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Brand new DM to 5E and many concerns...
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<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 7520888" data-attributes="member: 6688937"><p>Happy to offer my help.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As mentioned by others above. 5e relies much more on HP to describe a target's invulnerability than earlier editions. I've even described "hits" as complete misses that wind or off-balance the target. Its not my favorite solution, but it works out tolerably numerically in the end.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Didn't really notice a problem with any pure damage spells being overpowered, and didn't have anyone use Burning Hands. However, I would say that squishy casters getting into melee range is truly a bad idea for them. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yup. The first three levels are the most dangerous, after that it actually gets notably more difficult to kill PCs with book-standard straight-up fights. You'll need to start tossing in terrain (especially water, IME) and other factors to give the monsters a decent chance at downing a PC. That said, I find the encounter guidelines mostly useless outside those first few levels. On the other hand, it tolerates a lot more eyeballing in encounter design than either 3 or 4e. Its much more like 2e, that way. If anything, the monsters are a little boring with many of them being little more than bags of HP waiting to be whittled down. Again, terrain and tactics are the saving grace to make combat interesting, and at least the tactics portion has been made a bit simpler than previous editions.</p><p></p><p>With regards to HP, you have to also consider AC and monster attack bonuses. As one of my players noted: "I think the designers realized that players really like to hit a lot and roll a bunch of damage dice, but they don't like taking lots of hits for big damage." I'm confident he was right, and the basic monster stats reflect this.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>IME, the biggest balance issues are between classes that "recharge" at different rates (short vs long rest). The most prominent offender I saw was the Paladin vs Fighter. The Fighter does a much better job at hanging in for the long haul (i.e. 6-8 encounters between long rests) because a lot of his abilities recharge on a short rest. The Paladin is set up to go nova a few times and really cronk a few opponents, most of his abilities recharge on a long rest. However, if the party has a chance to take a long rest more frequently than 6-8 encounters, the Paladin will be using his nova abilities less tactically and dominating the damage output (and wasted damage). This sorta crushes the design goal of the fighter being the best at melee.</p><p></p><p>Other than that problem, I found 5e pretty solid and hard to "break" on the PC side.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 7520888, member: 6688937"] Happy to offer my help. As mentioned by others above. 5e relies much more on HP to describe a target's invulnerability than earlier editions. I've even described "hits" as complete misses that wind or off-balance the target. Its not my favorite solution, but it works out tolerably numerically in the end. Didn't really notice a problem with any pure damage spells being overpowered, and didn't have anyone use Burning Hands. However, I would say that squishy casters getting into melee range is truly a bad idea for them. Yup. The first three levels are the most dangerous, after that it actually gets notably more difficult to kill PCs with book-standard straight-up fights. You'll need to start tossing in terrain (especially water, IME) and other factors to give the monsters a decent chance at downing a PC. That said, I find the encounter guidelines mostly useless outside those first few levels. On the other hand, it tolerates a lot more eyeballing in encounter design than either 3 or 4e. Its much more like 2e, that way. If anything, the monsters are a little boring with many of them being little more than bags of HP waiting to be whittled down. Again, terrain and tactics are the saving grace to make combat interesting, and at least the tactics portion has been made a bit simpler than previous editions. With regards to HP, you have to also consider AC and monster attack bonuses. As one of my players noted: "I think the designers realized that players really like to hit a lot and roll a bunch of damage dice, but they don't like taking lots of hits for big damage." I'm confident he was right, and the basic monster stats reflect this. IME, the biggest balance issues are between classes that "recharge" at different rates (short vs long rest). The most prominent offender I saw was the Paladin vs Fighter. The Fighter does a much better job at hanging in for the long haul (i.e. 6-8 encounters between long rests) because a lot of his abilities recharge on a short rest. The Paladin is set up to go nova a few times and really cronk a few opponents, most of his abilities recharge on a long rest. However, if the party has a chance to take a long rest more frequently than 6-8 encounters, the Paladin will be using his nova abilities less tactically and dominating the damage output (and wasted damage). This sorta crushes the design goal of the fighter being the best at melee. Other than that problem, I found 5e pretty solid and hard to "break" on the PC side. [/QUOTE]
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