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lowkey13
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D&D 5E 5e - Just Missing the Mark
- Thread starter Retreater
- Start date
Sometimes (in the case of Tomb of Annihilation) it is a random encounter. Sometimes the party gets farther in the adventure than I was planned for (in the case of Yawning Portal). And sometimes the tactics caught me off guard (as in the homebrew). One of the observations from many of my groups is that I over prep, but you can't be ready for every situation.
I guess the answer is to download and replace the index, DM Screen.
I'm not sure any game system is going to solve your issues. So I'll take a quick stab at what I've done in my games.
It's not a tactical war game, monsters are just creatures that inhabit the world. But if that doesn't work for you, tweak them. I do it all the time, there are plenty of resources with advice on how to customize.
Another thing I do is adjust combats based on how well the group is doing. So if I had planned an ambush with 20 orcs in the next scene but the group is half dead? Now they have a chance to surprise the orcs instead of the other way around or the number of orcs is reduced a tad.
On a side note, I also use 6-10 encounters between long rests (I use the optional rest rules where a short rest is overnight and long rests are several days or more). I find this helps balance things out a lot and I can throw a lot more easy/medium encounters which I find easier to balance.
Backgrounds are as meaningful or not as you and your group want them to be. Their a framework, what you do with that framework is up to you.
Yep, a champion fighter works exactly like a warlock. A beholder uses exactly the same tactics as a purple worm. Sooo much sameness.
It seems like maybe the fundamental issue is that you want the game to do something it isn't designed to do. It's just a set of rules, a framework. You have to breath life into it. It's a very flexible framework that can scratch a lot of itches, but that takes some work and accepting that you have to do a fair amount of improv and adjustment on the fly.
I could go on, but I don't think you're really looking for advice. I will agree that D&D requires a lot of cooperation between players and DM, and not every game is going to fit every one and not every DM will fit every player. I'll just repeat one of my mantras again: not every game is for everyone. Maybe D&D 5E isn't the game for you.
You have to take into consideration your group. Encounter design is more of an art than a science and considering the vast difference in party size, options and
I've always done my own thing, but as others have said there are literally thousands of adventures on DmsGuild. It doesn't have to be official to be good.
Monsters don't have roles. They have descriptions and fluff. How you use that to set up encounters is up to you. For example goblins are tricky little SOBs who use hit-and-run tactic, scatter when threatened and never want to have an even fight. Ogres are big, dumb bullies who charge into battle, and so on.
It's not a tactical war game, monsters are just creatures that inhabit the world. But if that doesn't work for you, tweak them. I do it all the time, there are plenty of resources with advice on how to customize.
Another thing I do is adjust combats based on how well the group is doing. So if I had planned an ambush with 20 orcs in the next scene but the group is half dead? Now they have a chance to surprise the orcs instead of the other way around or the number of orcs is reduced a tad.
On a side note, I also use 6-10 encounters between long rests (I use the optional rest rules where a short rest is overnight and long rests are several days or more). I find this helps balance things out a lot and I can throw a lot more easy/medium encounters which I find easier to balance.
To a certain degree I will agree with this, but combat doesn't have to be boring. Throw in chasms to cross, chandeliers to swing from, hostages to escort. Have dialog during combat, improvise actions and put some effort into adding color.
There have been other threads on inspiration, there have been some suggestions I'm going to try. Let people claim their own inspiration for example, using index cards with personality traits/flaws.
Backgrounds are as meaningful or not as you and your group want them to be. Their a framework, what you do with that framework is up to you.
Yep, a champion fighter works exactly like a warlock. A beholder uses exactly the same tactics as a purple worm. Sooo much sameness.
It seems like maybe the fundamental issue is that you want the game to do something it isn't designed to do. It's just a set of rules, a framework. You have to breath life into it. It's a very flexible framework that can scratch a lot of itches, but that takes some work and accepting that you have to do a fair amount of improv and adjustment on the fly.
I could go on, but I don't think you're really looking for advice. I will agree that D&D requires a lot of cooperation between players and DM, and not every game is going to fit every one and not every DM will fit every player. I'll just repeat one of my mantras again: not every game is for everyone. Maybe D&D 5E isn't the game for you.
The issue isn't so much the rules as the presentation of the rules.
I'm glad 5E looked back to pre-4E editions for most of its inspirations and approaches to play. What I'm not so glad about is WotC also took a few steps back in terms of presentation, burying its rules content in walls of descriptive text. In terms of instructional design, D&D 5E is about 20 years behind the times. Where are the numbered steps, bulletted lists, and compact summaries of rules mechanics?
I've been playing 5E since the Next playtests, and I still have to parse paragraphs of text to learn how a Wizard gets new spells and how many they learn at each level.
