D&D 5E 5E's "Missed Opportunities?"

[Retreater]

I've been running 5E on a consistent basis for several groups since it was officially released. Now that I'm basically leaving 5E, I'm looking at a few things that never quite worked for my groups and me.

1) Backgrounds. They just don't contribute enough to the character's abilities and feel tacked on.
2) Inspiration. Half-baked idea that is literally never remembered. Unless you have people always fishing for bonuses in annoying ways.
3) Treasure Hordes. This is in the DMG, and there is actually a recommended schedule for awarding magic items and treasure. Too bad no official products ever used these guidelines.
4) Advantage/Disadvantage. +5/-5 is too big of a modifier for most conditions. Flanking is lethal against the PCs (so we didn't use it).
5) Bonded Accuracy. A good idea in practice, except that it turns monsters into bags of hit points.

What did I miss?

 

[iserith]

On Inspiration, here's a potential solution for you: The Case for Inspiration.

As well, I'm not a math guy but advantage/disadvantage isn't always +5/-5 except on passive checks. The actual bonus it provides varies to my knowledge.

 

[Krachek]

Backgrounds are there for role play. DND is not build around a former cook and tailor who slay a dragon.
Inspiration allowed by Dm or other players is often not play at some table. Mine included.
Treasure is a Dm and setting matter. From low magic to high magic.
Advantage/disadvantage is a popular mechanic. Much better than tracking micro bonus.
Monsters are meant to die. Cool stuff is for player.

 

[Xaelvaen]

1) I'm fine with two free skills from background, and then some roleplaying fluff (in most cases).

2) Granted - we don't use Inspiration ourselves. Instead we use the Action Point system from the Eberron campaign book from 3rd edition. Far more effective.

3) I've never used those guidelines myself, for any edition to be honest. Magic items are always influenced heavily by the campaign world in which we play, so the tables are quite rarely useful.

4) Advantage is fine, but granting it for simple things like flanking is definitely a poor optional rule from the DMG. Myself, if players have flanking on a foe, I reduce its AC by 1. This way there's no game slowdown by players needing to remember random modifiers.

5) Bound Accuracy is fantastic - nothing annoyed me more about 3/3.5 than having to adjust every single thing on my character sheet almost every level; skill points, BAB, etc. As far as monsters being bags of hit points, I always adjust this number again based on my group in question. Some groups just have low damage output, and so as opposed to avoiding certain monsters because of their HP, I have them start the fight injured (for story), or just reduce their max HP appropriately. However, this is rarely necessary except for the big monsters with intentionally high HP (dragons, giants, etc).

 

[ad_hoc]

I've been running 5E on a consistent basis for several groups since it was officially released. Now that I'm basically leaving 5E, I'm looking at a few things that never quite worked for my groups and me.

1) Backgrounds. They just don't contribute enough to the character's abilities and feel tacked on.
2) Inspiration. Half-baked idea that is literally never remembered. Unless you have people always fishing for bonuses in annoying ways.
3) Treasure Hordes. This is in the DMG, and there is actually a recommended schedule for awarding magic items and treasure. Too bad no official products ever used these guidelines.
4) Advantage/Disadvantage. +5/-5 is too big of a modifier for most conditions. Flanking is lethal against the PCs (so we didn't use it).
5) Bonded Accuracy. A good idea in practice, except that it turns monsters into bags of hit points.

What did I miss?

Wow, it sounds like you don't like the things I love most about 5e.

I love the implementation of backgrounds. I think they have the perfect mechanical weight to bring a backstory into the game without taking it over. They do go hand in hand with inspiration. Our table houserules inspiration to apply whenever it is relevant to a background trait. So just straight up advantage when a trait is relevant to what is happening. No rules/game are going to help with players you find annoying.

We use treasure hordes. Whenever the party finds treasure in an official adventure we roll a treasure horde. Makes magic items both exciting and memorable as the party finds ways to best utilize them.

Advantage/Disadvantage is quick and intuitive to apply. It's supposed to be significant. The flanking variant is terrible, so yes, don't use it but one variant rule not working doesn't mean 5e is bad.

I also think bounded accuracy has turned out great. PCs feel like they are getting better rather than just being on a treadmill.

