D&D 5E it appears to be very easy to break the game

[Argyle King]

As the title says, it appears to be very easy to break the game. I fully understand that I've been playing an early version of the system, and I fully understand that the final version may look very different, but, even considering that, a lot of things just don't seem to work right. Why I am starting to believe it is easy to break the game is because I've noticed a few characters during playtesting who appear to be far stronger than they should have been. Most recently, I myself created a few characters who have caused problems at the table... without trying to do so.

Most recently, I created a Halfing Monk 1/Rogue 2. I came up with the concept because I needed to quickly make a character for a recent Encounters session, and I quickly tossed something together which I felt would be amusing. To my surprise, the character turned out to be far better than expected. With Flurry of Blows, I can attack twice. I can then also sneak attack with both unarmed strikes. The extra sneak attack damage on multiple strikes seems to push my damage beyond what the game expects. In general, I've started to notice that damage bonuses such as sneak attack and barbarian rage damage bonuses combine with multiple attacks to create some seemingly broken characters; the most glaring example is a past character that a different player made who was a Dex based Barbarian using two-weapon fighting, finesse weapons, and getting to add damage bonuses to each attack.

In the case of my Halfling Ninja, the second part of the combo is being able to follow the flurry with a second action granted by being a rogue. So, I can dish out damage with flurry (moving between attacks if need be) and then disengage or hustle or hide to get away.

 

[xazil]

You are right on most of it although you missed the part on sneak attack of "You can use this feature only once per turn".

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

First people complain that martial types suck. Then, when martial types get be good thanks to nice features or clever builds, people say that the game is broken. Sorry, but I'm seeing awesomeness in your description, not brokenness. When was the last time where you're able to build a multiclass monk/rogue that was also a playable damage dealer type? Enjoy it!

 

[Dausuul]

To my surprise, the character turned out to be far better than expected. With Flurry of Blows, I can attack twice. I can then also sneak attack with both unarmed strikes. The extra sneak attack damage on multiple strikes seems to push my damage beyond what the game expects.

That's because the game doesn't expect you to do things that are against the rules. Sneak attack damage is once per turn.

 

[Neonchameleon]

If the non-casters aren't seemingly doing too much damage then the game has been badly balanced - non casters are never going to match the flexibility of casters. Of course if a rogue/monk is outfighting the fighter and the monk that's a problem...

 

[n00bdragon]

We're really going to have to see the final product in order to determine what's broken and what's not. Right now my hopes aren't that high. When the monster book comes along and we finally get a look at the larger array of higher level monsters it'll be easier to determine what's "broken" and what's not. You can't judge balance in a vacuum. A man who swings his sword for a million damage a hit is underpowered when everything you fight flies or has abilities that eat your soul from a thousand yards or whatever. No one ever complained seriously that martial characters do "too much damage" in previous editions. It's that they lacked the options to deal with foes who can't easily be beaten up with a particular weapon.

It just remains to be seen.

 

[Mistwell]

a lot of things just don't seem to work right. Why I am starting to believe it is easy to break the game is because I've noticed a few characters during playtesting who appear to be far stronger than they should have been. Most recently, I myself created a few characters who have caused problems at the table... without trying to do so.

Well, you gave one example that turned out to be incorrect. But, maybe the others are an issue. So, you said "a lot" of things don't work right. Can you list some of the others?

 

[GX.Sigma]

With Flurry of Blows, I can attack twice. I can then also sneak attack with both unarmed strikes. The extra sneak attack damage on multiple strikes seems to push my damage beyond what the game expects.

Not really. Rogues can dual wield short swords for the same damage.

But yeah, multiclassing does some broken things. Check out Barbarian/Rogue. Every attack is a sneak attack.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Seems way too early to say this about next. Are these things you have encountered in actual play or just theoretical problems. My experience with theoretical problems is I often don 'to encounter them myself during play.

 

[Argyle King]

Well, you gave one example that turned out to be incorrect. But, maybe the others are an issue. So, you said "a lot" of things don't work right. Can you list some of the others?

The barbarian example I used was one of the worst ones I remember. He focused on Dex, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Finesse Weapons. The basic idea behind his build was to attack a lot of times and stack up bonus damage.

One of the other things I've noticed isn't specific to a character, but is how the game appears to work in general. That is that 5th Edition seems like it may have the problem of "rocket tag." By that it seems to me that it's very easy to hit, and most things don't have a lot of HP or ways to defend. As such, it appears that whomever wins initiative often has the opportunity to destroy the other side before the other side gets to do much. The most recent example of that which I remember is an encounter with some zombies during the past session. I believe they had an AC of 8; it was virtually impossible for the PCs to miss. It took the party two rounds to kill them all, but that's only because of how many there were. This particular problem doesn't come up a lot yet, but it comes up enough at levels 1-5 (which are the levels many of the playtests I've done have been at) that I somewhat assume the problem gets worse at higher levels (though admit I could be wrong about since I haven't tried higher levels yet.) It appears that hitting is very easy in D&D 5th, but staying alive isn't, and that makes for a weird feeling at the table because it gives the impression of early 4E with laughable monsters most of the time, but the impression of fragile PCs occasionally... without any middle ground. That seems odd in play. If you're with a group that tries to push toward the former, the game becomes pretty boring very quickly. Though, to be fair, that's not "breaking the game" per se; it's just a personal opinion on the general feel of the game at times.

I'll have to double check the packet concerning sneak attack. I had thought as long as on of my allies was threatening the same foe and take actions, I could sneak attack.

One of the other characters I noticed was a fighter/barbarian duel-wielding and using the two-weapon fighter style.

...now that I think more about it, it seems that most of the broken combos I've noticed revolve around multiple attacks and multiple weapons.

I have a few other characters in mind, but without the material in front of me to look at, I don't want to try remembering what options they chose and detail something incorrectly. There is another session coming up this week (Wednesday in fact.) I'll take down a few notes and get more details on how some of the other characters are built.