D&D 5E DMG: hard rules or just DM advice?

[Dausuul]

So... what exactly do you consider to be "rules?" For example, there's a whole section with rules for randomly generated treasure. Do you have to roll on those tables for every single encounter, and hand out exactly and only what is rolled, in order to be "following the rules?" Is it breaking the rules to customize the treasure in a monster's lair?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Rules were made to be broken.

Therefore, the DMG is a series of suggestions for me to oppose.

 

[Asisreo]

So... what exactly do you consider to be "rules?" For example, there's a whole section with rules for randomly generated treasure. Do you have to roll on those tables for every single encounter, and hand out exactly and only what is rolled, in order to be "following the rules?" Is it breaking the rules to customize the treasure in a monster's lair?

For individual creatures? Yes. Absolutely. Every single breathing creature has a type of treasure on them. Now, it's not always coins. The DMG lets me choose whether the treasure comes in the form of coins or other wealth types.

Now, you may think it odd that a farmer might have platinum on them. Well, the way I play it, it's usually that they have the coin's worth in trade goods. A miner may be carrying 4lbs of silver they're lugging rather than 2pp. The farmer would likely have a cart and animal pushing 200lbs of wheat than 2gp.

The treasure table isn't an equal percentage rate, either. At CR0-4, you have a 30% chance of a couple of copper, 30% chance of silver, 10% chance of electrum, 15% chance of gold, and 5% chance of platinum. Fighting every creature they come across, then, may be too much trouble than it's worth. The players are free to be murderhobos in my games so long as the group agrees to it unanimously. If not, I'll cut their behavior out-of-character.

Treasure hoards are different for a couple of reasons. One is that it relies on me to decide exactly where or when they come to play. Players can come to expect treasure from all characters but they don't know when to expect treasure hoards, which is the only real good way to get significant treasure. I place them judicially, though.

I do roll on the table, though. Interestingly enough, they don't pull specifics from the +weapons&armors or spellscrolls, so I still have a degree of choice in what I put in. I'm free to add ribbons to my magic items and I often do, something to help make the item not stick out too much without a decent explanation.

It works fairly well. There's a few moments where the players wonder what a dragonbane sword is doing in the dragon keep. Now that I think about it, he could have kept it to keep it out of the hands of his enemies.

 

[Coroc]

As per the title, as a DM what is your approach to DMG material (obviously excluding that which is marked explicitly as a variant rule), do you strictly abide to it or do you use it only as advice on running the game?

To anticipate fluid answers by many, saying "I strictly abide to something but ignore other parts" practically means to treating it as advice, which sometimes you comply with. Although you can say if you feel like you're not ignoring but rather acknowledging it as hard rules, then purposefully change with a house rule you inform your players about.

I am asking this because while the PHB is largely used by the players, and any DM's variation or house rule on something in the PHB is normally communicated to the group, I don't think the players normally read the DMG (and a few threads this year also indicated that besides magic items, planar stuff and a few more things, even many DMs don't read or regularly use the DMG) so if a DM ignores something in the DMG it may not even be necessary to inform the group.

I recently realized this has been my case all along. Even though I did read the whole DMG, I rarely use it anymore besides magic items (which I often modify to make unique versions but that's another matter). Because of this, among other things I've basically settled to using passive perception only for noticing threats i.e. monsters hiding making a Stealth check, but nothing else, because that's the only usage of passive perception mentioned in the PHB or Basic rules. Instead, the DMG also extensively talks about using it to notice anything, but since this means using a passive score vs static DCs, it has the potential to remove randomness completely. I never use passive scores against fixed DCs so I am effectively treating this DMG section as advice only.

There is no hard rule but rule zero (at least in my games)

I try to make as little house rules as possible though, because some of my players do not like them to much.

