D&D 5E Official D&D Basic Discussion Thread

[Tony Semana]

Unfortunately, if DM fiat's not in your vocabulary, 5e might be a bit of an issue.

The DM determines how much activity is needed, and he tells the players beforehand so there's no confusion.

This is not how DM fiat should be used. DM fiat is for oddball corner cases, not basic rules questions.

I agree with GX.Sigma, though, this is pretty obviously an oversight. If the intent was to forbid taking two short rests in a row, they would be explicit about when you could and couldn't take another short rest. These rules were written on the assumption you'd never want to take two short rests in a row.

Okay, this will pretty clearly stay one of those rules where there will be 2 distinct schools of thought and will be dealt with in 2 obviously opposite ways depending on table/DM ruling. Why pollute yet another thread with each side trying to justify their viewpoint as the correct one?

One side will rule no strings of short rests while the other will rule absolutely possible. Good, the rules facilitate both interpretation as-is so I'd say it does the job.

Other topics please.. Very much looking forward to using and seeing the inspiration mechanic in-game.

 

[Agamon]

Other topics please.. Very much looking forward to using and seeing the inspiration mechanic in-game.

Yes, sorry. Sure didn't want to derail this thread, too much cool stuff to discuss.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Really, who joins the MurderHobo Union?

MHU Solidarity.

The MHU definitely needs to be a thing.

Okay, so these blimmin' adventurers can all deadlift 300lbs+, like, unless they dumpstat STR, but the bloody wimpy quitters can only walk for 8 hrs/day before they start flopping to the ground from exhaustion? What kind of ridiculous people are these? They are doing the WRONG kind of exercise if they can deadlift 300 but can only WALK for 8 hours/day, I can tell them that. They need to get a new personal trainer, for sure.

So like, according to D&D rules, I have a STR of about 8 or 9, but a CON of like, 20+, because I personally guarantee you I can walk 10-12 hours/day every damn day without ever "getting exhausted" and have been able to do so since I was 11 (and yes over rough terrain with a backpack full of stuff), but adventurers can't even manage to walk further on ROADS without being encumbered! It's DC bloody 11 to walk for 9 hours of a day instead of 8. 11! You need at least 12 CON or you USUALLY fail that! God knows what D&D thinks of marathons....

EDIT - I find it even more bizarre that the speed of travel doesn't affect whether you need to make that CON check, but only whether you get a Perception penalty...

EDIT - Hold the news! Maybe those trainers aren't totally awful - they trained those PCs to make (without a check!) a STR SCORE leap if they have a 10' running start! So Mrs STR 20 Fighter can straight-up running leap 20ft no check (which makes "Remarkable Athlete" even more hilariously bad). You only need to check to clear obstacles or land in bad terrain. Even no start gives Mrs STR 20 a 10ft leap. Noice. Vertical jumping she's no slouch either - assuming she's 6' tall and has a 10' run-up, she can (no check) catch on to a ledge 19ft up! With a check the DM may allow her to go higher.

I guess D&D PCs have some sort of astounding STR-training regime that gimps their endurance, but perhaps that's fine. I wouldn't mind collapsing if I walked more than 8 miles/day if I could leap and grab something 19ft in the air 100% of the time!

EDIT EDIT - Awwww, after interesting changes here, the falling rules are disappointingly vanilla - 1d6 per 10ft' to a max of 20d6. Hmph.

 

[evileeyore]

No skills apply to Con checks but marching is a Con check? As someone who knows how to march, I can assure you that it IS a skill or at least a proficiency. Easily fixed by re-introducing Endurance or a "Soldiering" proficiency or something, I guess.

Initiative is a Dex check, interesting. That could have some implications down the line.

Schwalb will be happy, as will fans of mobile phone hidden object games! There's a sidebar specifically instructing DMs to play "Say search the right way!" game with their players IN ORDER TO EVEN GET TO ROLL! I guess my players will have to bring their "NO SERIOUSLY WE SEARCH EVERYTHING" mantra out of retirement (it's so much more detailed than that, and I know it covers drawers in some way).

