dagger
Adventurer
Are you using feats? Also the human variant?
D&D 5E Advice for Running 5E -- Your Experiences
Are you using feats? Also the human variant?
Rhenny
Adventurer
I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this (I just skimmed the thread), but here's my take aways so far:
Since lower levels are pretty swingy, I think more now about holding foes in reserve than with other versions. If the PCs are doing well, the other foes might join the fray. If the PCs are getting their butts kicked, I may hold back or have the reinforcements delay (waking up...getting armor on, etc.).
Also, I always have to prep myself for possible death or TPK at 1st and 2nd level. I have to remember that not all monsters try to kill. Some like to take prisoners that they may be able to ransom for cash later or use as food...yeah..they taste better if they are freshly killed so it's nice to have a larder full of live PCs for when the monsters get hungry (mostly with the intelligent humanoid monsters).
I've been encouraging my players to do more of what they think sounds cool and fits with their character concept and get a lot of leverage from ability checks.
I found that setting DCs a little lower actually encourages players to try more interesting stuff. 80% of the DCs should be DC 10, 15% should be DC 15 and only 5% should be DC 20. (I did an informal tally of the most recent playtest and 5e adventures to find that this ratio works well at least from levels 1-6).
Stealth isn't as hard as some of the threads about it make it seem. If a creature is looking at the PC the pc needs to do something pretty special to be able to hide from it. Often that could mean getting complete cover and re-appearing from a different direction. Sometimes I even take into consideration facing although it isn't officially in the rules yet.
I'm really enjoying running the system.
Since lower levels are pretty swingy, I think more now about holding foes in reserve than with other versions. If the PCs are doing well, the other foes might join the fray. If the PCs are getting their butts kicked, I may hold back or have the reinforcements delay (waking up...getting armor on, etc.).
Also, I always have to prep myself for possible death or TPK at 1st and 2nd level. I have to remember that not all monsters try to kill. Some like to take prisoners that they may be able to ransom for cash later or use as food...yeah..they taste better if they are freshly killed so it's nice to have a larder full of live PCs for when the monsters get hungry (mostly with the intelligent humanoid monsters).
I've been encouraging my players to do more of what they think sounds cool and fits with their character concept and get a lot of leverage from ability checks.
I found that setting DCs a little lower actually encourages players to try more interesting stuff. 80% of the DCs should be DC 10, 15% should be DC 15 and only 5% should be DC 20. (I did an informal tally of the most recent playtest and 5e adventures to find that this ratio works well at least from levels 1-6).
Stealth isn't as hard as some of the threads about it make it seem. If a creature is looking at the PC the pc needs to do something pretty special to be able to hide from it. Often that could mean getting complete cover and re-appearing from a different direction. Sometimes I even take into consideration facing although it isn't officially in the rules yet.
I'm really enjoying running the system.
Thanks everyone. Lots of good advice and things to consider. A couple more details:
I am using 4th level pre-gens (unless someone decides to bring their own) with not real extra gear as you would expect in 3.x. I am running a total of 5 sessions set in an open exploration environment. Each session bleeds into the next and any player that wants to can keep their character from session to session and maybe even level. There are lots of smallish dungeons and lairs and a few extended mysteries that could resolve over multiple outings. Also, I have a couple rival adventuring parties ready to go.
Given that setup, one thing I am not sure about with 5E is the adventuring day. At that level does nova- ing create as big of issues with encounter balance as it does in, say, PF?
I am using 4th level pre-gens (unless someone decides to bring their own) with not real extra gear as you would expect in 3.x. I am running a total of 5 sessions set in an open exploration environment. Each session bleeds into the next and any player that wants to can keep their character from session to session and maybe even level. There are lots of smallish dungeons and lairs and a few extended mysteries that could resolve over multiple outings. Also, I have a couple rival adventuring parties ready to go.
Given that setup, one thing I am not sure about with 5E is the adventuring day. At that level does nova- ing create as big of issues with encounter balance as it does in, say, PF?
Rhenny
Adventurer
I haven't had a nova problem yet but 6th level has been max level for any game I've run since 5e launched. Also my players are used to conserving resources. I like running pcs through 8-10 encounters per day with about 2 short rests somewhere in the day, but if the pcs find places to rest and no wandering or planned monsters find them I don't mind if they rest.
I think bounded accuracy kind of helps prevent nova since pcs remain vulnerable to attacks from lower level threats. This sense of mortality encourages casters to keep something in the tank in case they encounter a larger group of foes later on.
I think bounded accuracy kind of helps prevent nova since pcs remain vulnerable to attacks from lower level threats. This sense of mortality encourages casters to keep something in the tank in case they encounter a larger group of foes later on.
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Two things I wish my DM did better:
1. Don't get confused and start using rules from older editions. Like he was granting opportunity attacks against foes who stood up from prone. That's not a rule in 5e.
2. Have a more consistent/predictable guideline for improvised actions and advantage and disadvantage. 5e gives you a lot of tools to work with. Here are 3 good guidelines:
a) Using an action can grant advantage or disadvantage, like the Dodge or Help actions.
b) Using an action AND making a check can grant multiple advantages or disadvantages, like the Hide or Shove (prone) actions, or impose some condition or consequence, like the Grappling or Shove (push off a cliff) action.
c) Making an extra check as part of another action can get you advantage or some positive consequence if you succeed, but has some negative consquence if you fail. I can't find any good examples in the RAW, but this would include things like dropping onto a foe to attack (make an Athletics check to knock him prone before your attack; on a failure YOU fall prone instead), or saying "Lookout behind you!" (make a Deception check to get advantage on your attack; on a failure, you can't even attack). That sort of thing.
My DM is OK at improvised actions (he says "yes" to players very well) but could be better.
1. Don't get confused and start using rules from older editions. Like he was granting opportunity attacks against foes who stood up from prone. That's not a rule in 5e.
2. Have a more consistent/predictable guideline for improvised actions and advantage and disadvantage. 5e gives you a lot of tools to work with. Here are 3 good guidelines:
a) Using an action can grant advantage or disadvantage, like the Dodge or Help actions.
b) Using an action AND making a check can grant multiple advantages or disadvantages, like the Hide or Shove (prone) actions, or impose some condition or consequence, like the Grappling or Shove (push off a cliff) action.
c) Making an extra check as part of another action can get you advantage or some positive consequence if you succeed, but has some negative consquence if you fail. I can't find any good examples in the RAW, but this would include things like dropping onto a foe to attack (make an Athletics check to knock him prone before your attack; on a failure YOU fall prone instead), or saying "Lookout behind you!" (make a Deception check to get advantage on your attack; on a failure, you can't even attack). That sort of thing.
My DM is OK at improvised actions (he says "yes" to players very well) but could be better.
Psikerlord#
Explorer
I agree with the above. I think a good tip is to still keep modifiers like +1 to say +3, as well as advantage and disadv, in mind.
I find that provides a better scope of modifiers than just adv/disad/nothing. Adv/Disad can be very big modifiers, and sometimes you want just a little or moderate bonus/penalty. Eg attacking from high ground? sure, have +1 hit, or flanking ok how about +2 hit. And so on. I expect actually these kinds of minor modifiers will appear in DMG in the extra combat options section.
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