Dungeon Master's Guide Chapter 3

Alright, this is a lengthy chapter that discusses how to run the game smoothly to give the players the best experience possible while still enjoying the game yourself. Even for experienced DMs, I have no doubt there will be a lot of useful information here, especially since everyone is still getting used to the new rules.

We begin with a discussion on Encounter Distance and how to measure it. It's a lot more mechanical than it used to be, involving Spot checks, creatures sizes, vision conditions and terrain. All of these are quantified in the game rules now, so there's a lot less adjudication and more calculation involved. Circumstantial adjustments to the checks are the only real subjective part of this process, and even then most of them have standard modifiers.

Combat is next, and I'm sure this will be a quick read...

Okay, so the old 'surprise roll' is dead and buried. Instead, Spot and Listen checks are the keys to avoid being surprised by an opponent. There are lengthy discussions on what happens depending on who is aware of whom, most of which is fairly common sense. There's also a section on what to do when someone else joins the fight, and an optional rule to have initiative rolls every round. I would definitely implement that variant in my game.

Next, combat actions. Ho boy, there's a bunch of stuff here. We start with the basics of attack rolls, as well as a more in-depth explanation (including a sidebar) of how critical hits work in the new rules. I should note that in each of these sections, there are variants included to change how the combat works. Some of them are useful; others, not so much. And I have no doubt it will all depend on the taste of the DM and players.

Damage is next, and while there isn't a lot to discuss (if you hit something, roll your damage), there are some variants for things such as dying from taking massive damage; the base rule is 50 points and you make a Fortitude save or you're dead. With this variant, your size adjusts that threshold from as low to 10 all the way up to 90. So, if you want to take down a massive dragon with one shot, you'd better do a ridiculously high amount of damage in that one shot.

Next is the use of miniatures and grids. I don't use minis, although I will use cardboard tokens if they are handy. The D&D Adventure Game Boxed Set included a few, which is nice, but there aren't any in the first two core books. The section explains how to use them, how reach works, and how to check line of sight. Visualizing the combat situation is always a good thing; some people can just abstract the whole combat in their minds, but it definitely helps to know if you can actually see that goblin crouched behind the corner readying his crossbow. The rules here are pretty easy to work with, and there are sample grids that look familiar...ah, yes. They're the ones from the Dungeon Master's Screen. Now they're in full color, so they're much shinier.

Movement comes next, although I would have thought that it would logically have come first; you move, you notice the enemy, you attack. But people are usually more interested in combat, so...

Anyway, there's a reminder that movement is constant and not the choppy version you get when playing a turn-based game. Aerial maneuverability takes up a chunk of space, and rather than the A-E maneuverability classes from the older editions, they are just named as Perfect, Good, Average, Poor, and Clumsy, with an example creature for each. Only creatures with Perfect or Good maneuverability can hover or fly backward, and Poor and Clumsy flyers have a hard time with turning and changing their angle.

Then we get to Describing the Action. Just some basic advice on using descriptive terms instead of just saying 'The wizard casts a spell'. Some gamers like that deeper immersion; others just want to stab things, so it depends on your group's style of play.

Next up are the Special Abilities. These are mostly going to come from the Monster Manual, but they are described here in detail so the DM has all the information he needs to handle these abilities. They are divided into three types, Extraordinary, Spell-Like, and Supernatural. Extraordinary are nonmagical and aren't affected by the negation or disruption of magic in the vicinity. A monk's evasion or a barbarian's dodge ability fall in this category.

Spell-Like Abilities are just that: Abilities that are just like spells. The only difference is that they don't require casting or components, but they can be suppressed or dispelled. Dragons and demons are known for having spell-like abilities, things they can do one or more times a day (or at will). Supernatural abilities are still magical, such as the basilisk's gaze or the banshee's wail, but they aren't considered as or treated like spells. Spell resistance doesn't help against them, but antimagic does.

And now we get a long list of the various special abilities that will be found in the creature descriptions of the Monster Manual. I'm not going to list them all here; there are a lot. However, I will mention a couple that are important to know about: Energy drain and spell resistance.

Energy drain has always been the bane of adventurers. When you ran into a wight or a vampire, you had a very good chance of losing a lot of experience levels. Yes, levels. Permanent loss of levels unless you had a handy cleric who could cast restoration, in which case you'd get back...one level. Three hits from a vampire would take a 9th-level fighter down to 3rd, but the cleric could get you back to 4th. The rest you would have to earn back, one XP at a time. Yay... Needless to say, energy drain was the most feared attack in old school D&D, and undead were the most terrifying opponents. And that is as it should be.

