Dungeon Master Assistance

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D&D 5E – DM Screen

56 Comments Posted by on July 15, 2015

DM_Screen_+RRH5E – DM Screen

Download your free copy here.

Wizards has an excellent Dungeon Master’s Screen. It is well made and good looking and well worth the price. However, It falls short (in my opinion) on the reference material on the DM’s side. I searched for a fan made version and found several that were better than the Wizard’s version, but still weren’t exactly what I had in mind, so I finally broke down and made my own. You can download the PDF file and print it for your own use. There are several ways to make these into a DM Screen. The simplest is to attach the prints to cardboard and tape the panels together. You can find pictures to decorate the Players side to suit your campaign.

Here is what I ended up with.

1)  I felt that 3 panels was plenty. By making them 8 1/2″ x 11″ they are easy to print and to find backings or plastic sleeves to fit them in. I oriented them with the long dimension horizontally to make it easier for the DM to see over.

2) I only listed information that might be needed during play – so no player creation or dungeon creation information.

3) To make it easy to quickly find what you are looking for I organized it into three columns on each panel. Each column has a large title on the top with information related to that topic listed below. The Headings are: Vision, Travel, Combat, Survival, Conditions, Money, Encounters, Objects, and Abilities.

Enjoy!

Playing Aids ,

56 responses to “D&D 5E – DM Screen”

  1. William July 16, 2015 at 10:55 am

    Nice work on the Dm screen and helpful tools. I just wanted to say Thank you for all your hard work you do on this page. Looking forward to more great stuff to come.

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  2. Anonymous July 31, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    This is awesome! I’m putting it into effect immediately in my games. If you ever do a revision, I think there are a few typos to fix up on page 3: Dificulty Class, Doning Armor, Grapling.

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    • Ronny August 1, 2015 at 8:23 am

      Thank you! I am glad you like it. I fixed the spelling errors and added the grappled condition to page 2. The link will now download the updated file.

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      • Daniel Wolff September 3, 2017 at 6:15 pm

        First off, this screen is wonderful. In conparison to other screen which use 4 panels and have like 80% of the information I want, this has 95% on 3 panels. Glorious. On the first page, in the travel section “Activities while travelling” is mispelled. 😀 Great job on the screen! 10/10

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      • Ronny September 4, 2017 at 11:08 am

        Thanks!
        I will fix that ASAP (which means that I can’t get to it right now but I intend to eventually get around to it.) 🙂

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  3. Bill Winski August 24, 2015 at 4:35 pm

    That’s a great DM screen! Probably the best I’ve seen for any D&D version in my (almost) 40 years of D&D. Any chance I could get an original “source” version?… I have a few house rules that I would like my copy to reflect. Thanks!

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    • Ronny August 24, 2015 at 6:22 pm

      What a great comment. Thank you very much.
      The original is in Microsoft Publisher. Send me an email (hartr@pcisys.net) and I will send you the publisher file.

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  4. latexspikes September 13, 2015 at 6:26 am

    This website deserves an “applause” button.

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  5. postpostmoderndad September 27, 2015 at 9:27 pm

    Downloaded. Going to start using immediately. Well, next weekend when the group gets together.

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  6. Anonymous January 27, 2016 at 5:47 pm

    Thanks for doing this it’s a great help .

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  7. Jason February 15, 2016 at 7:08 pm

    Awesome. Thanks.

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  8. Nefilibata June 4, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    This is incredible stuff! My brothers and I play D&D on a budget and this is perfect for his upcoming birthday. You, good sir, deserve, glory.

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    • Ronny June 5, 2016 at 8:43 am

      Thank you very much. I totally understand playing on a budget. There has never been more resources available online. With a simple Google search you can download a lot of valuable gaming material. I wish this had been an option for me when I first started playing.
      I am glad you found my site. Please check back from time to time. I am constantly on the lookout for more ideas for DM and Player resources to format and make available here.
      If you have an idea for something you would like to see here, just let me know. I definitely consider all ideas.
      P.S. For those of you not on a budget. I recommend the Savage Worlds Customizable GM Screen. You can insert these pages into the back and insert appropriate images for the player’s side. I got one to use at my table. I am not associated with them in any way. Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Worlds-Customizable-Screen-S2P10002/dp/1930855591/184-3104833-7310419?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00
      If anyone has a less expensive source or can recommend another product – or if you have a better idea of how to use these, please let us know.

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Nefilibata June 5, 2016 at 2:08 pm

        You are right indeed. With a simple google search, I was able to stitch together a quite impressive screen, if I may so so myself. If I have any bright ideas for you I will be sure to let you know. But you seem more than capable and I love your site.

