The first is whenever you go to climb something, like a tree, the DM asks for an athletics roll or something... why? Climbing is a type of movement and only costs 1 foot extra for every foot climbed. Same thing happens with swimming. The only time you should roll is if the climbing or swimming is difficult. Most times you should just be able to climb or swim as your movement speed allows.
I mean if you think about it, kids climb trees for fun and sport, why would an adventurer have to make a roll every time they want to climb something. Sure, sometimes if it is a difficult situation but not every single time.
The second is the DM asking if you used a ration each and every day. That's not how rations work. They are not substitute meals. They are rations, meant to be rationed until you find food. You can go almost 3 days without food and suffer no adverse consequences. Before the 3rd day ends, if you haven't found any wild game or other food (fruits, vegetables, or berries etc.) then you eat a ration.
How many times as a DM, or if you're a player does your DM, get these rules wrong? And are there any other rules you notice getting misinterpreted or misapplied.
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The difficulty of climbing a tree or swimming in a small pond should be super low, but it’s always possible to fall or slip under the water, which means rolling a natural 1 in D&D. Just like I’ve tripped over a line of paint on the floor when I was walking before. It’s not common, but it does happen.
As far as food is concerned, unless you have someone in your party with the Outlander background, the Goodberry spell, or another spell that creates food our characters need to eat and drink. Sure, they can go a day or two without food just like you and I can, but I won’t go a day or two without food. Rations are so that my character eats every day, not so that my character eats two or three times a week. The Exhaustion mechanic in D&D provides negative effects for PC’s who go without food, so there is a penalty if you skip eating for a day in the rules.
I am fine with a chance of failure, so every time you take a step or move 1 foot in the game go ahead and roll a save or something... see if anything ever gets done. Climbing and swimming are alternative types of movement and don't require a roll every single time you use them, only occasionally when it is difficult. The rules for this are on page 182 of the PHB.
And as far as not eating every day, I am not trying to add realism to the game. If you go a day without food your stomach will growl and feel free to do whatever else for rp and flavor, but the rules for the penalties are on page 185 of the PHB.
Concerning climbing, as a DM I would let folks climb (or swim) without checking if the situation was "normal." But if a character is going to climb in plate armor (or any other sort, but plate makes the point better) and carrying a couple weapons, then yea, I'd like them to roll a check.
Concerning rations, I do a lot of camping myself. I probably have a better knowledge of what I can eat out in the woods than the average fellow, but if I have food I'm not going to skip a meal or futz around looking for sassafras root for my tea. If I am in a situation where I'm not sure when I'll find more food, then I'll begin to ration what I have. However, if I were traveling with someone not accustomed to such things, I'd try to let them have more rations to keep them quiet and to help the illusion that things are OK. I don't need panicking city folk on my hands.
You do need to eat to be able keep your strength up, if you are constantly battling, you are burning calories, you need something to replace that energy.
I know. I’ve been in a situation where a DC 20 strength check was required to open a door and I had a strength of 8. Needless to say I never succeeded.....
Everything is situational. I feel that climbing as a movement can be rolled for, say if you are using a strength check to pull yourself up to a cliff. I recently listened to a story where the check was to make sure they could keep hold as they reached the top of their movement speed but had not yet made it to the top.
If they are trying to parkour their way up a tree, I would definitely expect a roll because they are not using their climbing speed.
I agree with the statement on if they are armored.
The second is the DM asking if you used a ration each and every day. That's not how rations work. They are not substitute meals. They are rations, meant to be rationed until you find food. You can go almost 3 days without food and suffer no adverse consequences. Before the 3rd day ends, if you haven't found any wild game or other food (fruits, vegetables, or berries etc.) then you eat a ration.
Except that is exactly how rations work. They are food. In the most basic sense, a Rations (1 Day) represents what a character needs to consume during a day. If you're foraging for food, then yeah rations are just a backup.
