So you’re the Dungeon Master for a Dungeons & Dragons group? Thanks for volunteering! The hobby always needs those willing to put the time and effort in to bring adventures to life. And whether you’re a newcomer or forever DM, you know that there’s a lot of rules to keep track of. So many, in fact, that you’ve probably let some fall to the wayside because they complicate or slow down your game. Well let’s talk about some of these less-used rules, because they can do a lot to make your game more exciting.
5 Darkvision
In my very first game as a DM, I put my players into a prison break scenario. We were working with the starter set and a basic understanding of the rules, hoping to learn as we went. Within two seconds of me saying “It’s completely dark in the cell, you can’t see,” the tiefling replied “we all have Darkvision.” There went my whole plan to have them stumbling around in the dark.
Later, after I joined Adventurer’s League as a player, I learned that Darkvision didn’t impact much. It basically meant that human clerics always took the Light cantrip so that they could see in dungeons. Since so many races have Darkvision, DMs often seem to give up on worrying about lighting conditions.
In reality, as Bell of Lost Souls points out, Darkvision only offers a boost to sight. The specific rule states that beings with Darkvision treat dim light as normal light, and darkness as dim light. That means in a pitch black cave, those with Darkvision still have disadvantage on things like perception checks and attacks. If there are sources of light, such as a torch or Light camtrip, even those only grant a certain radius of vision. All in all, it means DMs can have fun in the dark even if their whole party has Darkvision. Just be sure to plan which areas are lit, dim, and dark ahead of time.
4 Cover
It didn’t take long for me to add spots of cover – fallen buildings, large rocks, piles of corpses – to my battlefields. It took longer to realize just what I could do with them. The official rules for cover state that there are three types of cover: half, three-quarters, and total. Half means half a person’s body is covered. Three-quarters means an arm or head is poking out. And total, of course, means they can’t even be seen.
The Player’s Handbook gives great examples of every type of cover. It also says that half cover gives +2 to AC, three quarters gives +5, and those total cover can’t even be targeted except by area of effect spells.
Players get these bonuses, but so do enemies. And that’s where you the DM come in. When planning battles, give some more thought to how creatures might use cover. Would goblins cower behind cover and fire arrows while their hobgoblin bosses charge in? Would bandits run to cover and try to stealth away if the battle doesn’t go their way? What enemies might use cover to flank players? Making use of the battlefield will encourage players to do the same. Battles will be more exciting for it.
3 The “Click” House Rule
I featured this house rule in my guide to making D&D exploration more mysterious, but it’s so neat I had to use it twice! All too often traps amount to players rolling dice and moving on, maybe taking some damage they’ll just short rest away later. The “Click” rule is about making traps vague so they’re not so easy to dodge.
As Youtuber Dael Kingsmill puts it, the DM says “click” or make some other sound that’s appropriate for the trap. Then, players have a split second to declare what they do in response. Do they duck and cover? Run? Throw up a shield? You already have the nature of the trap in mind, and can use their reactions to gauge what effect it has. Maybe throwing up a shield gives advantage against the poison darts, or ducking means automatic failure because the trap falls from above. Get creative, and you can make the simple trap an exciting moment.
2 Battle With Objectives
The D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide brings this up, but it’s good to have a refresher. Essentially, battles often become “kill the monster before it kills you.” When you plan your next combat encounter, try adding a different “win condition” for the players. They could find a very large treasure, one that won’t fit in a Bag of Holding. Grabbing it attracts a swarm of monsters, however. The party must carry the treasure out of the temple while the enemies try to take it.
Or maybe the goal is to protect a small town from a zombie horde. Players gather at the makeshift battlement to ward off the undead. The zombies just want meat, though, so they may run right past the heroes to feast on villagers. Keep a tally of how many villagers die. The end result could determine how much gold they get from the job (and give the paladin a dramatic RP moment as he learns of all those he failed to save).
1 Inspiration
One of my first DMs clearly laid out how he gives inspiration during our first session. He told us he valued entertaining RP moments and heroic actions. As a Life Domain cleric, that meant I often earned inspiration for saving my allies when things were most dire. Even the non-clerics often kept tabs on the party and worked to save us from death saving throws or other nasty fates. I felt like being rewarded with inspiration made us more active team players.
As the DM, you have the power to hand out inspiration for whatever player habits you like to see. Or you can just reward it for great RP moments. Whatever the case, communicate to your players what tends to make you give out inspiration. That way they know there’s a fairness to it and no favoritism. Above all else, don’t forget to reward inspiration mid-campaign! That direct DM-to-player gift is a great way to show you’re paying attention to a player’s individual efforts.
NEXT: Dungeon & Town Might Reshape Your Dungeons & Dragons Maps
