D&D 5E First Time 5E: Options?

DaveDash · Jan 25, 2015

The main combination which will break your game is a Fighter using archery style, with crossbow expert and sharpshooter. If you have someone in the party that can cast bless as well, then you're in trouble. The up side is this combination doesn't start to become problematic until level 8 (more so around 11).

Other than that, the game is reasonably well balanced, especially levels 1-5 when you're playing LMoP. It really comes down to the choices the players make tactically rather than their build, although be wary of the poorly written stealth rules combined with cunning action, you may find your Rogue player getting advantage on every attack.

Psikerlord# · Jan 26, 2015

Werebat said:
I'm about to start running the Lost Mines of Phandelver for my local group of about six players, most of whom have D&D experience going back to AD&D at least. We've most recently played PF, and as a group the players are a powergaming lot with a tendency to breeze through CR appropriate encounters.

I'm wondering what "optional" rules I should consider using, particularly feats and "variant humans".

Any things I should or should not allow?

My personal suggestions are:
1. Use feats (but amend the -5/+10 feats substituting that aspect for +1 stat instead, and crossbow expert does not remove disad if shooting in melee)
2. Dont use multiclassing
3. Roll for stats (but anyone can choose any other person's rolls, with a d4 penalty. Avoids cookie cutter PCs and maintains balance between PCs. Will tend to get higher power PCs, but just add more monsters)
4. Injuries (discourages whack-a-mole style)
5. Theatre of the mind, and instead of flanking = adv, if you outnumber your opponents in melee, +2 hit (gaining adv, and high ACs, become more valuable)
6. Consider ditching passive perception (it's broken vs traps, just roll instead)
7. Roll for monster hp (keeps players guessing and gives DM flexibility if needed to prevent a TPK).

Hope it's a blast.

Werebat · Jan 26, 2015

Thanks. What about "variant humans"?

What about those "-5/+10" feats? I've heard they can be a problem. (Whoops, you edited your post to address them!)

Actoba · Jan 26, 2015

The 5e starter set characters are freely available via PDF from WoTC from here - http://media.wizards.com/downloads/dnd/StarterSet_Characters.pdf

Sword of Spirit · Jan 26, 2015

Werebat said:
Thanks. What about "variant humans"?

What about those "-5/+10" feats? I've heard they can be a problem. (Whoops, you edited your post to address them!)

Variant humans get a feat at 1st level. All of the commentary about feats applies double to them. Otherwise they are fine. If your players roll their stats then the standard human can be very good if they get a lot of odd numbers (especially for a multiple attribute dependent character).

Werebat · Jan 28, 2015

Psikerlord# said:
My personal suggestions are:
1. Use feats (but amend the -5/+10 feats substituting that aspect for +1 stat instead, and crossbow expert does not remove disad if shooting in melee)

Why would this be better than just changing the aspect to -5/+5?

Leatherhead · Jan 28, 2015

Werebat said:
Why would this be better than just changing the aspect to -5/+5?

It's not really, most of the problems from +10 damage come from getting it at level 1 or 4, where it basically doubles your damage per hit. In later levels it properly minionizes the small fry and the big threats have better ways to compensate for it.

I would recommend not even modifying the feat at all if you are running a meatgrinder like HotDQ.

Blackbrrd · Jan 28, 2015

I don't think I have seen anything mentioned so far that I would ban, except maybe the bear from a level 2 druid. (I would just ban it for level 2 and 3, allowing it afterwards).

The way I would handle power gaming players is to up the HP of the monsters, and/or slightly increase the amount of monsters they meet, and have more random encounters (where there is a good spread between the players ambushing, being ambushed and no ambush). I would also consider just upping the attack/defenses slightly, by 1-2 points.

All in all, I think catering to powergamers in 5e should be really easy to handle. there just aren't enough broken comboes around that there is a problem some slight modifications on your end won't fix.

iserith · Jan 28, 2015

I ran this adventure twice for two different groups. They had access to all the usual options - variant humans, feats, etc. Both groups were sufficiently challenged, even captured at one point with one PC killed in each group. So I wouldn't worry about giving the players the options they want to try out.

I've done some re-imagining of Goblin Arrows, Goblin Trail, and Cragmaw Hideout. In Goblin Arrows, I noticed that a lot of groups on podcasts were getting torn up, so I changed the goal of the monsters. This made for a very challenging scene while at the same time taking death off the table. In Goblin Trail, I changed up the lame traps presented therein and made them into more interactive scenes. For Cragmaw Hideout, I made a larger more abstract lair with multiple routes where pace matters and a threat meter to increase the tension.

Psikerlord# · Jan 28, 2015

Werebat said:
Why would this be better than just changing the aspect to -5/+5?

It simply turns the feat into a "half feat", with the other half being a +1 stat - consistent with a bunch of other feats. The -5/+5 is another option I guess. Personally if you want a -5/+5 option, I suggest making that a "called shot", and add it to the list of actions (ie anyone can do it without a feat).

D&D 5E First Time 5E: Options?

DaveDash

Explorer

Psikerlord#

Explorer

Werebat

Explorer

Actoba

First Post

Sword of Spirit

Legend

Werebat

Explorer

Leatherhead

Possibly a Idiot.

Blackbrrd

First Post

iserith

Magic Wordsmith

Psikerlord#

Explorer

Similar Threads