So, in reverse order, if 4e or pathfinder is the way you go, I would be interested in hearing about your experience but I would dispute that 5e needs houserules to do that.Our most recent adventuring day (which was at the recommended level according to the module) went like this.
1) Our cleric didn't have to use a single healing spell.
2) The rogue did take 11 points of damage from a trap.
3) Most encounters were over before the enemies' turn came up in Initiative.
4) Enemies that have +3 to hit, 4 damage, with 4 HP. Even en masse, they're not challenging a 5th level party.
So what do I want?
4e and PF2 can at least do these things. 5e without exhaustive house rules cannot, IME.
- Some level of tactical play to succeed.
- Trying something other than the same thing every round that's going to obliterate your enemies.
- A little bit of fear and survival.
- Using resources, stretching abilities.
What you want sound reasonable to me.
What were you playing? this is contrary to my experience in 5e. In my experience most combats last 3 to 4 rounds with some lasting a lot longer.Our most recent adventuring day (which was at the recommended level according to the module) went like this.
1) Our cleric didn't have to use a single healing spell.
2) The rogue did take 11 points of damage from a trap.
3) Most encounters were over before the enemies' turn came up in Initiative.
I never have trouble forcing healing spells and this is with clerics that will not heal a character that is not down to zero.
Is this for real? or is it rhetorical?4) Enemies that have +3 to hit, 4 damage, with 4 HP. Even en masse, they're not challenging a 5th level party.
That is basically a goblin, you would need 5 per character for an easy encounter according to the DMG encounter guidelines (page 82 DMG).
My personal is that judged by that table most WoTC encounters are easy to medium with the occasional hard for a party of 4.
Each extra character effectively drops the encounter difficulty by a grade and in practice in tier 2 play the encounters by the numbers are a grade easier than suggested.