How can a player evaluate the strength of an ennemy? My players encounter guards that were far less powerful than them but fled because they looked strong. Can they make a skill check for evaluating CR of enemy with class levels?
120510
Is there a way to learn someone's level in-game in DnD3.x? (...or possibly Pathfinder?)  Wait, I know, levels are an abstraction and a game mechanism, and should not come into play in-game. Yet, there are tell-tale signs: abilities that you gain only at a certain... level, and then there are the spells, your resilience, etc.  Should I want to run a game in which levels are somewhat more explicit (for example, a world inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld, where wizards do have and know of levels (of spells and spellcasting ability, at least, afaik)), what ways would the official systems provide, if any, to determine someone's level in-game? Are there any methods to discern such information, as a character (be it a player character or an NPC), within the world? '"He's a wizard of the seventeenth level," the prince said. "I wouldn't mess with him, if I were you."'
43107
I'm a new DM. One of the PCs obtained , which raise the Strength score of the creature wearing and attuned to them to 19. Does this increase the modifier or any of the skill checks or damage rolls as well?  I'm not sure how having higher Strength is helpful if it doesn't.
101664
I struggle with the following :      You enter the room and a dark, old man dressed with a humble and threadbare mantle is prattling in a corner. When he sees you, he stands up and comes forward, smiling sincerely. His face has sharp contours and his eyes express the resolution and vision of a true leader   The NPC has successfully made a positive impression on my group. I described the NPC as their characters saw him.   On the opposite :      You enter the room and a old skanky man, with a ragged robe, is talking under his breath from a corner. When he sets his piercing eyes on you, he stands up and comes forward, smiling too widely. His sharp face looks almost cruel and his eyes seems to look at everything as his to claim   Well, if they don't all pull their swords after this and raise a shield, they deserve their incoming death, right ? jk, I hope you understand what I tried.   I tried to describe the same person from 2 different perspectives (I am not an English native speaker, very sorry if I failed to explain my issue).     First description: poor nice old man, maybe a previous village leader or a current wise from a poor community, babbling memories or old folks song. Second description : austere old man, might have set up a spell, focused only on power and driven by ambition. (I am a bit better in French, I promise).   My group has a paladin that detects evil aura (automatically, all day long right ?). Some of the group have terribly low wisdom. Others have great stats and can detect bluff and stuff. Thus, they should not see people and things the same way. I struggle to deliver consistently interesting interactions with my universe NPC (and places).   If I describe what each one sees, the group can just rely on the paladin or the druid to see the world.  Descriptions become useless and I am condemned to use a neutral align NPC (which works from time to time but it is less sexy than an evil eminence grise, proxy of their archennemy) if I want to add elements of surprise or doubt.   How to deliver interesting descriptions opposed to 'it's an evil mage at least level 7, usual evil mage stuff'    I describe what every one sees, player's job is to roleplay their character. But it feels constrained and a bit false when they know their character is deceived. And the group ends up taking the good decision.   I describe what the most perspicacious one sees because, anyway, the group follows his recommendations on these points.  After all, it is why you create a balance group, to get all the skill on the table. I create an average perception for the group, factoring the characters' abilities and external factor (shared races, known background...) and roll a dice. The group shares the perception. But the streetwise characters's players might get frustrated.
5194
My friends and I are very new to D&amp;D, played like 3 times. In a monster's stats next to weapon damage it says stuff like "+11 to hit" and "Hit: 5 (1d8+1)". For the premade characters it just says things like "+4, 2d6 + 2 slashing", though. Why are there two "hit" numbers for monsters? Which do I use for the d20 roll to hit against a target's AC?  I mean for example like in the Ogre entry in the "" article on monsters.
