D&D 5E Some spells _really_ powerful?

[Bryk]

How is a single hard encounter taking you four hours?

1/2 RP a session, 1/2 encounter. I don't go, okay guys, 1, 2, 3 roll! 1,2,3 roll! Players try to assess the situation they are about to enter, and come up with a plan, it isn't all move in, attack rinse repeat.

This is even with my house rule of requiring a reaction to talk when it isn't your turn in combat with something that could take up to 6 seconds.

 

[variant]

Not sure how you are theorycrafting that. You might have higher damage if you dual wield rapiers as a Rogue, but you can't do it all. If you want to dual wield, you aren't hiding, then you aren't getting advantage, etc. It adds up.

a 1d8+5 and 1d8+5 plus 6d6(even with one with advantage) != 1d12 + 15 + 1d12 + 15, + 1d12 +15 reroll 1s and 2s of a Barbarian fighter and crit on 19s and 20s and attacking with advantage every attack, every round.

Advantage is only one way to get a sneak attack and hiding is only one way to get advantage. You don't need advantage to sneak attack if someone else is within 5 feet of your target.

You are going to have to break that build down for me because from what I am looking at, you are doing something wrong. A level 11 fighter/barbarian of any level combination won't be getting three attacks. He will only have two attacks. He does not get advantage on attacks with rage nor does anything else provide him with advantage. I am not even sure where you are even getting the +15 damage to every roll from.

 

[wedgeski]

1/2 RP a session, 1/2 encounter. I don't go, okay guys, 1, 2, 3 roll! 1,2,3 roll! Players try to assess the situation they are about to enter, and come up with a plan, it isn't all move in, attack rinse repeat.

This is even with my house rule of requiring a reaction to talk when it isn't your turn in combat with something that could take up to 6 seconds.

You're playing against the curve if you're taking 4 hours over a single encounter. That's a very long 4E encounter, and 5E encounters should take a fraction of the time of the previous edition (and have done, in my admittedly as-yet limited experience).

 

[doctorhook]

1/2 RP a session, 1/2 encounter. I don't go, okay guys, 1, 2, 3 roll! 1,2,3 roll! Players try to assess the situation they are about to enter, and come up with a plan, it isn't all move in, attack rinse repeat.

This is even with my house rule of requiring a reaction to talk when it isn't your turn in combat with something that could take up to 6 seconds.

Apologies, Bryk, but something must really be slowing you guys down. I have a four player group (all newbies to D&D) whom I introduced to D&D with the 5E Starter Set in June. We play about once per week, about 4 hours at a time, and overall I'd say they're a bit slow--we've played about 20 hours now, but we're only about halfway through the adventure. To their credit, my players don't socialize much during the game, so we do stay pretty focused.

That said, even with looking up rules and reteaching things frequently, we've done lots of roleplaying encounters around town and even with enemies in the dungeons, and we're still averaging three or four combat encounters per session. Combat in 5E goes about five times faster than it ever did in 4E.

You should consider time-auditing your next session to see what's slowing you guys down so much.

 

[Meatboy]

[MENTION=6776803]Bryk[/MENTION] Man I'm sorry for you 4 hour combats sound rough. I agree that players should be able to asses and strategize, but that should be before the fight. Once the dice hit the table 1,2,3 go go go is the way to do it.

 

[Bryk]

Advantage is only one way to get a sneak attack and hiding is only one way to get advantage. You don't need advantage to sneak attack if someone else is within 5 feet of your target.

You are going to have to break that build down for me because from what I am looking at, you are doing something wrong. A level 11 fighter/barbarian of any level combination won't be getting three attacks. He will only have two attacks. He does not get advantage on attacks with rage nor does anything else provide him with advantage. I am not even sure where you are even getting the +15 damage to every roll from.

3 Fighter Champion, 8 Barbarian Berserker.

Great Axe, 1d12, 3 Attacks, 2 from multi, bonus is Frenzy, Reckless attack gives advantage. +5 from STR, +10 from Great Weapon Master.

Fighter gives Great Weapon Fighting (reroll on 1 or 2), Action Surge, 19/20 Critical.

 

[Bryk]

A lot of it comes from sandbox world, players deciding what to do next. I no longer allow strategy talk during combat, you are allowed up to 6 seconds, and like I said reaction if required if it isn't your turn. That doesn't prevent the pre-fight strategy where the players discuss 3-5 bad ideas and out of the 3 bad ideas end up deciding on the worst most of the time. I don't care for railroading personally, nor hand holding. I do let the players determine how they want to approach things when applicable. Obviously being surprised is a different story.

A player's turn can take some time, as they are zoned out from others taking too long on their turn deciding from their countless options. I try to ask for 30 second caps to your turn to decide, but even saying "15", ... "5"... can only go so far.

 

[Bryk]

A lot of it comes from sandbox world, players deciding what to do next. I no longer allow strategy talk during combat, you are allowed up to 6 seconds, and like I said reaction if required if it isn't your turn. That doesn't prevent the pre-fight strategy where the players discuss 3-5 bad ideas and out of the 3 bad ideas end up deciding on the worst most of the time. I don't care for railroading personally, nor hand holding. I do let the players determine how they want to approach things when applicable. Obviously being surprised is a different story.

A player's turn can take some time, as they are zoned out from others taking too long on their turn deciding from their countless options. I try to ask for 30 second caps to your turn to decide, but even saying "15", ... "5"... can only go so far.

I should probably kick out the players that don't even know the rules by now after playing for nearly a year, but it is frustrating finding reliable back-fills, especially with being half way through a 2 year campaign series.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I just don't see casters running out of slots very quickly, especially if they sprinkle in cantrips which isn't much of a penalty when you can cantrip for nearly as much damage as physical damage dealers.

I'm not sure how 2d8 damage with a cantrip is the same as 4d6+8. It's average 9 damage vs average 23. That's without factoring it hit chances. Most enemies have about +1 to saves. It's DC 15 to save for a 18 Wis cleric. So enemies save on a 14+ or about 35% of the time. Most enemies have AC 13 or so which means the fighter hits on a 6. So, they hit 75% of the time. That means it is 5.85 vs 17.25. So, the fighter does nearly triple damage.

That's assuming 5th level Fighter with 18 strength using a greatsword vs 5th level Cleric using Sacred Flame.

 

[Agamon]

Is it a large group? Lots of out of game talk? 4 hours for one encounter is astonishing.

Last night, my group with 4 players had 3 combat encounters, some exploring and a couple roleplay encounters in 2.5 hours (I had to cut it short to do my fantasy football draft). And that's playing online where I can find myself sometimes saying, "X, it's your turn...X? Are you there? Hello?" "...oh sorry, I'm back now."