That seems like the worst of both worlds - no only do you get the failure chance of rolling, but you also have to try and work out exactly what the DM wants you to say to search. GUMSHOE, it ain't.

I will straight up stab the first GM who tries that nonsense on me.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I have a question for people. Am I missing something? One of the precon Fighters in the Starter Set only added 2 to hit hitpoints at each level even though he had a 16 Con. I assumed that the hitpoints had changed in the final version. It appears not.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

I don't have a problem with short rest as written. I thought it was rather self-explanatory. Resting 60 to 121 minutes = 1 short rest, resting 120 to 179 minutes equals 2 short rests, and so on. How much activity do you have to do before taking an additional short rest? Zero. Can fighters take multiple short rests in order to second wind themselves back to maximum hit points while hording their healing dice? Yes they can.

 

[GX.Sigma]

P.52's sidebar directly contradicts this, which is what I'm referring to. A skilled professional PC only earns 2sp/day equivalent, apparently. A skilled NPC Hireling does indeed make 2gp/day. I guess NPCs have a better union than PCs or something?

Wait, hold on.

On page 68, the downtime rules give a baseline of Modest (1 gp/day) for adventurers with professions, or Comfortable (2gp/day) if you're in an organization.

On page 53, it costs 2gp+/day to hire a skilled hireling, such as a mercenary, artisan, or scribe (who presumably have guilds/unions/companies). This is the same as for PCs.

It also (on p.53) gives a rate of 2sp/day for untrained laborers (which gives them a Poor lifestyle). This is less than the baseline for PCs, but I'm willing to accept that a commoner with 10 Str is cheaper than a 1st-level Fighter with 16 Str and second wind.

So far, this all makes sense.

The only questionable thing is the "Self-Sufficiency" sidebar on p.52. But that sidebar doesn't really matter anyway, because it just says your lifestyle is "equivalent" to Poor or Comfortable. It doesn't actually give you any money, it just gives you an adjective to describe how you're living.

It's actually fine if you think of "proficiency in Survival" as "awesome Ranger status."

 

[Agamon]

I will straight up stab the first GM who tries that nonsense on me.

In the eye! With a pencil!

[sblock]How can you tell I just finished watching Season Two of Orphan Black... [/sblock]

 

[Agamon]

I don't have a problem with short rest as written. I thought it was rather self-explanatory. Resting 60 to 121 minutes = 1 short rest, resting 120 to 179 minutes equals 2 short rests, and so on. How much activity do you have to do before taking an additional short rest? Zero. Can fighters take multiple short rests in order to second wind themselves back to maximum hit points while hording their healing dice? Yes they can.

See? Exactly not how I'd do it!

And that's okay!!!! In fact, that's awesome!!!

(sorry, seriously done now)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I will straight up stab the first GM who tries that nonsense on me.

Iknowrite? I don't want to get stabbed. Why is D&D exposing me to these outrageous risks?

More to the point, I feel like it's really, honestly, EITHER:

1) Play the "name the right search" game, but actually find the thing FOR SURE if you name the right search, like in earlier editions (barring stuff like Elven auto-secret-door-find), but actually find the thing for sure once you name the right search.

OR

2) Say you are searching thoroughly, have the DM tell you how long that will take, and roll.

NOT

3) Name the right search BUT THEN have to roll and potentially flub the roll and not know if you missed it because of the roll or because of the wrong place - especially if you had a roll that was high but not stellar (i.e. 13 or 15 or the like). So you might feel the need to keep rolling (if the DM will even let you). If I did that to my players, as DM, I'd have to accept that being stabbed in the hand with a mechanical pencil was probably a reasonable response to my actions.

A more sane combo of 1 & 2 would be to allow players to OVERRIDE proceedings by saying "I search in X place", and finding it if they said the right thing (so they get to feel clever), but ALSO allowing them to say "My PC searches the room to the best of his ability" (or however one wants to put it), and rolling.