93753
So, after a few sessions, the new player I'd invited has been a bit of a disaster. He doesn't get on well with any of the other players, laughed when someone's character died (in our campaign that's permanent at the moment), and generally has been a nuisance. However, he doesn't seem to notice this. I've talked to him about his behaviour, but it hasn't helped. Several other players have also approached me on their own to register concerns.  The long and short of it is, he's not a good fit for our game or social group, due to his abrasive personality/playstyle (as I and the other players perceive it). He's also not interested in roleplaying (something my group does heavily, at the moment) and continually pushes to place himself in the limelight - which he does by instigating combat and trying to skip over what he sees as 'boring' scenes. His character is a Minotaur barbarian, and the most exotic race in the game, but he only uses it for the stat bonuses, and doesn't even have a backstory - he simply says he doesn't need one. However, I don't want to be rude or otherwise unkind to him, as I will still see him around after he leaves the group, and so will the other players.  How can I politely ask him to leave the group, without being dishonest but avoiding embarrassment for anyone? I also want to avoid seeming to 'abandon' him, or 'go behind his back'.  Note: There are few/no in-game problems with adding or removing characters, and I don't need advice for that. This is strictly about handling the player. The system (not that it's all that relevant to the problem) is
8525
Well guys, following previous recommendations here I was able to build a Horror Themed Savage Worlds campaign that has made my players excited. However they're still getting used to the style, as well as I am. In order for them to hurt the major evils of the adventures they have to find their Form (physical appearance, name), Truth (How the creature came to be) and Reason (What the creature wants to), so they have to do research, kill lesser creatures, and run away from the big baddie of the adventure as they seek what it is.  Well, this is my problem:  How can I make them use skills significantly?  I'm used to railroading my players, even with mysteries, and I don't know how to put their skills for significant use. An example is, they usually require Streetwise or Investigation to gather clues and such, however, I wonder what to do if they fail the roll... If they fail they're not supposed to find anything, so chances they never finish the adventure are well, high, that and I have no idea how to give them additional, interesting ways for them to find the truth. So do I give it no matter what they rolled? How do I make use of their skills important and not just busy-work without having a failure on a roll completely stop their progress in the investigation?
96490
Looking at the rules for Surprise on page 189 of the 5e PHB. It says that a creature is surprised if the enemy's stealth check beats their passive perception. It then goes on to say:      Any creature that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter   Emphasis mine.  So that's pretty straight forward, you hide, roll stealth and beat the passive perception of the monster and you get a surprise round.  Now I have 2 other scenarios I'm confused about:   What if the creature is actively looking and therefore makes a perception roll instead of relying on passive perception? If the stealth check beats the perception check, does the stealth user still get a surprise round? And, What happens when you use the hide action and succeed or turn in visible in combat? Would the enemy presumably lose track of you and be surprised if you attacked from behind?
106597
Where will changes and fixes to guides and manuals for 5e be found? I'm interested in a grappler build, among others, and don't know where to look to see if the last bullet for the grappler feat has been changed. The grappler example aside, it should be useful to know for future fixes.
120198
Are there rules for creating level 0 characters in 5e? I've been running a campaign where the players begin sub-standard and 1st Level characters are generated in-game as the story unfolds. I just made them all begin with a couple of hp and 9's across the board for ability scores (since I wanted them at a disadvantage compared to the average human, and to fail at a generic DC10 task more often than succeed).  It was a real grind, with many opportunities for TPK (total party kill) when faced with even a single challenge rating 1/2 adversary (obviously I fudged the dice a little to prevent this). Are there published rules for this?  If there aren’t published rules for this, has anyone tried doing something like this? Any first hand experience on how it has played out would be welcome.
20984
How many spell slots does a character get, and how do you calculate that if there's a calculation involved? I've been looking everywhere for this, but can't find it.  I started playing just about a month ago and I've had to make about 2 character sheets for my friends already (Human Fighter and a Wood-Elf Ranger) and now I'm making myself a Cleric of Life but can't figure out how many spell slots I have.
81652
I am a very inexperienced DM. I have here what must be an obvious question, but I can't seem to find any solid clarification.  How is XP rewarded after a combat encounter? Is the total monsters' XP given to each player, divided between the players, awarded depending on which player killed each monster, or something else?  Or can anyone recommend discarding the XP system altogether and levelling up everyone when appropriate? If so, how exactly should that work?
