D&D 5E there aren't enough slow Dwarves with Axes! ;)

[Saeviomagy]

1. An archer never bothers to get out of melee, because the penalty for doing so (an AoO) is by default less than the penalty for shooting in melee. So step 1: make the penalty for shooting while in melee at least as bad as the penalty for leaving melee. Provoke an AoO.

2. The speed of a double move is a slow jog, and is a reasonable pace for marathon runners to sustain for distances measured in miles. The speed of a single move is a brisk walk. A sprint should be twice what the current double move is for reasonably fit adults and should scale upwards for legendary figures. FWIW, real world records hover around 180 feet/round for sprinting. So on top of the current dash, we need a sprint for 4 x base movement. If we want, we can make it favor the plate wearer by eliminating dex to ac.

3. Running fast shouldn't make melee attacks impossible, but it should make ranged attacks wildly inaccurate. In short, a character should be able to charge ~120 feet and make a melee attack at the end with no significant problems, while the archer should be sticking with his 30ft move if he wants to get his shots off. Certainly nothing should let you take a sprint while making ranged attacks.

There you have it. Even the 'slow' dwarf with an axe will be taking 100ft moves while still attacking, while his ranged opponents are stuck with lesser moves. Eventually a monk could out pace him while spending ki and making ranged attacks, which seems fair.

Incidentally, most animals (and therefore I would expect non-humanoid monsters) need their sprint to be x 6 in order to match their real world capabilities.

I also think the current "remove every possible disadvantage of ranged combat" portions of feats have to go.

 

[werecorpse]

I haven't noticed this issue in game play, but I play without the options of sharpshooter, crossbow expert or great weapon master.

Perhaps just give a bonus to attacking an "unarmed" foe. +2 would be enough given bounded accuracy.
define an unarmed foe as someone without a melee weapon or shield in hand. That would encourage enemies to close with missile users or spellcasters for an easy hit.

 

[intently]

Provoke opportunity attack when making ranged attack near a melee foe.

Multiply all ranged damage by 2/3.

Done!

 

[hejtmane]

I haven't noticed this issue in game play, but I play without the options of sharpshooter, crossbow expert or great weapon master.

Perhaps just give a bonus to attacking an "unarmed" foe. +2 would be enough given bounded accuracy.
define an unarmed foe as someone without a melee weapon or shield in hand. That would encourage enemies to close with missile users or spellcasters for an easy hit.

All those are available in my game and it does not matter Dex is not the king of all stats in this game and you can negate range why is everyone trying to make ranged weak and it has caused no issue for our Barbarian or Dwarf Fighter/wiz (Meat tank) it goes several ways from fight to fight depending on settings. I layer my monsters in the same boat I can weaken dex and still make melee useless by using nothing but flying creatures. Every time I hear this I can think of is bad DM scenario building

 

[TarionzCousin]

... slow Dwarf....

This is redundant.

 

[guachi]

Maybe shields should be better versus ranges attacks like they were in real life. Like a standard shield is +4 AC vs any ranged attack.

Though I also like making dash faster, too.

 

[Flamestrike]

Option 4:

Start the lions share of your combat encounters 20' away. Stop starting them 200' away.

Fixed.

 

[ccs]

If I found PC ranged (weapon) damage too much as a DM I'd do several things:
1) All monsters HP would be maxed out.
2) Melee monsters would charge/dash/etc in order to close with the party.
3) Firing into/through melee would incur disadvantage - Note: this is different than the disadvantage incurred by using a ranged weapon within 5' of a hostile creature. It would NOT be negated by the SS feat.
4) Remember, firing into/through melee - other than at a target adjacent to you - should have at least 1/2 cover applied unless the proper feat is involved.
5) I'd disallow feats. They are afterall OPTIONAL rules....
6) I'd do away with DEX based damage. Game worked fine without it in previous editions, game will work fine now without it.
7) I'd take a serious look at the types of combat encounters I was designing if the party always had time to whittle foes down at range.

 

[Sunseeker]

Ranged is superior to melee. That's why the English Longbowman decimated the French. That's why we use guns. That's why we deliver nuclear weapons with missiles and not carts. Ranged is going to decimate all but the fastest and cleverest of enemies. As it should.

But ranged weapons have their drawbacks. They need line-of-sight. Arrows can't do anything against a foe surprising them around a corner, or in a dense or twisted woodland where distances are limited to average movement speed (+/-30ft).

So yes, if you are throwing a bunch of random beasts at your party on open terrain, they will shoot, shoot, shoot their way straight to victory. Throw some goblins armed with ranged weapons themselves against the party while they stand on high terrain or make best use of their movement to move back behind cover. Big dumb brutes will always lose to clever people with guns. Smart little PITAs will fare much better.

 

[Horwath]

Ranged is superior to melee. That's why the English Longbowman decimated the French. That's why we use guns. That's why we deliver nuclear weapons with missiles and not carts. Ranged is going to decimate all but the fastest and cleverest of enemies. As it should.

But ranged weapons have their drawbacks. They need line-of-sight. Arrows can't do anything against a foe surprising them around a corner, or in a dense or twisted woodland where distances are limited to average movement speed (+/-30ft).

So yes, if you are throwing a bunch of random beasts at your party on open terrain, they will shoot, shoot, shoot their way straight to victory. Throw some goblins armed with ranged weapons themselves against the party while they stand on high terrain or make best use of their movement to move back behind cover. Big dumb brutes will always lose to clever people with guns. Smart little PITAs will fare much better.

this!

Dont throw bears at the party and then complain that archers have a field day with them, because bears don't use longbows.

Even caveman figured it out that throwing a rock at someone is safer than hitting it with that same rock in hand.


Now, about simulation in the game and making ranged less powerfull.

Here is action for advancing upon archer position.

Cover action; you move at half speed, all attacks have disadvantage against you and if you have shield equiped you gain aditional +5 cover bonus to AC.
This is to simulate slow advancement of shielded warriors towards archers. It can still be negated by sharpshooter, but that is OK as most mooks do not have that feat. Only the specialists.

Another thing for melee combat:

Attack of oportunity does not require spending of reaction. You have a number of AoO per round equal to your proficiency bonus.
Moving more than 5 ft inside someones reach provokes AoO unless moving direct towards that creature.

Making a ranged attack provokes AoO in adition to disadvantage to attack.

Attacks of oportunity always deals max damage.