D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

[soviet]

Whether getting passage on a ship is game or continuity breaking feels like it is entirely dependent on where they want to get the ship from and too. As per Eye's of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga, etc... Sometimes the journey is the adventure. As per recent IRL cruise ship shenanigans, sometimes there are world reasons things don't work.

As far as why the GM's position takes precedence, that seems to historically be the default in D&D. There are lots of threads on it. No one has to like that or follow it. Hopefully a lot of it was worked explained in the prospective DMs pitch to the players before they even got to session 0.

Well, my copy of the PHB doesn't put the text 'and no adventures can result' in the Sailor ability text. It seems to me that getting passage on a ship can lead to a whole load of complications and obstacles.

 

[soviet]

Followed by an or. You know someone or you sailed on the ship before.

Preceded by a might. You might know someone or have sailed on the ship before. These are examples.

 

[Maxperson]

5e doesn't say what you describe. There's a small section in the DMG that vaguely says the DM might ignore the dice sometimes, but hardly a full-throated embrace of fudging or DM supremacy.

There's nothing 'telling the players' this and there's no 'over and over and over'.

That's completely wrong. The PHB tells the players straight up that the DM might have changed the rules and to ask what changed.

PHB page 6 "Because there is so much diversity among the worlds of D&D, you should check with your DM about any house rules that will affect your play of the game. Ultimately, the Dungeon Master is the authority on the campaign and its setting, even if the setting is a published world."

5e DMG page 4: "And as a referee, the DM interprets the rules and decides when to abide by them and when to change them."

5e DMG page 4: "The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You're the DM, and you are in charge of the game."

5e DMG page 4: "The last part helps you adjudicate the rules of the game and modify them to suit the style of your campaign."

5e DMG page 34: "Feel free to change or ignore rules to fit the players' roleplaying needs, using the advice presented in part 3 of this book."

5e DMG page 235: "The rules serve you, not vice versa."

5e DMG page 237: "Remember that dice don't run your game-you do. Dice are like rules."

5e DMG page 263: "AS THE DUNGEON MASTER, YOU AREN'T LIMITED by the rules in the Player 's Handbook, the guidelines in this book, or the selection of monsters in the Monster Manual."

Tell me again how the game doesn't tell the DM over and over again how he is in charge, not the rules.

 

[Maxperson]

Note the full stop after the first sentence, and the 'might' in the second sentence. The ability is not dependent on knowing anyone.

You can't ignore what comes later. It says straight out that you are calling in a favor. You don't call in favors from strangers.

 

[mamba]

It's not clear to me why, if both sides have reasonable positions, it must always be the GM's position that takes precedence.

if both sides are reasonable (and agree that this is the case), I doubt it is always the GM having precedence, it’s when they disagree where it matters

 

[Maxperson]

As a bit extra. This is from Xanathar's.

Page 5: "One rule overrides all others: the DM is the final authority on how the rules work in play."

 

[soviet]

Because background features are pretty much the only rules widget in 5e where the player can explicitly make a ruling without GM oversight on anything other than direct PC action. That deserves to be called out and discussed.

I agree they're somewhat out of character with the rest of the game. There are a few nods to this sort of player empowerment but it's thin. (There's also not much of a nod to GM empowerment/fudging; 5e is very non-committal all over).

 

[Cadence]

[Ninja'd by @Maxperson ]

Note that all of your poll options presuppose that the GM has absolute ownership of adding things to the fiction and players can only make submissions to them rather than having any authority themselves.

Welcome to Dungeons and Dragons?

On DMing (as per the DMG)

On Backgrounds...

But of course...

I assume that it is hard to give everything that the Acting, Exploring, Instigating, Fighting, Optimizing, Problem Solving, ad Storytelling players all want. In any case, the suggestion under Storytelling says to use the characters backgrounds, it doesn't say to make them a blank check.

 

[soviet]

That's completely wrong. The PHB tells the players straight up that the DM might have changed the rules and to ask what changed.

PHB page 6 "Because there is so much diversity among the worlds of D&D, you should check with your DM about any house rules that will affect your play of the game. Ultimately, the Dungeon Master is the authority on the campaign and its setting, even if the setting is a published world."

5e DMG page 4: "And as a referee, the DM interprets the rules and decides when to abide by them and when to change them."

5e DMG page 4: "The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You're the DM, and you are in charge of the game."

5e DMG page 4: "The last part helps you adjudicate the rules of the game and modify them to suit the style of your campaign."

5e DMG page 34: "Feel free to change or ignore rules to fit the players' roleplaying needs, using the advice presented in part 3 of this book."

5e DMG page 235: "The rules serve you, not vice versa."

5e DMG page 237: "Remember that dice don't run your game-you do. Dice are like rules."

5e DMG page 263: "AS THE DUNGEON MASTER, YOU AREN'T LIMITED by the rules in the Player 's Handbook, the guidelines in this book, or the selection of monsters in the Monster Manual."

Tell me again how the game doesn't tell the DM over and over again how he is in charge, not the rules.

You said the game tells players this. All but one of your references are in the DMG, and the single one you've found in the PHB, doesn't say anything about fudging at all.

 

[Cadence]

You said the game tells players this. All but one of your references are in the DMG, and the single one you've found in the PHB, doesn't say anything about fudging at all.

PHB page 5 doesn't address every detail, like fudging (that seems like a specific ask?) but does seem to note the DM is in the lead and determines the results and can improvise.