D&D: The Five Best Rules In The 5E DMG
The new Dungeon Master’s Guide releases in November. But the old one still has plenty of rules that might be worth hanging onto.
The Dungeon Master’s Guide is, ten years after its release, still something of a mystery to the majority of D&D players. It makes sense, you need multiple players but only one Dungeon Master. But even your DM might not have read the book in depth—which is why the meme of the DMG having all the rules that people keep trying to houserule exists.
Now, in November, a new Dungeon Master’s Guide will come out. And what wonders it will hold, surely. But before we say goodbye to the 5E Dungeon Master’s Guide, here are five of the best rules hiding within its many pages.
Climbing on Larger Creatures
Want to get your Shadow of the Colossus on? Have dreams of pulling a Legolas and surfing down a Cave Troll or an Oliphaunt (even if it only counts as one)? Then you should know there is a rule in the DMG that handles this exact situation on page 271 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Make an Athletics or Acrobatics check opposed by the larger creature’s Acrobatics, and if you win, you get to enter the space of a Huge or Gargantuan moster and can climb around the body. You can maneuver so they have a hard time using their weapons against you—and might even try to throw you off. Definitely worth checking out.
Reputation and Renown
Have you ever wanted a way to mechanically track your player characters influence in the world? How they fit into one of the many organizations out there? Well good news, there’s one already in the game, and it has fairly extensive rules.
The Renown System in the Dungeon Master’s Guide has rules for what a positive and negative reputation within a faction can do. In a nutshell, you gain renown points as you do good things for an organization, lose them as you do things that go against their interest. These points get your rewards that you can call on in-game, like NPC assistance. A fun little system worth hanging onto.
It’s a Chase
One of my personal favorites are the chase rules out of the DMG. On Page 252 are rules for what happens when a monster (or the characters) decide to run away from an encounter. You don’t have to keep comparing movement speeds and the like—because there’s more to a chase than who is faster. It isn’t just about outrunning your enemies, but about losing them, which can be easy to do if you turn down alleyways and knock over fruit carts along the way.
The rules handle things that both sides in a chase can do to try and succeed, and it makes for a fun, dynamic spice that you can add to any encounter (but probably not every encounter).
You’re Fighting HOW MANY Guys?
Did you know the Dungeon Master’s Guide has rules for fighting hordes of enemies without combat taking literally forever? On page 250 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide you’ll find rules for the handling of mobs.
It boils down to a table that determines what an individual creature needs to roll to hit a target’s AC. So an orc with a +5 attack bonus needs a 14 to hit a Fighter with an AC of 19. You then look up the minimum result on a table which tells you that, for every three orcs that attack, one will hit the fighter. So if you have eight orcs, that’s two hits, one for each group of three orcs. It takes out some of the swinginess, but it makes your combats go much much faster until you get down to more manageable numbers.
But if you want your Helm’s Deep moments, this is how you get ’em.
Magic Item Flavor
There is a whole section that tells you how to make your magic items feel much more magical. With tables that outline everythinig from the origin of the magic item, to why it was made, to quirks it might have. This is how you end up with a sword that whispers curses or glows with soft radiance when its enemies are near. A short, easy little section, but one full of special properties that can make even a +1 weapon feel like something absolutely magic.
What are some of your favorite rules from the DMG?