33797
As a fairly new DM, one thing that has commonly occurred in my sessions so far is my PC's starting combat outside of initiative.  For example after a telepathic conversation with a Nothic was going south, my Rogue said 'I shoot him with my shortbow'. At the time I wasn't sure of the correct ruling for this situation so I allowed him to attack and then rolled initiative to start the combat proper. I ensured that the Nothic wasn't surprised though as it was clear that these were two hostile forces trying to work each other out.   Coming away from the session I knew this wasn't right and wanted to get the official answer before next time. I came across this question . The accepted answer here as per RAW is that after the Rogue announced his attack, everyone should roll initiative and if anyone of the party go before the Rogue, then they will just move and ready an action. However I don't like the sound of this as I believe it takes a bit away from the players agency of quick-drawing an attack before the other side has a chance to respond.  Therefore my idea is as follows. In this situation again, the Rogue attacks and then everyone rolls initiative. Then in the turn order, the Rogue skips this 'turn' in the first round as they have already taken it at the top of the 'round'. After the first round the Rogue's turn then falls back into place depending on their initiative roll.   My question. Is this balanced and practical? I know that as DM I have the authority to have this as a house rule. But I wanted to make sure that this is not over-powered and that it is not in conflict with any spells/feats/abilities etc. Will it work?
15786
How do you determine the Spellcasting ability and the spell attack bonus? I've tried searching for it in the player's handbook and searched for answers here, but I haven't found anything.
7878
As a bit of background, my players befriended a kobold and gave him a javelin (instead of the dagger a kobold usually have, according to his stat block). They later also gave him a leather armor for his protection.  Does the kobold have proficiency for the javelin and the leather armor ?   Or the general question: Do monsters have proficiency with all weapons and armors ?  If not, how can I know what they have proficiency with ?
34053
Rule Zero: All other rules can be changed by the GM.   I appreciate that there is a massive amount of work that goes into being a GM and the last thing that any GM wants or deserves is to have his players constantly questioning everything they do. However, a group I am currently playing with has been having a huge problem with a GM who has been using rule 0 to deny virtually every skill check and give all his custom enemies powers that have either no save or unbeatable DCs. Then, whenever he realizes he has made the fight unwinnable he brings in one of his level 60+ GMPCs to instantly win the fight, making us feel even more helpless.  We try to hold our tongues and not be the dreaded Rules Lawyer, but he keeps pulling out stuff so ridiculous that we have to question it… and every time we do we find that he is either misunderstanding or completely disregarding the rules. When this happens he always jumps immediately to rule 0. He probably cited rule 0 around 6 times in our last session (and we only had one combat encounter).
71038
What are some strategies that I can employ to handle a power gamer that constantly outshines the rest of the party? This is a friend of us all and we don't want to boot him, but combat simply isn't fun when the party has nothing to do while he mops up an encounter by himself.
98591
So say I'm going to ambush an orc. I successfully sneak up on him and I attack. The DM determines that the orc is surprised. The orc happens to get an initiative roll of 19, while I get a 10. How would this work? I can only think of two reasonable resolutions to this.   The orc, having a higher initiative, goes first. Since he's surprised, he does nothing. Then it's my turn. If the orc survives my attack, it is now his turn, and being that the orc has already gone through his round of surprise, he can now attack me or whatever, and combat proceeds as normal. I, having started the combat, go first. If the orc survives my attack, but he is surprised, so he does nothing. It is now my turn again, I attack again. If the orc survives my second attack, it is now his turn, and being that the orc has already gone through his round of surprise, he can now attack me or whatever, and combat proceeds as normal.   Which one of these is correct? neither? Does starting combat secure me a turn/action at the start of initiative order like in option 2? If option 1 is correct, could I ready an action to shoot the orc, effectively granting me a similar first attack as in option 2?  Sorry if this makes no sense.