[@guywholikesheelies3231]

Not always.

[@RPGPundit]

Pretty much. Spread the word, share the video!

[@bigblue344]

Then they go ahead and blame the people who are competent when it comes to mistakes.

[@MephiticMiasma]

there may be other ways to fail, but few more efficient

[@Dereliction2]

Wokeness is incompetence, promoted.

[@NotYourEcho]

DM : Okay, roll a save vs Diabetes

[@RPGPundit]

LOL. Spread the word, share the video!

[@fsmoura]

_Wait, before the battle starts, I wolf down a few donuts from my backpack._ _Are they enchanted?_ _No, glazed._ ( o.o)

[@MyName-tb9oz]

I failed my save on that one...

[@crapphone7744]

Meatball it's not an old lady, she is a classic. Egg tester, bon vivant, literary critic extraordinaire, and cat around town.

[@RPGPundit]

She's one of the greatest cats ever. I'm just increasingly aware that I don't have much time left with her.

[@crapphone7744]

@RPGPundit that is a hard thing. Treasure the time that you do have.

[@kevinfallick7690]

I am officially Morbidly Obese. I run with a rifle ammo gas mask and other equipment for work. For between 2 and 11 minutes. I’m still alive. Adventurers are supposed to be in their prime…. Unless they are in a battle chair ♿️

[@RPGPundit]

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[@MyName-tb9oz]

Well... Truth is... I'd probably be checking for exhaustion after ten or twenty seconds of running but I'm sixty and I've been smoking for the last forty years, so... My kid, on the other hand, is currently going to run 1/4 mile with a 30lb. weight vest on.

[@RPGPundit]

The point is you might be checking for exhaustion for the first rank of that effect. Maybe ten minutes later you'd check for the second. You wouldn't drop dead in under 60 seconds. The exhaustion rules are meant to represent very long periods without rest.

[@MyName-tb9oz]

@@RPGPundit, as I get older I find myself, "checking for exhaustion," far, far more often than I used to and some days I suspect that a one minute run might be enough to kill me. "That which lives also dies." - Me, 1998ish. Don't fear the loss of your cat. She has lived a long and full life. Just be sure she knows you love her. Death is hard on the survivors. I firmly believe that animals have souls, too.

[@fsmoura]

[Stonetoss pitch meeting executives]: _"So, how are these bad rules help our customers play more RPG sessions?"_ _"Play RPGs?!?"_

[@RPGPundit]

That conversation probably actually happened.

[@bigblue344]

I was worried the moment you said they were using the default exhaustion rules. This is why we had dungeon turns.

[@RPGPundit]

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[@yellingintothewind]

Oh, I thought the new penalty-based exhaustion rules replaced the "death at step 6" from 2014. It doesn't. So not only can you only reliably run a comically short time, once you _start_ failing, the -2/failure will result in you failing the rest of the steps quite quickly. And since step 5 no longer knocks you out, you will in fact die when you are rolling at a -10 on the check. I gotta agree that they didn't actually consider how it will play out at the game table. The closest similar rule that comes to mind is drowning in pf2e, but _that_ at least makes sense. Once you start drowning, it goes very bad, very fast.

[@RPGPundit]

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[@crankysmurf]

5E simplified the rules (compared to previous editions) to make it for ease of use and play. 5.5E just dumbed things down.

[@RPGPundit]

But the original 5e rules were written by people who understood game design, at least. Not these books.

[@crankysmurf]

@@RPGPundit Oh I'm not denying that. I thought 5E's advantage/disadvantage was a genius way to move away from the modifier stacks that plagued 3E and 4E. 5.5E didn't need to trim the rules even more but somehow they managed to do so and removed any amount of nuance.

[@KevinVideo]

I follow Mike Mearls' Patreon, and it's been a real treat seeing him go through the 2024 PHB, breaking down all the issues with the class abilities and why they're overly complicated and won't catch on, plus adding his own rewrites for how they would be better understood. It's been a lot of "keep it simple stupid."

[@RPGPundit]

That was exactly the spirit of what we were attempting to do with 5e!

[@fsmoura]

_"...So, as your mob moves in to attack the bigot's car, you chase it for a couple of seconds to close in the intervening distance. Let's have a exhaustion roll for that. Also, the driver panics, revving into the crowd besides you. You are not directly hit-"_ _"F-k! I'm down on the ground incapacitated with exhaustion!"_ _"What?! Didn't you just roll a 17? What's your sta-"_ _"F-k! Now my heart stopped! RIP me in ripperonis!"_ _"Okay, three comrades are suffocating, unable to get out from underneath your body, which now engulfs them as a mound of flesh."_

[@RPGPundit]

LOL! Spread the word, share the video!

