The pitfalls lead to the chamber with the blue portal, which leads back. Surprisingly, I had someone willingly step off without realizing it was a pitfall!

As a ginger, I approve this message.

Oh yes. Plenty of panic healing and frantic attempts trying to get the enemies down. Then they decided a tactical withdrawal would be in order before continuing to press on.

My 'DM dice' have certainly added a level of difficulty that encourages tactical combat, so that's good, right?

It is definitely a situation of when is good to do it. In my most recent session, the tank at level 4 had brought himself to a 20 AC while he was drawing attention from the party.

Out of 5 attacks per round, I missed him maybe once. Barely rolled below 18 on the poor guy lol.

That's fair! I try to keep dice integrity, and thankfully with the Foundry vtt you can make a specific roll public if it's an issue. Thankfully, my players are aware of my commonly uncanny dice results. At least in hiding it, I can soften blows for otherwise merciless rolls lol.

I have always shied away from just a plain "you get an extra die to roll", myself. It has always felt unimaginative since it was intended as a reward for players.

Rewards should feel rewarding!

For that reason I also don't like One D&D's version, where it's just a mechanic.

Oh, for sure. Variant Human is more or less just the Human from 3.5e; only, since 5e doesn't use (the vastly superior) skill point system, we get a bonus skill proficiency instead.

I particularly love it for lv 1 starts, since that feat can give important rp flavour.

Like if you plan on being a Soulknife Rogue, so you take Telekinetic at first level so the psychic abilities actually have always been there, instead of being 'all of a sudden, one day'.

This could work better if there were solid rules on crafting. "I am fighting a werewolf, so I need a sword of silver. These are not sold in most smithies."

It also calls into mind of if weapons that do not inflict extra damage as part of their magical effects should be considered magical weapons.

Meanwhile, the Variant Human from the 2014 PHB: While you are limited to only a +2 or a +1/+1, which is the lowest ASI yield, you are also given a choice of feat, and skill proficiency.

Thanks to this versatility, it is widely regarded as one of the best playable races.

Oh, for sure. When it comes to travel, I definitely skip over days and just ask what folks are doing.

But, when it comes to battle maps, I like the maps for logistics. Plenty of folks underestimate just how big fireball's area is.

When it comes to cities and regions? I just like making them lol.