I think Greyhawk being in the dmg is for a very specific dm. And that dm is me. I have a lot of ideas for adventures, and campaigns, and lore, and cosmology. But when it comes to creating a continent or kingdoms or places for it all to take place in, I just draw a blank. That's where Greyhawk can come in for me. I can put all of my ideas on top of what is given for Greyhawk, and I'll have a complete sandbox for my players to dig around in.
Absolutely same. The amount of help visual learners like me (and I guess you) get by something like Greyhawk is just so underrated, and no blank template *without* a pre-filled example will ever be as helpful for me.
I 100% agree with this, I am also a DM who prefers to work in a well established sandbox, a sandbox that I can shift the sands around to work for my own campaign but one that already has some NPCs, history and world building done for me so that I can focus on just telling the story I want. BUT, to dedicate that many pages, I agree with Monty, there are wikis now and most D&D adventure models will tell you the setting so you can go read about. Take LMoP, a perfect beginning adventure, you'll want to read a bit about Baldur's Gate for meeting Gundran Rockseeker and giving the quest and then the rest you'll want to read about Phandalin and its surrounding areas, all which can be found on the wikis.
The DMG is supposed to be for all players, new, experienced, etc. You don't need the greyhawk setting, but others may. I think it is a good addition, especially in dnd's 50th anniversary.
totally agree, like people who want to run dnd but arent good at worldbuilding and what will love having an entire setting they can just run from the book also by putting this in the dmg the dm doesnt need to buy a whole ass other book, not everyone wants to spend that much money on a hobby they are literally just starting
46:46 Uh...Winged Boots may have the same rarity, but they have changed drastically. They have charges and it requires a magic action to activate the flight.
The supercut of Monty prefacing this video is funny He acknowledged the business relationship hahaha Dude Kelly is just staring in every cut Love this channel
I think putting Greyhawk in the DMG as an example of what a campaign setting might look like is generally a good idea, especially for new DMs. Otherwise you would have to buy a completely separate book to get an example of that as a new DM. Though, it is certainly possible that they went overboard and spent too many pages describing that setting.
Agree to a degree. Having a baseline campaign setting is good for a new DM, however, it should be a stripped down version of it with just the information you need to start playing in it. Which means no great wheel, no 12 whatever different planes, that's not necessary. Give me a world map & general description of each nation/region, a pantheon of deities for my clerics & paladins to worship, a list of potential warlock patrons and their goals/desires, ~3 detailed major cities, 3-6 detailed little towns, and a few example conflicts that might be occurring in each location. Then in the Monster Manual and campaign setting books you could have the different planes and the monsters that inhabit them.
I think the issue is the setting is probably never going to actually be used. Like it works for an example, but it isn't going to have enough support for anyone who wants to use it as a campaign setting and for those who want to build on the idea, they are going to probably just use their own world.
I'm super here for the Bastion system. This is a big point of excitement for the next campaign I'll be in. Having a home base that becomes a reflection of me and my teammates is great. I agree with Kelly and the points he's making. I think the system should be simple enough to not distract from the main adventuring, but makes downtime back at home more exciting.
Degrees of success and success at a cost were also in the 2014 DMG (ch.8 iirc) (They were called degrees of failure, but the idea was there for critical success too)
As someone relatively new to DND, I like the cosmology and Greyhawk additions in here. I think you’re right in that it’s not for everyone and that it can be found elsewhere, but for me and others like me it’s nice to have a referential to quickly go to as needed in the DMG- and I definitely would return to it. Also, I think the Bastions are just great extra fun! ~_~
Awesome video! I cant wait to get through it all. Love all your content. Btw I would really love a more in depth video on the literal logistics of running combat as a DM, but with a couple live examples seeing the DM's perspective, having the npc stat sheets out, interpreting them and understanding how to play against players without killing them quickly.
Hi! The Dudes did a lot of videos for new DMs. Pull up their channel and filter the oldest ones first. There are separate videos for combat movement, initiative, right-sizing CR when choosing enemies, etc.
I greatly enjoy your input on D@D topics. I look forward to any worksheets you might produce. I spend a lot of time writing out your "power point slides" for the classes you've presented, I find them very thought provoking. I appreciate all your work, including Drakenheim play.
