D&D 5E Monster Manual and Players Hand Book Power Levels

[SilverfireSage]

Hmmmmm, seems kinda boring with a serious lack of that epic feel when at 20th level your running around with only a +2 magical sword and battling ancient dragons with AC 22. Progression seems to be the same for a fighter as with a monk IE everybodies proficiency level is the same. In 3.5 the fighter had a +4 to hit vs a Monk's +3. It just seems weird how all the classes in 5E seem to progress at the same rate but have some really nice super powers to put the hurt on the bad guy.

Differentiation simply isn't handled by attack, but rather by abilities. The fighter is able to use a ton of different combat abilities at that level, as well as attack multiple times all at the same bonus. It makes them feel very powerful without letting them massively outclass anyone else in attack.

 

[The_Gneech]

Welcome to the joys of bounded accuracy. In the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons monsters are different from each other not by their AC and saving throws bt by how much damage they can dish out and how much damage they can sustain.

Another thing to remember is it in fifth edition the players armor class and to hit modifier remain in a pretty much narrow band of Numbers remember that proficiency bonus for characters goes from +2 to +6 so trying to hit a dragon with an AC of 83 would have been next to impossible.

Warder

On the other hand, you know every blow you land will be a critical!

-The Gneech

 

[ExploderWizard]

Hmmmmm, seems kinda boring with a serious lack of that epic feel when at 20th level your running around with only a +2 magical sword and battling ancient dragons with AC 22. Progression seems to be the same for a fighter as with a monk IE everybodies proficiency level is the same. In 3.5 the fighter had a +4 to hit vs a Monk's +3. It just seems weird how all the classes in 5E seem to progress at the same rate but have some really nice super powers to put the hurt on the bad guy.

The epic part lies in the hit point totals and damage output. I much prefer that to a gigantic dragon that is literally bigger than the broad side of a barn that somehow cannot be hit by a reasonably competent archer.

The game world feels less like an MMO when any two beings can actually interact with each other.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hmmmmm, seems kinda boring with a serious lack of that epic feel when at 20th level your running around with only a +2 magical sword and battling ancient dragons with AC 22..

A +2 sword is epic when it's very rare and you don't get it until high levels. It's all about putting the game into the proper context. You can't view 5e through a 3e lens. It would be like saying that having 200hp for your high level fighter in Dragonquest doesn't feel epic because Final Fantasy gives you 5000 hit points.

 

[sgtscott658]

I dunno, +1 armor or +2 sword sure would not feel epic to me as a player, It feel more like I was playing a watered down version of 3.5. But as a DM I can always make it the game how I wish it to be. So if I want AC 38 dragons, or +5 holy avengers, then I will add them as I see fit. Personally, I would prefer to go back to 3.5 but I'm not going to because I have no desire to cause disruption in my group IE "hey guys 5E aint workin for me so lets change back to 3.5" that would not be the kool thing to do.

The monsters are weak in this current version of the MM and the players do have some seriously nifty super powers to put the pain on the monsters. Super hero D&D?

The epic part lies in the hit point totals and damage output. I much prefer that to a gigantic dragon that is literally bigger than the broad side of a barn that somehow cannot be hit by a reasonably competent archer.

The game world feels less like an MMO when any two beings can actually interact with each other.

 

[Boarstorm]

So, you don't want to go back to 3.5 because it'll upset your players, but you're going to functionally go back to 3.5 anyway?

Color me confused.

And I think you'll find the monsters much scarier than you think you will. Or, perhaps I should say your players will.

Edit: That may have come off an unnecessarily hostile. I didn't mean it to. I just wanted to make sure you understood what you'd be doing by going that route.

Honestly, if you break bounded accuracy, the whole system falls apart.

 

[Astrosicebear]

The monsters are weak in this current version of the MM

Methinks you have not played 5e yet. I assure you this is not the case.

 

[Tormyr]

I dunno, +1 armor or +2 sword sure would not feel epic to me as a player, It feel more like I was playing a watered down version of 3.5. But as a DM I can always make it the game how I wish it to be. So if I want AC 38 dragons, or +5 holy avengers, then I will add them as I see fit. Personally, I would prefer to go back to 3.5 but I'm not going to because I have no desire to cause disruption in my group IE "hey guys 5E aint workin for me so lets change back to 3.5" that would not be the kool thing to do.

The monsters are weak in this current version of the MM and the players do have some seriously nifty super powers to put the pain on the monsters. Super hero D&D?

These weak monsters, are you using them as solo encounters?

 

[ExploderWizard]

The monsters are weak in this current version of the MM and the players do have some seriously nifty super powers to put the pain on the monsters. Super hero D&D?

I agree that some monsters are pretty weaksauce but this isn't because of bounded accuracy. This is strictly a weakening of special abilities IMHO rather than a breakdown on the general hit & damage math.

A rust monster needing 5 hits to rust normal sword? Not remotely scary, but also not a BA issue. In my game the rust monster stats apply to magic items ONLY. ANY non-magical metal successfully attacked is TOAST in a single hit.

No math adjustment required, and it becomes the equipment destroying nightmare it needs to be.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Listen, if the low number totals are putting a bug in your bonnet, just blow up the number totals.

Everyone receives a +1 to hit and AC at every level. Every monster receives the same bonus for each point of Challenge it has.

It'll work basically the same. Well, maybe it'll mean your low-level characters can't even hit the high-level monsters, but whatever, if that wasn't a problem for you in 3e, I don't imagine it'd be a problem for you now.