D&D 5E (2014) 5th Edition -- Caster Rule, Martials Drool?

[Werebat]

Are martial classes still the poor cousins to casting classes when it comes to power level in 5th Edition? I mean in actual table play, not in theory.

 

[SilverfireSage]

Not that I've seen. In fact they seem to be more balanced due to their relative lack of spells per day than other editions. Then again, I've never had huge trouble with balancing the two as a DM, as there's always one major difference between the two: Casters can eventually run out, while a Martial cannot. A fighter can keep doing 30+ damage a round at high levels for as long as he's standing, where at some point a wizard has to go "Ya know, maybe I should save that fireball for the next encounter." This actually was a bit of a problem with older editions due to the lack of attack cantrips (the poor lvl 10 wizard being forced to pull out a crossbow during the encounter to save spells). Now that they have some cantrips that do decent damage, there's a better balance as to casters being able to continue to contribute during a fight. There's always going to be people that say some spells are broken, and while being able to fly and turn invisible is pretty handy, that's just one more spell they can't use during the next battle.

 

[Agamon]

Not in my game, that I've noticed. We're only at level 3, but that's all I have that isn't theory-based.

 

[Wolfskin]

This has been my experience so far, up to 5th level: casters can inflict A LOT of damage with offensive spells, but are quickly put down in pitched battles,-especially those with a d6 for HD. Martials, OTOH, have lower but consistent damage output and can hold on their own far better when the monsters close in- also, a Fighter action surging can dish out a staggering amount on damage once he gets two attacks per turn.

For instance, when running the Cragmaw Castle dungeon in LMoP, the Wizard dropped three out of four hobgoblins during the first round of combat with a judicious use of Burning Hands, but the next encounter he was dropped by a bunch of goblins attacking from the rear, and that use of BH costed him his last spell slot to cast Shield when hit.

 

[Tony Vargas]

So far, I can only report on the playtest ( ran three seasons of Encounters using the playtest rules), and one hopes the issues with each packet have been neatly cleaned up:

Cult of Chaos: Started at level 1. Martial characters (well fighters) were pretty awesome, massively overkilling the fragile monsters, though less awesome than the Barbarian doing so with Advantage all the time. Rogues, not so much - one died instantly (like 1st round of the 1st combat of the 1st session), but the other got the Chaos Blade and after that did pretty darn well. Caster's prettymuch drooled, one Cleric played like a healbot, if there was a wizard, it did nothing memorable.

Crystal Staff: Started at level 6. Total caster dominance. Combats lasted a round or two, decided by spellcasting. Only combat that was a challenge involved an enemy wizard. No PC deaths.

Baldur's Gate: Level 1-3. Prettymuch a fiasco. Multiple character deaths, one TPK. Effectiveness was prettymuch all on the players. The wizard did put in a good showing, mainly because his player stuck it out and had a clue what was going on most of the time.

 

[Viridian]

When you start messing with ways to bypass the action economy limitations, the burst damage martial classes become pretty ridiculously powerful. A battlemaster fighter working with a rogue or smiteadin (technically a caster, but using their spells to enhance melee instead) gets pretty ridiculous, especially if the damage dealer also has the Sentinel feat. A rogue sneak attacking 2-3 times per turn is going to be pretty hard to match.

 

[Psikerlord#]

When you start messing with ways to bypass the action economy limitations, the burst damage martial classes become pretty ridiculously powerful. A battlemaster fighter working with a rogue or smiteadin (technically a caster, but using their spells to enhance melee instead) gets pretty ridiculous, especially if the damage dealer also has the Sentinel feat. A rogue sneak attacking 2-3 times per turn is going to be pretty hard to match.

can a rogue sneak attack more than once/round?

 

[Grazzt]

can a rogue sneak attack more than once/round?

PHB says "Once per turn..." (page 96).

 

[Mouseferatu]

PHB says "Once per turn..." (page 96).

Which, by a literal reading, means drawing an AoO from a rogue, if you're fighting an ally of his, is a very bad idea.

 

[Viridian]

can a rogue sneak attack more than once/round?

A rogue can Sneak Attack once per turn. A round is composed of the respective turns of each combatant. This means rogues are the masters of attacks of opportunity (which makes sense), followed closely by a smite focused paladin. This also means that these classes combo very strongly with a battlemaster using Commander's Strike, as they are balanced around their action economy, and Commander's strike allows them a method to bypass it on rounds where they wouldn't otherwise use their reactions.