[@josephpurdy8390]

-Mass combat -Gold sinks players will find themselves participating in for necessary planning. -Gold necessary to level -Army recruitment based on population density, length of time training, and expenses to maintain them. -Army sizes required to defend strongholds, for patrols, and escort missions. -Spell components global rarity, naturally occurring locations, and time required to extract/refine them. These are some concepts that a new DMG could cover. A rehashing of 2014 DMG, then adding arbitration for new PHB rules. That is let down even if it remains essential for game play purposes.

[@RPGPundit]

Yeah, none of that is going to happen with this crowd.

[@mevl4822]

If Meatball needs tuna, I will spend like she is a cam girl.

[@autisticallyaccurate]

It is Spring, Kasimir, cats eat more in colder seasons and and less in warmer ones. Plus seasonal coats, with winter coats cats also look thicker.

[@RPGPundit]

Well, I hope that's the case.

[@autisticallyaccurate]

@RPGPundit Often dental care extends feline longevity. You can also research feline nutrition, observe what foods Meatball isn't usually eating and supplementarily add that to her meals.

[@autisticallyaccurate]

Raw Fresh Whole Foods, Specifically Meats, are good for cats, like Salmon, Quail, Chicken, & Beef.

[@aleksanderalechin8466]

Well i heard that first guy who run marathon dropped dead after run but he was greek hoplite in full armor and with weapons. 5.5e dnd sounds less heroic then reality lol.

[@RPGPundit]

He was also running at full speed for a very long distance.

[@andrewthomas7202]

One major rule I used when creating Mystic Days was to research what athletes in the real world were capable of, both male and female. Guess who never died from 54 seconds of running? No one.

[@RPGPundit]

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[@MarshallMiller157]

I'm a bit confused by the exhaustion commentary as an example. The chase rules in the 2024 version are the same as the 2014 version. They didn't change how it works in the new version as far as I can tell, aside from some slight cleanup in the wording.

[@KnightKashmir]

The difference is that in the original rules your speed drops to zero at 5 levels of exhaustion, meaning you are out of the chase and not dead. The new rules instead decrease your speed based on your level of exhaustion, which technically allow you to keep running until you die of exhaustion the next turn if you fail the save.

[@MarshallMiller157]

@@KnightKashmir Yes, but that doesn't seem to be the criticism here, which is more about the exhaustion being a quick onset that can start happening after a handful of rounds into the chase. If you purposefully want to kill yourself by continuing the chase when you're crawling at a snail's pace, I suppose you can with the new exhaustion rules, but at that point you're just choosing to commit suicide for no real reason. Same as if you decided to forced march or go without sleep for a ridiculous period of time. I don't think that's within the purview of the rules to prevent you from doing suicidal things.

[@KnightKashmir]

@@MarshallMiller157 I don't disagree and only really half-listened to the video, just saw your comment and wanted to mention what exactly changed

[@RPGPundit]

That's not accurate. It was changed. In 2014 you couldn't drop dead from running too much in a minute.

[@MarshallMiller157]

@@RPGPundit I'm still confused as to why this is the target of this video then if that's the main rule change you're referencing. 2014 automatically stops you right before death at exhaustion 5 of 6 and 2024 doesn't force you to stop at that exhaustion level, so you could risk another round if you really wanted to do that. They both progress in exactly the same quick fashion though. I think this is really splitting hairs if this is the main example of bad game design. There are far better examples, such as completely screwing up the stealth rules so see invisibility sees mundanely hidden creatures because they're not thinking about interactions.

[@peaceandloveusa6656]

I am a 36yo male smoker with a chronically seditary lifestyle. I can confirm I can outrun these adventurers IRL and proceed to casually walk at full speed while out of breath. Meanwhile, they need a full nights sleep just to be able to move. I have never felt more heroic in my life. Lol

[@RPGPundit]

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[@AndyReichert0]

i am a sucker for a holiday quest, so i finally bought a pundit file for this one. also bought the Historically Authentic Traps and Merry Men and Sherwood files. Hopefully I can read/prep the holiday quest in time for the actual holiday!

[@RPGPundit]

Awesome, thank you so much!

[@sirguy6678]

Great video! Wait- shouldn’t this video be called “when the inmates run the asylum” - always enjoy your rants

[@RPGPundit]

Thank you! Spread the word, share the video!