The problem with strongholds and bastions is that if it is TOO detailed, it is a second game. I think the bastion rules are detailed enough -- and the DM can always add more to a campaign if they want to. It is similar to how vehicle combat, such as ship to ship, where it usually is a mini-game.
Using 3d edition for Greyhawk? No! First. First edition is Greyhawk. Maybe there was some stuff for Greyhawk in 3d edition, but it's the 1st edition setting that is iconic. Also, with respect to the discussion about excluding the Greyhawk and Cosmology chapters … you know as well as I do that if they'd left that stuff out entirely, and then announced (or just later published) books covering those topics, they would have been skewered for not including them, at least in a basic form, in the DMG. Basic explanations in the DMG is what we got, and if there are plans to expand on them in separate materials-which I hope there are-then that's a great place to put the 150-200 pages that thoroughly covers them. Their total exclusion from the DMG, however, would have been a bad move and likely created even more backlash.
I'm a Greyhawk diehard (started playing the game in 1978 and Greyhawk in the early 80s). I'm still using my original Greyhawk box set books, 2nd ed Greyhawk hardcover book, and then my post-Greyhawk Wars books, and all of the cool 3rd edition content. But I'm still actually going to love seeing Greyhawk in the DMG.
Also, under my group's long running Greyhawk game (20-ish years), I totally built my own stronghold and had just the BEST time mapping it, staffing it, and retirng to my stronghold after/between adventures. We didn't do too much interaction between my stronghold and the rest of the campaign, in terms of benefits per adventure, but it did provide an additional site around which we could plan adventures or just have appear in adventures. It was always quite rewarding for me, as a player.
The best way to deal with rules loopholes and exploits is to note them, laugh at them, and agree to ignore them outside of a oneshot designed to let them shine. For DCs, my dirty secret is outside of opposed checks, I often just assign a straight number on the d20. 6+ for an easy check, 11+ for a medium test, and 16+ for a hard test. I do mix in set DCs but as am improve based DM this helps things flow very nicely.
For me i would let it happen once but next campaign or session, it is being toned down or adapted to something more apporiate Like a drink that refills your spell slots but makes you sick in like 4 hours.
@@Subject_Keter When it comes up at the table, I usually take a short pause and ask the table how they want to play things. We can play it broken, or play it by the spirit and whatever way we rule sticks and applies to the players and the NPCs equally. They often either choose to play by the spirit or find some middle ground they're comfortable with lest the get bombarded by an unhealthy amount of cheese.
@@frankiepineda9 Yeah. I don't use these kinds of tests for anything important and it lets players who might not have a strong skill for a scene, but who are RPing well, have a chance to shine where they'd otherwise be pushed to the background. When their are stakes to the roll I use properskill checks with real DCs so nobody is short changed. This really speeds up gameplay and means characters that might otherwise auto fail or succeed at everything get some stakes in otherwise RP only situations.
im absolutely loving the bastion system, it really helped ground my players in the world between big adventures. Also im introducing a lot of fun npcs that they can call on to help them out as hirelings. providing almost mini side quests into finding them and interacting with the world.
I'm likely to go wild with reflavoring the bastion mechanics, but actually having the mechanics laid out so I don't have to write up something homebrewed (and even more likely than published material to end up with something unbalanced) means I can focus more on the parts that are fun and memorable (architecture! NPCs! a town growing up around the party's shared stronghold over the course of the campaign!). And I definitely agree with you on introducing NPCs who are potential hirelings -- there are always minor NPCs who the players decide they like, and bastions are a pretty convenient way to keep them around (and right there in case you come up with a sidequest or plot hook that the particular NPC would help with). ...and the reliquary means one expensive-material-component-free casting of Heroes' Feast per week.
I just became a DM about a year and a half ago and have watched a bunch of yalls videos. Even some of those from like 4-5 years ago or whatever and Monty you look like you've lost some serious weight and thats awesome! Keep killing it yall.
It would be interesting/hilarious to watch Monty roll his eyes through a Bastion deep dive, while Kelly spends 45 minutes trying to convince him that they're actually awesome because of their simplicity. 😂😅
I agree that the community needs to stop taking bad faith interpretations of the rules, however, peasant railgun is a hilarious concept. I think these things should still be memed as they are now but we should stop pretending they would ACTUALLY work.
