D&D 5E Does anyone else find Nova-ing is not a problem in 5e?

[S'mon]

I don't remember all the details, but I know she Action Surged.

ETA: Also, my group doesn't include a paladin or barbarian.

OK. Did it bug you or damage the game? My thinking in this thread was that I see Nova-ing in 5e but it doesn't seem to harm play. Whereas in 3e/PF it created what felt like a degenerate scry-buff-teleport-fry type play style.

 

[pogre]

It depends heavily on your party composition, at least in my experience.

 

[S'mon]

It depends heavily on your party composition, at least in my experience.

You have seen it cause problems with running adventures for certain classes?

 

[jgsugden]

Nova refers to optimizing output in a single turn. It is taking your best shot. The best Nova round I've seen in 5e was in a one shot adventure for 20th level PCs where folks were told to make the mst efficient PC they could. They were able to have two legendary items and up to 5 other magic items. The Nova king was a paladin 11, warlock 2, fighter 2. On his turn ge was able to attack twice, action surge to attack twice more, bonus action attack, reaction attack, and haste attack. All of those were GWM attacks, all included sites using advanced spell slots, all were with a weapon dealing an extra 2d6, all with Str 29, etc... 28d6 + 42d8 + 113... 400+ damage IIRC. He soloed one of the ancient dragons by himself in one round. I also saw a variant with a paladin 2, eldritch knight 17, warlock 1 with slightly less impressive Nova damage, but he was able to Nova twice and split the damage out into more attacks to use it more efficiently.

The only Nova issue I have encountered in 5e is the one from that situation: Multiple smites on multiple attacks.

 

[S'mon]

Nova refers to optimizing output in a single turn. It is taking your best shot. The best Nova round I've seen in 5e was in a one shot adventure for 20th level PCs where folks were told to make the mst efficient PC they could. They were able to have two legendary items and up to 5 other magic items. The Nova king was a paladin 11, warlock 2, fighter 2. On his turn ge was able to attack twice, action surge to attack twice more, bonus action attack, reaction attack, and haste attack. All of those were GWM attacks, all included sites using advanced spell slots, all were with a weapon dealing an extra 2d6, all with Str 29, etc... 28d6 + 42d8 + 113... 400+ damage IIRC. He soloed one of the ancient dragons by himself in one round. I also saw a variant with a paladin 2, eldritch knight 17, warlock 1 with slightly less impressive Nova damage, but he was able to Nova twice and split the damage out into more attacks to use it more efficiently.

The only Nova issue I have encountered in 5e is the one from that situation: Multiple smites on multiple attacks.

Yeah I think dragon stats are a bit of an issue at high level. Was looking in my MM and I noticed the ancient dragons were barely tougher than some of the CR12 npcs I have been using, yet they are cr 20+...

 

[S'mon]

When my Varisia group of 6 reach levels 17-20 I think I will need to upscale adult dragons to Ancient and probably restat some of the major dragons more powerful than MM ancients or they may be squelched too fast.

And if the PCs ever reach a certain Rune Lord I am pretty much going to pull out all the stops...

 

[Jester David]

Players going nova and the [url="http://www.5mwd.com]5 minute workday[/url] *can* be a problem in 5e, like in, well, every edition of D&D. But short rests help alleviate this somewhat, by allowing some hit point recovery.
But, in my experience, the tone of the story, the player's willingness to spread out resources, and the DM's willingness to let them fail if they hesitate matter far more than system.
If the players realise that taking a rest early (and nuking an encounter) will have consequences to their characters and the story, they're going to be reluctant to do so. If they think the DM will let them get away with it... they'll rest.

 

[Ancalagon]

In our game, the paladin is starting to catch on the power of nova striking. The other characters have less options in that regards.

We only have a 3 hour session every 2 weeks, so it's not a fast progress game :/

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The easiest way to balance for novas in 5E is just to give enemies more HP, so that they are still standing after the alpha strike is over. Feels a bit cheezy, but better than the alternative of boring fights that are over in 1 round.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The easiest way to balance for novas in 5E is just to give enemies more HP, so that they are still standing after the alpha strike is over. Feels a bit cheezy, but better than the alternative of boring fights that are over in 1 round.

That is terrible advice. All you do is encourage doing novas. What you should do instead is just allowing the nova only to have the paladin realize he just has no resources left for the real fight.
You should play the game which usually has the characters left with some uncertanity if novaing now is better than conserve resources.