D&D 5E Levitate on an unwilling creature

[Harzel]

So the purpose of the designers defining an Adventuring Day as x encounters per day is what in an attrition-based game?

Guideline is defined as below on the interwebs...which sub-description do you take issue with?

None.

Using what was said in the DMG as a guideline is fine. Calling it a guideline is fine. But, at least IMO, "6-8 encounters per adventuring day" is a misleading representation of the content of the guideline. I think it is misleading because saying "the guideline is 6-8 encounters per adventuring day" implies that, for example, 3 encounters per adventuring day is outside the guideline, and that is not just misleading, it is false. It also implies that all 6-8 encounter days are within the guideline, and that is also false.

The root cause, of course, is that one only gets to "6-8 encounters per adventuring day" by plucking a single sentence out of context and then throwing away a salient part of the sentence.

Well then we agree.

Perhaps. You can update me on whether you still think that is true.

 

[Sadras]

Using what was said in the DMG as a guideline is fine. Calling it a guideline is fine. But, at least IMO, "6-8 encounters per adventuring day" is a misleading representation of the content of the guideline. I think it is misleading because saying "the guideline is 6-8 encounters per adventuring day" implies that, for example, 3 encounters per adventuring day is outside the guideline, and that is not just misleading, it is false. It also implies that all 6-8 encounter days are within the guideline, and that is also false.

The root cause, of course, is that one only gets to "6-8 encounters per adventuring day" by plucking a single sentence out of context and then throwing away a salient part of the sentence.

Perhaps. You can update me on whether you still think that is true.

We are very much in agreement.

We have a wizard character that uses Levitate, Animate Objects and the like - and sure certain times he 'wins' the encounter, but the more encounters we have per 'adventuring day' and as the party increases in level this has become less of an issue.
Also when we 'fixed' the Rest mechanism, he became more careful with his spells.

You may also wish to try another tactic as opposed to giving the unwilling target a saving throw every round - if the creature is intelligent enough to know that spells have a limited range, it might try to climb, if there are handholds, to get further away from the caster, out of the 60 feet range requirement. You may as DM make the call, that the creature is out of the 60 feet, the spell either ends or a new saving throw would be needed to lock it into the Levitate spell, should the caster close the range gap again.

 

[CapnZapp]

The 6-8 encounters a day guideline in the DMG, regardless of whether that's actual game designer intent, is nonsense and is probably the biggest shortcoming of the 5E D&D ruleset.

Amen, brother!



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