I’m really happy about what I have seen coming out about how the rules work. People who want to argue about their bad faith interpretations bore me when I’m just trying to play a fun game with my friends. You want to show how creative you are? Do something cool within the constrains and spirit of the rules. That’s creative problem solving.
I'm right in the middle. I'm super excited about the prospect of building a bastion in our next campaign (Ghosts of Saltmarsh), but I'd like it to mostly be worked on in the group chat between games. That's actually what I'm most excited about. My early D&D games had literally hundreds of pages of text RP. Not so much anymore. I'm hopeful this will help hook people into the between game world building.
Agree with Monte on pizza and agree with Kelly on bastions. We've had something like it in a couple of our campaigns - a flying tower in a higher level one and a tavern we took from a gang in another. Usually fun if not over-done.
thank you for the review! My group and I have all jumped on board with the new revised rules, just picked up the DMG at my FLGS (got the alternate cover). Im really happy to see degrees of success as a mechanic, Ive played a lot of MotW.
My favorite thing about this video is that the disclaimer said they aren't going be super negative about the DMG, but then proceeds to make the most scathing review of the book I've seen from any of the TTRPG channels I follow. This isn't a bad thing, I just thought it was really funny.
Right? I’m a baby dnd player and would love to learn to be a DM. It sounds like an absolutely incredible book for someone like me. Also, the player strongholds sound incredible.
This was a fantastic review and one that I'm going to spend some more time with to digest. There's some really good thoughts that make me think about what matters to me in role-playing. I have the sense that Monty DMs much more than he plays. But that might be because my view of him is shaped by this channel. Given that, I wonder if when he discounts the bastion system and the crafting system as things that you do between sessions, if he is leaning on his DMs experience. I feel like those systems give players agency. The crafting system helps the players get the magic items that they're interested in getting. The bastion system helps them develop The NPCs and the overall narrative in a way that fits their view of the story. A good DM does that without the need for a system, but opportunities for more player agency being built into the game or a win for me! As always, you all are amazing. Fantastic review!
Love the content and your honest opinions. Really enthousiastic about the bastions! I hope my players are as much on board as I am. If not. Oh well, it's still fun!
On the chapter of DC, I have been using the "degrees of success" since watching you guys. I also use this to make most of my DC checks flexible based on creativity. For instance, the party must jump over a wide a crevice DC15 athletics. If they go full in character "i grab the dwarf and use them as an extension to ensure we grab the ledge on the other side. Just in case i dont make it" then i might reward them on a 13 or 14 score with some DM flare about just barely making it. On the other hand nat20 is they overestimate and jump almost double the distance. RE: planes of existence, i run magic the gathering theme'd D&D. I usually run a small-ish campaign per world and chain them together. Having the first campaign end with the player's "sparks" igniting and it taking until the end of the next campaign before they can travel again or maybe even know where to travel too. I think D&D needs mechanics like this, the Planes of Existence chapter is only low-value if the players have no way of travelling between planes besides the lvl7 plane shift spell. This chapter should be used by the DM to drop lore hints of other worlds throughout their campaign and provide players with ways to travel between these worlds. Maybe doing a "Flatliners" skit to visit Avernus (Other hells are available)
I fundamentally disagree regarding the Greyhawk setting. What we now have, which we haven't for a good while - a set of three books (when MM comes out) from which a new GM can up and start a game with minimal prep. Sure, you can do that without a setting, just handwaving stuff. However, many newer DMs will feel obligated to have a setting of some sort (either from book or home-brewed) before they start. Having sufficient (but not excessive) setting material of some form in the DMG allows for that without putting together a homebrew or buying another book.
I really like the bastion piece... in my group, like in many, real life trumps the game, so it gives something for those unable to attend a particular session to "work on" in the background and have a little progression that way
In the tyranny of dragons campaign I play, we've been playing on the 5th of Uktar for 6 months... I'm not building a single wall that takes 25 days to finish...