        I have a link to it here if you want to take a look. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zwgzhjx8jef7slb/DM%20Screen%20Flat2.jpg?dl=0
        I take none of the credit for that artworks here. All of it is desktop backgrounds and courtesy of Wizards of the Coast obtained via a google search. I am unsure of the legality of posting this for online viewing as they were labelled for private use only.

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  9. John Edmond June 17, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    Could you please please please make a portrait version. By far my favorite screen, but I cant use it! :,(

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  10. Pingback: D&D 5E – DM Screen – portrait version | Dungeon Master Assistance

  11. Anonymous November 26, 2016 at 9:18 am

    Thank you so much, this screen is amazing!!

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  12. Paragon Lost January 3, 2017 at 5:46 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! While the WotC screens look nice, they just don’t have the information that you truly need on a GM’s screen. Downloaded, printed, had laminated and have inserted them into the blank GM screens I use.

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    • Ronny January 3, 2017 at 8:23 am

      I am so glad that you are finding these useful. In my game, I have quit using any screen, but I still printed these, punched holes in the side, and put them in the front of my campaign notebook where I can refer to them when needed. I may return to using a screen but for now, I am playing with a group of mature players and don’t worry much about them seeing what they shouldn’t. For rolls I want to make in secret – I keep a d20 in a small box. I shake it, crack open the lid and peek at the die.

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  13. j January 24, 2017 at 10:35 am

    Exactly what i startend googling for.
    Tyvm fort the download link.

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  14. Anonymous September 23, 2017 at 12:04 pm

    good job love the playing aids

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  15. bog97th September 24, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    Reblogged this on Fantasy of the mind and commented:
    5E Home made screen.

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  16. Pingback: 5E – Homemade DM Screen – The Nerd Cave

  17. noodel June 16, 2018 at 3:37 am

    Thank you for your contributions to the community ! Really helping out us new DMs

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  18. Anonymous February 26, 2019 at 9:16 pm

    After looking all night this is my favorite reference that I have found. Thanks for the hard work!

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  19. Anonymous April 6, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    very comprehensive. i’d planned on making my own custom DM screen pages and i had made a list of everything i wanted to include. then i stumbled on this and had pretty much everything i wanted, and more.
    thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  20. Rob Morgan December 12, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    Do you have a word version of this with the same formatting? I wanted to sub some information out but keep the same look.

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    • Ronny December 13, 2019 at 8:58 am

      Thanks Rob,
      I do not have a Word version. The original is in Microsoft Publisher. Send me an email (hartr@pcisys.net) and I will send you the publisher file if that would help.

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  21. Anonymous January 23, 2020 at 1:20 am

    Thanks A LOT, very useful, very kind too.

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  22. Anonymous February 18, 2021 at 10:19 am

    Thanks just what I needed learning new 5e system to run a small group for beginners in local library where I volnteer

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  23. Josh June 28, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    Thank you so very much for this! I’m fairly new to the game and am running a campaign for a group of my friends (also new). I’ve been so worried about not having all of the info on hand and this just saved my bacon! THANK YOU!

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  24. Kristo Vaher November 26, 2023 at 3:38 am

    Key things missing is definitely Concentration Checks! It’s pretty critical, even known DM’s add it to their sheets if it doesn’t exist yet. Also the encounter distances are useful at times, especially if weather is used.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Ronny November 26, 2023 at 8:55 am

      I can see how an encounter distance table could be a useful addition. It might require a 4th page titled “Encounters” with distance tables and other tips for quickly generating random encounters.
      Concentration Checks though? When I first read your comment, I thought you were saying that the DM screen should say something like “Don’t forget to make concentration checks”. I didn’t think that would be very helpful. However, on further reflection I can see how a section covering concentration checks with examples of what situations would prompt a check and its appropriate DC would be another useful addition.
      Thank you for your thoughts on this. Please let me know if you have any ideas on how any of my other posts could be improved.
      I won’t be making any changes to the DM screen at this time. I will be revising and re-posting this and many of my other available downloads after the new version of D&D is released next year.

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  25. Anonymous November 27, 2023 at 5:07 am

    In case you are interested, I edited your provided sheet a little to suit my preferences as a DM. I primarily replaced the whole player actions part with DM focused material, including the stuff that was present in WotC original screens regarding encounter visibility and suffocating. I also adjusted some graphic elements (such as table rows not following proper background order) as well as fixed some minor typos. I also changed/standardized some uppercasing to my preference.

    But this is all your work, so feel free to do with it as you will! I did it for my own preference and thank you for your work as this was 95% of what I was looking for 🙂

    You can grab the version with my edits here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ugOXtdTp2cjhKmkwXr8tjgk8RghRPcCG/view?usp=sharing

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  26. Pingback: D&D 5E – DM Screen – Revised | Dungeon Master Assistance

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