[@LordOz3]

I wonder if they designed the chase rules while they were still floating (or the people working on the chase rules thought they still were) to 10-step exhaustion rules? I actually liked the 10-step rule because I inflict a step of exhaustion on a character when they get knocked to 0 hp. With 6 steps, once they hit 2 steps they were seriously hindered, and if they hit 3 they'd try to bail for a long rest. We used the 10-step from the playtest with the -X penalty, and I added once they got to > 5 steps, their Move was halved. Of course, looking at some of these people, maybe running for for >50 seconds would push them to that 6th step of exhaustion. 🐋☠

[@RPGPundit]

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[@enfieldjohn101]

I have changed the rules of D&D to suit me to the point that it is my own edition for a long time. I quit buying official D&D books long ago. I do still buy system agnostic or easily changed stuff made by individuals who love old school RPGs sometimes, especially if they are conservatives. I am concerned for people new to the hobby who get started with the newest D&D official books. Even I can run for more than 18 seconds and I'm no athlete.

[@RPGPundit]

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[@enfieldjohn101]

@@RPGPundit I sure will!

[@EvanMcGrath-b6b]

Looking at some readthroughs, I can say that it is definitely WORSE than the 5e DMG, which I thought was actually quite underrated then and now.

[@RPGPundit]

It definitely was under-rated. I know that it might seem like tooting my own horn because I was involved, but I really think objectively it was one of the better official DMGs.

[@solomani5959]

Exhaustion rules are great. I used them to represent radiation poisoning (science-fantasy setting and it’s called gloomium not radiation) ☢️

[@RPGPundit]

Yes, it would be very good for that. Spread the word, share the video!

[@reedmiller4654]

I recently got back into DMing and tried to put together an OSR game, but everyone wants 5E/2024, so I am trying to make sense of some of these overly complex rules like the chase rules you talked about. A chase hasn't happened yet, but when it does, would my players balk if i didn't use the new rules? Would they think I'm too old fashioned if I simplify? My gut tells me to do a chase mostly narratively, based on movement speed, with a few flavor rolls sprinkled in. At least that's how I used to do it in 2E. We'll see how it works out. As for Meatball: My cat made it to the ripe old age of 18. He was very active up until the end, then he lost weight rapidly, and I had to put him to sleep. I hope Meatball is ok, but if your instinct is making you worry, I would always err on the side of [expensive] caution and take her to the vet.

[@guywholikesheelies3231]

5E isn't hard. A lot of it is common sense

[@nnickplays9713]

How do i become a good DM? I feel like i dont prepare the right stuff when it comes to sessions. I think i can do combat pretty well, the players enjoy the roleplay, but I feel like I keep making mistakes. And I'm not able to describe

[@_Sinduss]

I am going to let you in on a secret. Your players probably think you are a much better gm than you think you are. Remember you can see everything going wrong behind the curtain. I do not believe there is a one size fits all solution or silver bullet. All you can really do is keep at and gain experience. Try stuff see what works for you and your group. For describing i would suggest adding some little details to you environments and npcs as these will distract your players from lacking details elsewhere causing them to fill in the gaps. Also going to call it that pundits answer will be buy his products. edit yay I was wrong about pundit's response. He has exceeded my expectations.

[@RPGPundit]

I have an entire playlist worth of videos on this topic: "D&D Things They Taught You Wrong On Purpose". You'll find a lot of advice in there.

[@gypsyhydra6801]

You can always ask your players for feedback, learn to roll with unplanned things the best you can, and lastly just don't let failure get to you. Half the fun of dnd is that a mishap or a forgotten rule isn't going to get you arrested or anything. I'm pretty new to being a dm (almost a year now) and my players seem to enjoy my efforts and understand when I get confused by something or forget a line .

[@robertduckworth1490]

Hey Pundit. Can you share that article or tweet by Taylor about this?

[@RPGPundit]

It was actually in a private message on X.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

D&D 5.5 soiboi edition.

[@RPGPundit]

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[@briansmaller7443]

No actual circumcisions in the adventure? Sounds like you need some more critical hit tables.

[@RPGPundit]

LOL.

[@wichaden]

Let me see if I understand, heroes who are supposed to be at the level of an Olympic athlete, can't run for more than a minute? Good luck chasing the tabaxi or running for the air elemental. Idiocracy made into a book.

[@RPGPundit]

For sure. Spread the word, share the video!