Considering it's Dungeon Master's "Guide", it makes sense that the basics would be more tailored to someone with no experience in Dm-ing than people who have been dming even before 5ht edition a decade ago. I want to start dming and the idea that it compiles standard advice makes me feel happy tbh, i can see why older dms would find it disappointing but there is a reason behind it
They likely didn't mention the average amount of encounters in a day because in practice it can swing so wildly that it becomes a sort of "rule with more exceptions than examples". Never underestimate a player group's ability to find a spot to nap.
As a habitual Short Rester, I think a lot of DMs could do with limiting Short Rests to 3 before needing a Long unless they just want to use Hit Dice, and maybe hslving or quartering the required time. And if you’re just planning 1 encounter on a day, make it towards the end of the day and make it hard. Players like being able to go all-in on a fight every once in a while without worrying about resource management.
Guys, I need to preface this with I really appreciate your positivity normally, that said I was a little disappointed that you were fairly harsh on things that did not feel warranted it. I've been DMing for 30 years myself, so the Greyhawk and Great Wheel chapters may be something I barely flip through, but having those there as a good standard for new DMs seems really great, remember it is the semi-experienced DM who is out looking for more sourcebooks, but coming up with a campaign setting is one of the first things you should be doing. Also Greyhawk is so bare bones that as campaign settings go it is only about a step off homebrewing anyways. Monty doesn't like Bastions, but I'm curious is that because that is a part of the game the players run and not the DM? I do feel that the rules for bastions being a player run thing but in the DMG could be kinda misplaced. As for the worksheets, I really glommed onto one of the things that was said in one of the interviews, the worksheets are there to show you how to do them and give some examples of them. If you feel you want worksheets for a bunch of other things, great, their absence from the book does not suggest that they aren't a good idea. Again I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I very much like what you are doing. I also like that you are local-ish, and I enjoy supporting local creators. Keep up the good work and the good vibes.
I've been a DM since I was 13 (1999) and I have always used the campaign building method described here. It is the best and I print out my own custom tracker page for players when we round robin DM.
if you watch the interviews, they post it is all just one interview thing done on one day cut to each book. They did tell us this is a 1000-page book separated into the 3 books. where better to put the monster level tables missing is in the monster manual. like you said it feels like one book. I'm not running it on paper until monster manual in feb.
Echoing folks here, I think Greyhawk here is super great for new DMs to develop your own and see what can be in a setting. Also I think the Great Wheel is super used and we've gotten some hilariously low amount of description of stuff in them. I agree dedicated books would be better, but also think that overlooking this cause there are other sources can be misleading (theres ton of info on the planes... But a lot of it is married to settings like Forgotten Realms). I LOVE both of these inclusions and I'm really happy they're here. I'm excited to take inspiration from Greyhawk to continue homebrewing
❤ This video is great. I tend to own physical copies of things as often as possible, so I have it pre-ordered. I have already started building my custom backgrounds library and am really looking forward to converting some of my older characters and giving them bastions. Thanks for the informed layout.
Hey, if you guys are going to make a sheet, can I suggest another sheet you should make? A new sheet for the player character sheet for non-spell abilities with multiple uses. For example, if I’m playing a Dragonborn battle master fighter with the lucky feat, I’ve got to keep track of how many uses I have for action surge, second wind, superiority dice, at higher levels indomitable, my breath weapon, my draconic flight, my luck points. Having a sheet with a separate block for each one with each block having a space for things like “what’s your maximum number of uses for this ability”, “how many uses have you spent today”, “how many uses do you get back on a short rest”, and “what are the rules for this ability” would be super useful. And if you had a bunch of magic items with charges and it just becomes too much for the one sheet, you could print off multiple sheets for just more abilities instead of printing off a whole new character sheet just for that block.
Difficulty challenge ratings (DC) has always been a thing various DM's have struggled with since third edition. I love that we are adding and rolling including bonuses now instead of the old school way of rolling under a stat number. I also always though increments of 5 (25%) were a bit of a gap. Every additional number on a D20 is another 5% of the roll. I always keep in mind the percentage of difficulty rather than a specific number and then I set the DC number representing that percentage. The one thing I need to keep in mind when doing this however is that if the PC's are mid to higher level then what was once a challenge may be fairly easy for them now. I need to resist the urge to keep upping the numbers on some things arbitrarily. A regular chest locked with a "regular" lock should not suddenly be DC 25 just because my players are level 15. There could be their reasons for a masterwork lock or something but not just their level. Bastions, they will simply be hit or miss depending on the group/game.