The DMG is a bit of a compilation of what had books on their own in former editions, e.g. 2e campaign and catacomb guide or creative campaigning (two of the best general books for DMs, and they are setting and edition independent, get your hands on these if you want to build a total homebrew or be a better DM

 

[Li Shenron]

So... what exactly do you consider to be "rules?" For example, there's a whole section with rules for randomly generated treasure. Do you have to roll on those tables for every single encounter, and hand out exactly and only what is rolled, in order to be "following the rules?" Is it breaking the rules to customize the treasure in a monster's lair?

I will avoid a pedantic discussion here on how to define a "rule", and instead give you some examples of rules in the DMG which are not mentioned to be optional:

• the previously mentioned (scattered) references on detecting secret doors or traps
• weather, foraging, becoming lost
• identifying magic items, attunement, how to wear and activate magic items
• tracking
• determining degrees of cover

Random treasure tables don't seem to me to be presented as the default way to determine treasure but more as a help to guarantee a reasonable average.

Of course also something like weather is overall technically optional, in the sense that you can ignore any mechanical effects of different weathers in the adventures. But it is a good example for the purpose of my original question: since the DMG provides written rules for weather mechanical effects, do you think of them as a "must use" or as just one possible way to do it?

If you are used to running campaigns with lots of house rules anyway, then it actually doesn't matter much.

The crux of the question here is more about PHB vs DMG.

---

Another small but illuminating example I just noticed: the "Tools" section on page 239 say that you cannot apply the proficiency bonus from a tool when making an ability check that doesn't imply an active usage of such tool!

For example, if you have the Guild Artisan background and have proficiency in the Mason's tools, you can add the proficiency bonus when you are for instance building a wall with the tools but you cannot add the bonus when making a check to understand how sturdy or fragile a wall already built is.

The PHB rules only mention using the tool directly, but doesn't explicitly rule out you cannot benefit from the proficiency for indirect checks, but applying a tool proficiency bonus on that sort of knowledge/assessment checks is something I've seen used plenty...

 

[ccs]

Definitely advice.

See, a very long time ago, in the intro pages of my 1st Basic set, I was told by the designers to change any aspect of the game as I pleased. Read & try the rules as written 1st. But after that, if I've a better idea....
And a couple of years later? Gygax said pretty much the same thing in the opening pages of the 1e DMG.

So I've been following that advice for 40 years.
Its worked well.

The odds of me following ANY rule - be it in the DMG, phb, mm, etc - simply because thats whats written? 0%

 

[prabe]

Another small but illuminating example I just noticed: the "Tools" section on page 239 say that you cannot apply the proficiency bonus from a tool when making an ability check that doesn't imply an active usage of such tool!

For example, if you have the Guild Artisan background and have proficiency in the Mason's tools, you can add the proficiency bonus when you are for instance building a wall with the tools but you cannot add the bonus when making a check to understand how sturdy or fragile a wall already built is.

The PHB rules only mention using the tool directly, but doesn't explicitly rule out you cannot benefit from the proficiency for indirect checks, but applying a tool proficiency bonus on that sort of knowledge/assessment checks is something I've seen used plenty...

But there are examples of such uses in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, so tables that use tool proficiencies that way are at least not making something up out of whole cloth (and, yes, I realize and recognize that Xanathar's is explicitly optional). Personally, I'm in favor of it: It makes tool proficiencies actually useful while adventuring.

 

[Li Shenron]

But there are examples of such uses in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, so tables that use tool proficiencies that way are at least not making something up out of whole cloth (and, yes, I realize and recognize that Xanathar's is explicitly optional).

...which now makes me think whether I could have rephrased my original question as "is the DMG optional (even when it doesn't explicitly says so)?"

 

[Asisreo]

...which now makes me think whether I could have rephrased my original question as "is the DMG optional (even when it doesn't explicitly says so)?"

Every part of the game is optional even if they never say it.

 

[delericho]

Advice. And, frankly, barely even that.

Other than the magic items and some of the tables, there's very little in the DMG that has seen use in my games, and I'm just not feeling the lack. I'm starting to come to the view that the rulebook provided in the "Essentials Kit" is a better presentation of 5e than the near-1,000 pages of core rulebooks.