In the new rules, however, energy drain has been...well, nerfed. If a wight tags you, you get one 'negative level', which means you lose several things, including a -1 to all skill and ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and anything else that is affected by your level. You also lose spells, if you can cast them, at the rate of one of your highest-level spells (so if you're 9th level, you would lose a 5th-level spell). If you've already cast your highest-level spells, you lose the next-highest level spell. That's not quite the same as losing a level, but it's certainly not pleasant, and if they left it at that, I'd be okay with it. After all, it's a lot less complicated than working through your sheet to figure out how many hit points you gained last level, and redoing all your attack roll tables.

However...

"Negative levels remain for 24 hours or until removed with a spell, such as restoration. After 24 hours, the afflicted creature must attempt a Fortitude save. The DC is...provided in the attacker's description). If the saving throw succeeds, the negative level GOES AWAY with no harm to the creature. If the save fails...the creature's level is reduced by 1." In other words, there's a better than decent chance that your lost level comes back the next day. That is a lot less scary than an automatic permanent loss. I think it's a bad decision to nerf the scariest attack form in the game like this.

Moving on to Spell Resistance, this is a nice power to have for magical creatures that can just shrug off the wizard's best efforts. It's an extraordinary ability, so it can't be negated by antimagic (which makes sense). Instead of rolling % dice like we used to do for Magic Resistance, this is once again a d20 roll against a target number, like pretty much everything else in this edition. It only works on spells and spell-like abilities; supernatural abilities are unaffected. Note that includes energy drain.

What this means is that creatures with spell resistance can't just shrug off magic items that aren't using spells. A fighter using the rod of lordly might's ability to cast a fear spell will have to overcome the creature's spell resistance, but clubbing them over the head with the rod will work just fine. That would require Damage Reduction, which I guess I should have covered. I'll go back to that in a moment.

Every spell in the Player's Handbook includes a note as to whether spell resistance can stop it or not; there are guidelines here in the DMG to handle how to make the determination for created spells. You only get one roll to resist a spell, and you can't stack multiple SR benefits; you only get the best one that applies to the spell being cast upon you.

Alright, Damage Reduction. This used to be covered simply enough: certain creatures were immune to certain types of weapons; lycanthropes couldn't be hurt by anything other than silver or magical weapons; most demons and devils couldn't be hurt by anything nonmagical, etc. Now, damage reduction is a bit more nuanced than that. You can still hit a werewolf with a normal weapon, but it's going to ignore a bunch of the damage if not all of it. DR is given in the text as a number, slash and what can overcome the resistance. For example, the aforementioned werewolf might have a DR of 15/silver, which means that it's going to ignore 15 points of damage from any attack except one made with a silver weapon. Magical weapons will still work as well. But a cold iron weapon won't get past the werewolf's DR, so be careful with that. You can represent DR in the game in different ways; weapons bounce off, pass right through, or cut the target but are instantly healed. That's all flavor; the effect is the same in each case.

So, that covers the most important special abilities. Next up are the Conditions. These are things that weaken, slow or kill you in various ways. Not creatures or traps, but effects from different types of attacks and special abilities. There are a lot of them, but the descriptions aren't too lengthy. Conditions such as dazed, disabled, entangled, exhausted, grappled, incorporeal, panicked, shaken and stunned are all explained and their effects described. It's handy, certainly, and gives lots of options for how characters are affected by various attack forms.

Alright, that's combat. Next up...the Environment. This covers both aboveground hazards and underground ones. And yes, there are rules for how long until you starve or die of thirst. They really codified everything in this version, didn't they? Weather rules (much easier to use than the ones in the Wilderness Survival Guide), heat and cold, all of that is covered in just a few short pages. I must say, the efficiency is nice.

We then get a few pages on how to adjudicate skill checks, how to adjust DCs, and how to handle critical successes and failures. There is also a full-page table that gives examples of Difficulty Classes. It includes the DC, an example of the situation that would call for the check, the relevant skill and ability, and who could do it. I really like this last column; it ranges from a commoner standing on the other side of a stone wall listening to a pitched battle (finally, something a commoner can do successfully!), to a 20th-level ranger who has been fighting goblins his whole life and has maxed Wilderness Lore skill, tracking a goblin that passed over hard rocks a week ago and it snowed yesterday. Yes, it's possible to succeed at that task, but even that guy will find it a challenge. This is a really useful table.

Next up is a brief bit on how to handle saving throws and possibly using different abilities to make certain saves (such as using Wisdom instead of Constitution to make a Fortitude save against a phantasmal killer spell).

Finally, the chapter ends with a few pages on how to adjudicate various magical abilities, including divinations (no DM ever likes these), creating new spells, damage caps (boo!), and a few variants on spell DCs, powerful material components, and individual summons (instead of dragging in a few generic dire rats, you summon one particular creature every time you cast that spell). It's an interesting variant, but I don't know if I'd want to be summoning the same creature with summon monster IX as I would with summon monster I. Even if I did get more of them with the higher-level spell.

Alright, another lengthy chapter is done. Next up is Chapter 4: Adventures. See you next time.