Hey Dudes! I think that the exploration tracker in the book is also serving double duty as the adventure tracker. The way they 've have designed it, designing for exploration is really no different than designing any other adventure. You pick your certain stages and those stages have different challenges in them that the players must get past. Some of those challenges may be combat. I can see a world where they thought The exploration tracker was doing what an adventure tracker would have done, and there would be no meaningful difference.
Success at a cost and degrees of failure were already in the 2014 dmg. I guess this is a testament to the new layout that people are finding "new" thing added that were always there in 2014.
The “not having how many encounters per day” thing imo is fine. The previous number was just based off of “these many before your players may want to long rest” which can change depending on the party, the types of encounters and how difficult each is. Yet I’ve seen new DMs stick hard and fast to doing 6 hard encounters or doing 6 encounters every single day the party is traveling between towns.
Kelly is the best if his generation. Sincere, engaging, thoughtful, and always employing the right tone for what he’s trying to get across. Never condescending, never dismissive. Deserves all the praise he gets. I’m glad that Kelly and Monte have this genuine rapport.
I think yall are underrating the Greyhawk section as a 70-page example campaign setting. It's SO damn customizable. It's a grab-bag of cool ideas for everyone who buys the book.
I've run a few games with Stronghold rules and for my parties it varied wildly. One group mostly ignored strongholds, another loved it and their motivations changed into building out their Stronghold more than following any of the campaign story elements. Most however were in-between, where they liked one or two perks but otherwise didn't engage much. Though I will never forget the campaign where one party made a teleportation circle hub out of their Stronghold, the hijinx they got up to and the wrenches I got to throw at them was pretty fun.
Speaking of Matt Colville, was I the only one that got the impression that WotC basically watched Running the Game and finally understood what Matt was talking about with their complete lack of info for new DMs in the 2014 DMG? The entire time I'm thinking of Matt pointing out how WotC was so unprepared for the success of 5e and missed the boat on the onboarding process.
Your views are definitely strongly influenced by your preferred DM/Campaign style. (Imagine that!) I agree with some of your views, and disagree with others. (Again, imagine that.) I love magic items, crafting them, and accruing gold to acquire them. My favorite setting is Eberron, and I also love Ptolus and Drakkenheim, each of which have magic item vendors with a strong place in the setting. I also like the Bastion system, and much more than I'd expected. Greyhawk at 30 pages is fine. Forty pages of the Great Wheel Cosmology is a lot. I guess it makes sense, given their efforts to promote the "multiverse", resurrect Spelljammer, etc... I don't use the Great Wheel, but I like that they're working to include the planes in games well before high levels. I think there's a lot more in the 2014 DMG of which you guys aren't aware. If you don't need it, no big deal; but I often hear people saying, "We don't have good rules for XYZ," and it's been there in the DMG for a decade. The DMG2014's biggest flaw is that it's very difficult to find anything. You have to simply read it, cover to cover, and virtually no one does that with DMGs. We want to flip to the parts most relevant in the moment.
i am really lookin forward to the "what to prepare with what time" part of the book. i am a terrible over-prepper. i would guess that i probably spend 10 hours on prep for every half hour of play. i am a very new DM, but i have a feeling that I could be getting a lot more done. it takes me about 2 months to prep one 3 hour session.
21:15 I think one thing to remember, is that this book doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and while there is a downside for Wizards to put too much into the book, but any DM willing to read the entire DMG is going to be watching videos like this and find various approaches to these ideas. 44:20 they almost make the same point talking about Greyhawk.
Guys, I will buy EVERY worksheet you come out with. If they’re going to drop the ball, I see no reason why you shouldn’t profit from it. It’s such an easy answer, & I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
To be fair the modules are kind of a format for how to plan adventures. As a new DM you should run a couple modules. They will teach you what is good and what is not good when designing an adventure.