[@crankysmurf]

This is what happens when WotC didn't have any playtests for the 2024 DMG except for the stupid Bastion rules. Sure the book adds much needed advice for new DMs who have never played D&D before but they took out a lot of detailed rules, simplifying 5E's already simplified rules even more. Also gone is "madness" because mental illness is a no-no these days...

[@RPGPundit]

The 2014 DMG was packed with incredibly useful material for DMs, both new and experienced.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

To be fair the chase rules in the 2014 5e DMG were garbage as well. They were better than 2024 rules but still not good.

[@RPGPundit]

True, they weren't great, but these people made them worse.

[@dimesonhiseyes9134]

I like a lot of what 5e had to offer. But me and my players have grown a little tired of super hero DnD. We have actually implemented the 5e hardcore mode rules to make it have a bit more gritty and old school feel. We actually just started a 5e hex crawl style game. It however is not perfect and i am always looking for ways to improve. (Actually I've implemented rules from other games as well such as "Don't Give Up The Ship" and others) Doy ou have any suggestions for 5e compatable games with a old school style of game play. More AD&D than OD&D mind you.

[@RPGPundit]

Not really, but that might be more likely to be found in the 5e 3rd party products in the DMs Guild.

[@because4337]

This claim is simply incorrect, and anyone who knows anything about it would know better. 5 levels of exhaustion reduce speed to zero, making you incapable of running, thus unable to get more exhausted by running.

[@peaceandloveusa6656]

This is an important note, however, the reality is only marginally better. I imagine exhaustion levels still require long rest to remove? If so, you run for a couple of minutes then required 8 hours of rest to recover. Meanwhile, you do combat for even longer and have accumulated zero levels of exhaustion. System makes no sense no matter how you slice it. Exhaustion is far too severe a penalty to be rolling for every 6 seconds. I am in terrible shape and I can and do run for a couple of minutes, get winded, then proceed to walk for a half hour or more just fine. No sleep required!

[@RPGPundit]

check again. You're thinking of the 2014 version.

[@robblumenberg5965]

What do you think about Tales of the Valient

[@CruentusV]

two important things to remember when viewing anything designed "for modern audiences": 1. dei hires have no merit. they were brought into a company for what they represent, not their skills, applicable knowledge, job-related experience, or relevant successes. dei hires began with meritless executives and spread downward and outward, infecting every niche within the company. any employee of merit either left of their own accord recognizing the oncoming disaster or was excised as a threat to other employees without merit. 2. woke infection of companies had the goals of the destruction of merit, successful products, and customer goodwill. dei hire execs understand only one goal - self-enrichment through company debt. customers are irrelevant because investors are the only source of income. this is the state of wotc/hasbro and the reason they are failing ever larger to meet fiduciary obligations...

[@RPGPundit]

Yes. Spread the word, share the video!

[@andynonimuss6298]

I've seen a number of people calling it D&D 5.24.

[@RPGPundit]

I like that. hope it catches on...

[@misterballista]

I flicked through the new PHB in a local stockist the other day. Content aside the aesthetics are horrible, pastel colours, gay dwarf art etc. there's nothing in it that makes be think of exciting fantasy adventures.

[@RPGPundit]

Definitely. Spread the word, share the video!

[@MyName-tb9oz]

Wow. I got here before anyone commented. Either that or they were deleted... LOL

[@MyName-tb9oz]

I wouldn't _steal_ Woke of the Coast's new stuff, much less would I buy it.

[@guywholikesheelies3231]

​@@MyName-tb9ozcool now shut up

[@RPGPundit]

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[@Nobleshield]

Sending love to Meatball 🐱

[@RPGPundit]

Thanks! She seems a bit better today.

[@DanSmith-x2p]

Good stuff

[@RPGPundit]

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[@p-leif630]

The chase rules of 5e have been already bad how could they get worse and more unusable? (Legit question) Because casting spells have been to strong befor and exhaustion was used their too You either nuked them with spells or kept dashing So far I don’t see them as any more or less unusable like the old chase rules

[@RPGPundit]

Except that the new rules can kill your character.

[@Derry_A_Deryni]

instead of 1 d&d ed, maybe "Spec ed&d' for the ertrads, backwards play at ers. Seems to me that current D&D since the advent of the lockdowns world wide is Larping Playing. You _catch my drift_ people pretending to play pretend, which is ertraded & internally backwards.

[@nooctip]

Their woke readers. They asked this keeling over dead in aminute does it have anything to do with race or gender? No. Pass.

[@RPGPundit]

Precisely. And of course they know nothing about how D&D rules work anyways. Spread the word, share the video!

[@KenLives333]

+1

[@RPGPundit]

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