My missed opportunities for 5e are things like not utilizing Int and Cha secondary saves as much as they should. Also missing out on creating cohesive themes for the damage types. In both cases the start is there but they aren't fleshed out enough.

 

[André Soares]

Wow, it sounds like you don't like the things I love most about 5e.

I love the implementation of backgrounds. I think they have the perfect mechanical weight to bring a backstory into the game without taking it over. They do go hand in hand with inspiration. Our table houserules inspiration to apply whenever it is relevant to a background trait. So just straight up advantage when a trait is relevant to what is happening. No rules/game are going to help with players you find annoying.

We use treasure hordes. Whenever the party finds treasure in an official adventure we roll a treasure horde. Makes magic items both exciting and memorable as the party finds ways to best utilize them.

Advantage/Disadvantage is quick and intuitive to apply. It's supposed to be significant. The flanking variant is terrible, so yes, don't use it but one variant rule not working doesn't mean 5e is bad.

I also think bounded accuracy has turned out great. PCs feel like they are getting better rather than just being on a treadmill.

My missed opportunities for 5e are things like not utilizing Int and Cha secondary saves as much as they should. Also missing out on creating cohesive themes for the damage types. In both cases the start is there but they aren't fleshed out enough.

I basically agree with everything here and the fix for inspiration BLEW MY MIND, totally gonna steal it.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I've been running 5E on a consistent basis for several groups since it was officially released. Now that I'm basically leaving 5E, I'm looking at a few things that never quite worked for my groups and me.

1) Backgrounds. They just don't contribute enough to the character's abilities and feel tacked on.
2) Inspiration. Half-baked idea that is literally never remembered. Unless you have people always fishing for bonuses in annoying ways.
3) Treasure Hordes. This is in the DMG, and there is actually a recommended schedule for awarding magic items and treasure. Too bad no official products ever used these guidelines.
4) Advantage/Disadvantage. +5/-5 is too big of a modifier for most conditions. Flanking is lethal against the PCs (so we didn't use it).
5) Bonded Accuracy. A good idea in practice, except that it turns monsters into bags of hit points.

What did I miss?

1. Love backgrounds. Disagree with you here. Backgrounds is what allowed me to transport my 1e fighter/thief into a 5 straight fighter with a criminal background and play him the same way. Those skills you get from backgrounds are a huge contributor (being able to use your prof bonus), especially with bounded accuracy.
2. Agree. We often forget about inspiration. But I see it's value
3. Not sure what you're asking. That there aren't treasure hordes? Just create them then as you want.
4. Love advantage and disadvantage. It gets players to think more than just "I attack" and is simple. No major math calculation required.
5. Love bounded accuracy. Numbers bloat was a HUGE turnoff for me in 3e. I also disagree that it turns monsters into a bag of hit points. What does that is how you play the monsters. If you play them as intelligent thinking beings as appropriate to their fluff and INT stats, they are much more than just bags of HP

 

[Retreater]

On Inspiration, here's a potential solution for you: The Case for Inspiration.

As well, I'm not a math guy but advantage/disadvantage isn't always +5/-5 except on passive checks. The actual bonus it provides varies to my knowledge.

I think that mathematically it comes out to a +5/-5. You roll two dice and take the higher roll (or lower in the case of disadvantage). IMO, this is too much of a modifier for most rolls. It's the equivalent of the proficiency bonus of a 13-16th level character.

 

[Retreater]

I also think bounded accuracy has turned out great. PCs feel like they are getting better rather than just being on a treadmill.
.

I think we have the exact opposite experience. Players in my group feel like nothing really changes except for hit points. You get a few more HP every level and your monsters have more HP. Otherwise, you just run up and swing at it until it dies.

 

[Retreater]

We use treasure hordes. Whenever the party finds treasure in an official adventure we roll a treasure horde. Makes magic items both exciting and memorable as the party finds ways to best utilize them.

Cool. So you roll on the DMG chart and add those to published adventures? I had always assumed that adventures would have all the loot they need in them (going back to 1st edition). The published adventures I've run (which have included Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, and Tomb of Annihilation) have all had scant treasure and have been less than rewarding (and frustrating) for players.