I think this is a great video because much of this analysis is fairly critical in a way that is actually helpful to anyone looking to purchase the book, that said I have to point out that magic items did get some changes. In fact the winged boots mentioned in the specific video themselves have received a nerf as now they have charges (4 maximum, 1d4 at dawn) that give you 30ft flight for 1 hour (and you have to use up the time now), instead of a resource of 4 hours to draw from that matched your speed. The former winged boots legitimately gave you infinite flight because you had a resource of 4 hours and 2 hours were recharged every 12 hours so since combats last barely a minute, if that, 4 hours was too much. Now they probably will still last 4 combats but it isn't a guarantee, is much stricter to track and depending on the type of day and charges regained at dawn could end up being unreliable. Wand of magic missiles and cloak of invisibility also have similar changes
2014 DMG use: magic items, world building, optional actions/rules and encounter building (which I quickly abandoned) so I used it! But I'm excited for this new one. Love the love, love to love. Party on Dudes 🤘🏻
53:30 Monty is right that Bastions are best played out in the group chat, but I see that as a positive actually. Keeps your players engaged in the world/characters/game outside of sessions
10:50 Well, you could argue to the point of War Caster / Opportunity Attack: If a Melee Class is running to the enemy and overtakes you... you could cheer him/her up with a heal or buff to encourage their attack and bravery. I don't think this is bad faith interpretation per se. And WotC had several years to work on the new PHB so I would take all rules as they are written in that reglement. If anything is in the book that WotC did !NOT! want to be in it... their etire quality assurance department should be fired on the spot for poor performance.
Used Strongholds and Followers in my Saltmarsh Campaign as the players really adopted Saltmarsh as their home. I wish I'd had Bastions for a system my players would be more comfortable with. I will definitely be using this!
I love hearing you so passionate about this topic! I'm sure we may be able to find these great ideas worked out too if we search or think well! Although I'm quite interested in Greyhawk, all the reprinted stuff is a bit of a waste so I'm hesitant to buy it.. Bastions awesome though, encounter building, yes!
I am really looking forward to the bastion system. I plan on running a campaign in the near future where the party treats a ship as their home base, traveling around a group of Islands.
My default DCs generally end up being 10, 12 15, 18, and 25. I also have a pseudo-DC where I say, “Don't roll a one.” If they do, I have them narrate their own character's minor flub. Maybe they successfully jump across the pit, but they may decide their character falls prone or something silly.
Growing up I was too poor to afford anything Greyhawk. I’m glad to finally have something on the bookshelf about it. Also need to get a 5th ed Greyhawk book, FR book, Dark Sun book… ALL the campaign settings books to go with my Grim Hollow and Drakenheim books. 1:04:55 WANT. Thanks for this. I have every edition of D&D on my bookshelf, purchased when they were new. At 53 years of age, I can’t wait to re-complete my collection and read the new books. (Edit: removed my question about the XP value of encounters after a quick google.LOL)
I feel like the pineapple on pizza comparison to the bastion system was pretty apt. I'm personally "Team Kelly" and enjoy both the bastion system and pineapple on my pizza. 😅
I definitely like degrees of success for rolls, if someone beats the DC by a huge amount, or if it's a nat 1 or super low roll, giving something kinda funny storywise without overly punishing the player.
In a Q&A Brennan Lee Muligan was asked why they were using D&D for a live-play that was *very* low combat, as almost all the rules in D&D are about combat. He said that he could run social encounters and exploration with very little rules input, just the dozen skills to say how good a character is at things is sufficient. But when combat *did* come up... that's something he couldn't resolve without more firm rules. (Though I am a fan of more skills-based systems, where shooting is treated just like any other skill)
Please please please. I would buy the shit out of a Monty Martin and Kelly McLaughlin guide to world building and campaign design with helpful worksheet included. That is a kick starter I would back instantly.
We like to stay positive.. spends the rest of the video talking about flaws aside from a couple this book is amazing comments. lol great video!!! Looking forward to the sheets.
Please make the magic item per party group that shows the difference between one use items and permanent magic items - because these numbers look too big to me. Maybe they are counting healing potions/ scrolls/ limited charges and stuff? It feels like a month since I've seen you folks on my feed. Kinda shocked...
I know it was just a throwaway comment but I like that now you can spend a reaction to help an ally and not just hurt an enemy. It makes sense and is a good quality of life upgrade.
