D&D 5E My Hope for D&D 5/N

[pickin_grinnin]

I love Pathfinder (and by extension, have warm fuzzies for 3e than 4e never gave me) but as I work on this adventure (and it could be any dungeon, mystery, sandbox, or railroad) I find the work needed to keep things "balanced" is tiring. Overshoot and you end up with TPKs. Undershoot and its no challenge. Watch your treasure totals so the PCs don't have too much/little wealth for their level. The NPCs which require as much work as a typical PC (and rarely last more than a few rounds anyway).

I have never worried about any of that. I ignore the charts about "appropriate wealth by level" and all that nonsense.

 

[Agamon]

That's why I only like to PLAY 3.x / PF and not DM it. (And at heart, I'm more a DM than a Player).

I love every edition, but that's the one I don't enjoy that side of the table.

Agreed. When one of my groups wanted to play Pathfinder, I agreed as long as I didn't have to run it.

People talk about getting "stuck" playing the cleric. I'll do that with a genuine smile every time over having to run 3.x/PF. My hat's off to those that don't mind running that game.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

People talk about getting "stuck" playing the cleric. I'll do that with a genuine smile every time over having to run 3.x/PF. My hat's off to those that don't mind running that game.

I have always enjoyed running clerics, or any other healing class. You might not get all the glory, but you are often one of the most valuable members of the party.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

In my experience running Pathfinder/3e:

1) It's perfectly fine to eyeball encounters
2) NPCs don't need to be fully statted out (I routinely use characters that are a short list of modifiers, HP, and attacks)
3) If the PCs are a little more powerful, because you gave them "too much treasure" you can throw a few more bad guys at them and it will balance out
4) Similarly, if you find the PCs are having too easy or too hard of a time, you can adjust the numbers from encounter to encounter

While it's true that the MODIFIERS are larger in Pathfinder/3e than they appear they'll be in 5e, I haven't found any of the fundamentals have changed.

why is it every time someone says anything is even slightly wrong with any edition someone comes in to say "No it's not..." is it your opinion then am181d that there is no room to improve the perfect system that is pathfinder?

 

[the Jester]

In my experience running Pathfinder/3e:

1) It's perfectly fine to eyeball encounters
2) NPCs don't need to be fully statted out (I routinely use characters that are a short list of modifiers, HP, and attacks)
3) If the PCs are a little more powerful, because you gave them "too much treasure" you can throw a few more bad guys at them and it will balance out
4) Similarly, if you find the PCs are having too easy or too hard of a time, you can adjust the numbers from encounter to encounter

While it's true that the MODIFIERS are larger in Pathfinder/3e than they appear they'll be in 5e, I haven't found any of the fundamentals have changed.

True, but 3.x/PF don't enable a playstyle I very much love and intend to return to with 5e: everyone starts at 1st level. I ran my game this way throughout 1e and 2e. 3e and 4e both really can't handle this choice anymore when the party proper is above about 4th level. Or rather, it takes a very special and unusual game for 3e or 4e to handle it. 5e, with its bounded accuracy design goal, looks to me to be the perfect system to allow ES@1st play.

EDIT FOR CLARITY: I love both 3e and 4e, and each has its own merits. ES@1st simply isn't one of them.

 

[Remathilis]

why is it every time someone says anything is even slightly wrong with any edition someone comes in to say "No it's not..." is it your opinion then am181d that there is no room to improve the perfect system that is pathfinder?

Don't get me wrong, I genuinely like Pathfinder. However, I've been trying to run it "by the book". I try to keep combats within the challenge area, treasure within the guidelines, and using the tools to create unique challenges (a sea elf vampire barbarian who is really a malenti? bloody sahuagin skeletons? Yes please!) But these things take a lot of time. And there is a lot of math. And sometimes its really limiting to keep things within the CR numbers (especially how you must individually weak creatures to create large parties of them).

Which is why I hope 5e can relieve my workload without relying on hacks or such. Something more akin to AD&D. That is my wish.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Don't get me wrong, I genuinely like Pathfinder. However, I've been trying to run it "by the book". I try to keep combats within the challenge area, treasure within the guidelines, and using the tools to create unique challenges (a sea elf vampire barbarian who is really a malenti? bloody sahuagin skeletons? Yes please!) But these things take a lot of time. And there is a lot of math. And sometimes its really limiting to keep things within the CR numbers (especially how you must individually weak creatures to create large parties of them).

Which is why I hope 5e can relieve my workload without relying on hacks or such. Something more akin to AD&D. That is my wish.

I am your mirror image in this... I've tried pathfinder but found I liked 4e better, but running it by the book is no longer as glossy to me and I'm hoping 5e is my fix too

 

[ClauDeDoin]

What ever happened to fighting half-a-dozen sahuagin and finding a +1 trident and not worrying about all that stuff? Seeding plots by idea, not CR appropriate monster?

Thus, I sincerely hope that D&D 5e bring me back to an era where I don't need spreadsheets, a dozen charts, and a character generator to realize an idea. Sure, their still be some math in making an adventure, but if D&D can ease it back to the days when I opened up the MM and rolled # Appearing, followed by a roll on the treasure table rather than constantly eyballing CRs, treasure budgets, and other elements like that, I will be happy.

+1

I couldn't agree more. Some amount of bookkeeping, numbers juggling, etc. is a fact of life for DMs, of course, but there are times when the fun gets sucked out of encounter/adventure/campaign design precisely because all that fiddling gets in the way of trying something simply because it's a neat idea. Given what we've seen of 5e thus far, I'm hopeful what you describe will indeed be the norm.

 

[Lanefan]

What ever happened to fighting half-a-dozen sahuagin and finding a +1 trident and not worrying about all that stuff? Seeding plots by idea, not CR appropriate monster?

Thus, I sincerely hope that D&D 5e bring me back to an era where I don't need spreadsheets, a dozen charts, and a character generator to realize an idea. Sure, their still be some math in making an adventure, but if D&D can ease it back to the days when I opened up the MM and rolled # Appearing, followed by a roll on the treasure table rather than constantly eyballing CRs, treasure budgets, and other elements like that, I will be happy.

And by extension, it could bring back the ability to completely wing it without (nearly as much) fear of annihilating a party due to a simple error in judgement.

And in any edition, treasure budgets are for the birds as long as you implement some sort of system where valuables can and eventually will be consumed/lost/stolen/broken - in other words, easy come easy go. 3e (and I believe 4e) did away with most of the bad things that could happen to one's possessions; in 3e I think it's easier for a DM to kill a character than to break the magic armour she wears!

Lanefan

 

[I'm A Banana]

What ever happened to fighting half-a-dozen sahuagin and finding a +1 trident and not worrying about all that stuff? Seeding plots by idea, not CR appropriate monster?

I believe the phenomenon you're talking about falls under the rubrick of resilience. 4e, while better than 3e, was quite a fragile game in its own way on occasion.

It sounds like 5e is going to be better. Spells can fizzle. PC's can fail. Three pillars mean multiple approaches are valid. Changes are accepted.

So my projection is that you'll be cool!