As for going 3 days without food, you absolutely suffer consequences from it. If you do not consume food you cannot benefit from taking a Long Rest.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
In general, rations work by eating one every day. If you have cause to think you might not have enough rations to last, you might reduce yourself to the bare minimum, but if not, you'll likely want to eat every day like a normal person. If I were DM and you decided to consistently eat once every 3 days, I would let you do so mechanically, but your appearance would suffer to the point where NPCs would treat you as if you lived with wretched lifestyle expenses.
I mean, a good stealth check alone could allow someone to creep up in the enemies blind spot, dim light or no. Have you never had someone sneak up on you in the middle of the day and make you jump?
Unless you're talking about hiding, which is a different thing altogether and does require cover/obstructed line of sight.
let me copy/paste the actual rule here for easy reference:
FOOD A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
So actually it's not 3 days, it's 3 days + your CON mod... so if you had a CON mod of +5 you could go 8 days without food before suffering a level of exhaustion.
WOW! up to 8 days without food or rations, I will have to remember this for future games as it is RAW and how the designers of the game intended it... anyone else is homebrewing
Well, that makes sense, if you have a +5 con mod you're an exceptionally hardy individual (like very hardy, heroically so) so going a week without food with minimal negative effects isn't that extraordinary.
And as for the rations rule, rations in D&D isn't the same as rationing (ie reduced food intake). A ration is a pack of enough food and means to purify water to get you through one day of adventuring, as opposed to say a cooked meal or hunting for food. It's all prepared and ready to eat, basically a field ration.
The equipment entry literally says "Rations consist of dry foods suitable for extended travel, including jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts." It's travel food to get you through a day, I'm not sure what you're issue is with it.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
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There are 2 that really bug me...
The first is whenever you go to climb something, like a tree, the DM asks for an athletics roll or something... why? Climbing is a type of movement and only costs 1 foot extra for every foot climbed. Same thing happens with swimming. The only time you should roll is if the climbing or swimming is difficult. Most times you should just be able to climb or swim as your movement speed allows.
I mean if you think about it, kids climb trees for fun and sport, why would an adventurer have to make a roll every time they want to climb something. Sure, sometimes if it is a difficult situation but not every single time.
The second is the DM asking if you used a ration each and every day. That's not how rations work. They are not substitute meals. They are rations, meant to be rationed until you find food. You can go almost 3 days without food and suffer no adverse consequences. Before the 3rd day ends, if you haven't found any wild game or other food (fruits, vegetables, or berries etc.) then you eat a ration.
How many times as a DM, or if you're a player does your DM, get these rules wrong? And are there any other rules you notice getting misinterpreted or misapplied.
The difficulty of climbing a tree or swimming in a small pond should be super low, but it’s always possible to fall or slip under the water, which means rolling a natural 1 in D&D. Just like I’ve tripped over a line of paint on the floor when I was walking before. It’s not common, but it does happen.
As far as food is concerned, unless you have someone in your party with the Outlander background, the Goodberry spell, or another spell that creates food our characters need to eat and drink. Sure, they can go a day or two without food just like you and I can, but I won’t go a day or two without food. Rations are so that my character eats every day, not so that my character eats two or three times a week. The Exhaustion mechanic in D&D provides negative effects for PC’s who go without food, so there is a penalty if you skip eating for a day in the rules.
Professional computer geek
I am fine with a chance of failure, so every time you take a step or move 1 foot in the game go ahead and roll a save or something... see if anything ever gets done. Climbing and swimming are alternative types of movement and don't require a roll every single time you use them, only occasionally when it is difficult. The rules for this are on page 182 of the PHB.
And as far as not eating every day, I am not trying to add realism to the game. If you go a day without food your stomach will growl and feel free to do whatever else for rp and flavor, but the rules for the penalties are on page 185 of the PHB.
Concerning climbing, as a DM I would let folks climb (or swim) without checking if the situation was "normal." But if a character is going to climb in plate armor (or any other sort, but plate makes the point better) and carrying a couple weapons, then yea, I'd like them to roll a check.