Its a bad faith interpretation of the rules (especially as the exploit is not what you said - the creature has to leave your range and provoke an opportunity attack). If you prefer to homebrew modify the rules in this way, go ahead. But its homebrew.
I may be a psychopath cause half the time when I ask for a skill check, I just wait and listen to the number the player shouts out and gauge if it sounds reasonable after the fact. Honestly the bastion things sound neat. I'm the opposite of Monty here, I hate city builders. Never cared to make a home base in skyrim or fallout or anything. But I love the idea of having a home base you can upgrade/improve with hirelings in DND. I don't know why, but I'm excited to see what they're about. I sorta had that in a game I played in a few years ago and it was a tonne of fun.
To be fair, wikis are wonderful, but they can be hard to sort of start from square 1, and Wizards can't be responsible for them existing or their accuracy or canon status. It's a big ask for a content creator to outsource lore aggregation on the wikis. There is some value to having independent lore sections in the materials, and I generally like having it.
I have used the degree in my game. For example I had a Rogue picking a lock but missed DC by 1 i have the rogue the option to open the lock but at the cost of damaging theor picks.
Thanks for the picture at Gamehole con! And there is a worksheet for adventure prep just not in the 2024 DMG. It's Sly Flourish's Lazy Dungeon Master's books.
I typically use 10, 13, 15, 18 for DCs, although if it's a lie or knowledge thing i usually just default to my own judgements on the roll, so a roll of 10 or 12 may get some information, but not a lot, while a roll of a 20 or higher will warrant more in depth information.
As with spells, while a lot of the magic items are reprints from past books, there have been pretty substantial changes to many of them. Winged Boots, as another commenter pointed out, saw a huge nerf. So, too, did the Staff of the Woodlands, from which PWT now costs charges and is no longer at-will, and which turns into a dud on a 5% chance any time you use it to cast Wall of Thorns (odd, as I would have thought that penalty should apply to Awaken if it does to any spell on that staff's list). Horn of Valhalla was nerfed, but in so doing it's now more reasonable and thus more likely to actually see play because a DM may award it more frequently now. Meanwhile, Weapon of Warning saw a huge buff (advantage on Initiative now extends to your whole party, more-or-less) and Vicious Weapon got a massive glow-up, too. In fact, the expansion of some weapon enchantments, like Flame Tongue, across the range of weapons is very welcome - but it baffles me why others, like Moon-Touched or Frost Brand, were withheld from that design choice. On the whole, I love the new items - some are basically just reskins of existing ones, like the Dancing Broom, but the Rival Coin feels like great Common design, and the Enspelled items are sure to be huge hits, especially the armor, which will allow martials to get easy access to Shield or Absorb Elements.
I'm hoping bastion rules give us a flavour of covenants in ars magica as it was an amazing function of the game that gave everyone things to do between games and often spawned adventures from their needs to develop the covenant. Excited for this!
As a baby DM and who doesnt like going around the web for hours on end. This seems great to giving me some lore and some old canon in one place sounds great. Ive already started reading and im am thrilled with my purchase. I love hearing what could be better. I know that there will never be a perfect book for any rpg but this seems pretty good, just like the new players hand book. These are an inprovement which at the end of the day is key, its better and easier to read. The basition system sounds amazing, having things to do outside of session if a session is canceled. There are so much you can do and it doesnt have to be during sessions. Thats a win now i can homebrew the little tweats i want thats its lacking. Thanks for the advice on how to improve the book
I don't know what the fascination is with item prices? I've never really cared for magical item shops, outside of consumables. Weapons and armors staves ...... take so much effort and resources to make why would the creator sell them? Magic items are best taken off enemies or looted from dungeon/crypts. Also any shop that has thousands of coins would be the biggest target for a heist
One idea about "setting a skill check DC" i heard was, don't make your players roll for something you are not ready to have them fail. For some things you need to ask yourself: " do I want my player to roll for that?"
To the point about the difficulty being harder in 2024 rules, I just hope that it isn’t SO difficult that the buffs they made to healing get nullified and we go back to square one 😅
I have found that the DC's are much easier to set when you think of them as, "What are the chances that a commoner could do this?" That's why save DC's start at 8 with the +2 proficiency. So that a commoner (10 in all stats) has a 55% chance of success just because they are trying.