Concerning rations, I do a lot of camping myself. I probably have a better knowledge of what I can eat out in the woods than the average fellow, but if I have food I'm not going to skip a meal or futz around looking for sassafras root for my tea. If I am in a situation where I'm not sure when I'll find more food, then I'll begin to ration what I have. However, if I were traveling with someone not accustomed to such things, I'd try to let them have more rations to keep them quiet and to help the illusion that things are OK. I don't need panicking city folk on my hands.
So is the thread title supposed to be ironic? 😂
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Not so much a mistake as a house rule, but it bugs me when people treat a nat 1/20 as special outside of attack rolls.
You do need to eat to be able keep your strength up, if you are constantly battling, you are burning calories, you need something to replace that energy.
And death saves ;)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
• There is no such thing as a surprise round! Arrgghhhhhhhhhrantspitscreamarrgghhhdeepbreathcalmdown.......
• Natural 1 and 20 do not have any special meaning in ability checks and saving throws, except for death saving throws.
• There is no Delay Action. (sheesh, just take your turn already!)
• Advantage doesn't stack. Sadly, this one I made for a few months when I started GMing 5E.
• Extra Attack doesn't apply to Readied attacks or to Opportunity Attacks.
• Grappled is not restrained. While being grappled, you can still attack and cast spells and other things; you just can't Move.
I know. I’ve been in a situation where a DC 20 strength check was required to open a door and I had a strength of 8. Needless to say I never succeeded.....
Professional computer geek
Everything is situational. I feel that climbing as a movement can be rolled for, say if you are using a strength check to pull yourself up to a cliff. I recently listened to a story where the check was to make sure they could keep hold as they reached the top of their movement speed but had not yet made it to the top.
If they are trying to parkour their way up a tree, I would definitely expect a roll because they are not using their climbing speed.
I agree with the statement on if they are armored.
Note that even while Restrained, you can still cast spells and make attacks, you're just at disadvantage for attack rolls.
Except that is exactly how rations work. They are food. In the most basic sense, a Rations (1 Day) represents what a character needs to consume during a day. If you're foraging for food, then yeah rations are just a backup.
As for going 3 days without food, you absolutely suffer consequences from it. If you do not consume food you cannot benefit from taking a Long Rest.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
(see post #3 above)
In general, rations work by eating one every day. If you have cause to think you might not have enough rations to last, you might reduce yourself to the bare minimum, but if not, you'll likely want to eat every day like a normal person. If I were DM and you decided to consistently eat once every 3 days, I would let you do so mechanically, but your appearance would suffer to the point where NPCs would treat you as if you lived with wretched lifestyle expenses.
That a rogue (or other character with high stealth) can sneak up on the enemy with just a good roll and dim light.
I mean, a good stealth check alone could allow someone to creep up in the enemies blind spot, dim light or no. Have you never had someone sneak up on you in the middle of the day and make you jump?
Unless you're talking about hiding, which is a different thing altogether and does require cover/obstructed line of sight.
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let me copy/paste the actual rule here for easy reference:
FOOD A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
So actually it's not 3 days, it's 3 days + your CON mod... so if you had a CON mod of +5 you could go 8 days without food before suffering a level of exhaustion.
WOW! up to 8 days without food or rations, I will have to remember this for future games as it is RAW and how the designers of the game intended it... anyone else is homebrewing
Well, that makes sense, if you have a +5 con mod you're an exceptionally hardy individual (like very hardy, heroically so) so going a week without food with minimal negative effects isn't that extraordinary.
And as for the rations rule, rations in D&D isn't the same as rationing (ie reduced food intake). A ration is a pack of enough food and means to purify water to get you through one day of adventuring, as opposed to say a cooked meal or hunting for food. It's all prepared and ready to eat, basically a field ration.
The equipment entry literally says "Rations consist of dry foods suitable for extended travel, including jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts." It's travel food to get you through a day, I'm not sure what you're issue is with it.
D&D Beyond moderator across forums, Discord, Twitch and YouTube. Always happy to help and willing to answer questions (or at least try). (he/him/his)
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Up to 8 days that you cannot take a Long Rest. 🙄
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.