With effective information design techniques, WotC could summarize the core non-class-specific rules of D&D on two 2-sided sheets of standard letter-sized paper. But they seem to believe people want to read their rules content buried in walls of descriptive text. And maybe some readers do - the ones who buy RPG books for reading material and not as resources to be used at the table.
Maybe WotC will eventually overcome its aversion/embarrassment to all things 4E and take a page out of D&D Essentials by publishing a digest-sized softcover Rules Compendium. One can hope.
And yes, DM screens are awful. They're so consistently and universally awful that it can't be explained by simple incompetence. My sense is most RPG publishers have a deep-rooted opposition to their rules being made available in compact formats, presumably out of fear that it will cut down on the need for PHBs and DMGs.
I'm glad 5E looked back to pre-4E editions for most of its inspirations and approaches to play. What I'm not so glad about is WotC also took a few steps back in terms of presentation, burying its rules content in walls of descriptive text. In terms of instructional design, D&D 5E is about 20 years behind the times. Where are the numbered steps, bulletted lists, and compact summaries of rules mechanics?
I've been playing 5E since the Next playtests, and I still have to parse paragraphs of text to learn how a Wizard gets new spells and how many they learn at each level.
With effective information design techniques, WotC could summarize the core non-class-specific rules of D&D on two 2-sided sheets of standard letter-sized paper. But they seem to believe people want to read their rules content buried in walls of descriptive text. And maybe some readers do - the ones who buy RPG books for reading material and not as resources to be used at the table.
Maybe WotC will eventually overcome its aversion/embarrassment to all things 4E and take a page out of D&D Essentials by publishing a digest-sized softcover Rules Compendium. One can hope.
And yes, DM screens are awful. They're so consistently and universally awful that it can't be explained by simple incompetence. My sense is most RPG publishers have a deep-rooted opposition to their rules being made available in compact formats, presumably out of fear that it will cut down on the need for PHBs and DMGs.
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lowkey13
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doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Wait, what? Limited how? The search functionality and filtering is something they knocked right out of the park!
Maybe it was bad when it first launched? I certainly don’t recall that being the case, but it’s possible. Definitely not the case as of right now.
NOOOOO!!! Don't go to the dark side. Books should remain as pristine as possible throughout the time you use them.
Ok, my mom was a librarian. The notion of writing in books was beaten out of me at a young age.
Nah, I’m gonna side with writers over librarians on this one.
Use your books. Break in the spine, dog the ears, carry them in a back pocket, make notes in them.
If you’re someone who doesn’t hold on to books, and gives them away or trades them for more books at a used book store once you’ve read them, skip the notes part. Otherwise, your house ain’t a public library, it’s your house. They’re your books. They aren’t sacred artifacts, they’re copies of a book of which there are millions of other copies. If it isn’t a rare book, don’t worry about it.
Since many of you are recommending I look into DM's Guild content, are you aware of anything that would serve as a tactical add-on to 5e? Something that would grant battlefield maneuvers to characters, revise monsters to give flavorful abilities in combat (as well as raising the effectiveness of solo creatures), and maybe provide guidelines to using terrain (this is what happens when you drop a chandelier, crack the ice on a frozen lake, etc)?
If not, is it "legal" for me to create something that can be used by the community?
If not, is it "legal" for me to create something that can be used by the community?
My biggest problem with D&d Beyond is that I can't sign into my account. It's paired with Twitch, which is tied into my Amazon account, but there's something mysterious going on that Amazon won't let me sign into Twitch. Twitch won't let me create a new password, etc. It's just a mess. One of my groups I'm DMing has created a campaign on it, and I can't even sign in to it.
Hmm... you are correct. I recall having a lot of trouble looking up general rules questions (as opposed to statblocks or class writeups). However, it appears to have improved drastically since the last time I tried using it that way. Any esoteric thing I search for gives me something helpful in the top few search results.
Another sacred cow bites the dust!
BookBarbarian
Expert Long Rester
I google rules.
Anything that is in the SRD is in Roll20 for free and can be found on the internet. for example googling "5e jumping rules" brought up this as the first option:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Movement#content
Then searching on the page for jumping brought me to:
"Jumping
Your Strength determines how far you can jump.
Long Jump. When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn’t matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your GM’s option, you must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to clear a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump’s distance), such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.
When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.
High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement. In some circumstances, your GM might allow you to make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than you normally can.
You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1½ times your height."
Looking up rules is now so much faster, but it does handcuff me to my laptop.
Anything that is in the SRD is in Roll20 for free and can be found on the internet. for example googling "5e jumping rules" brought up this as the first option:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Movement#content
Then searching on the page for jumping brought me to:
"Jumping
Your Strength determines how far you can jump.
Long Jump. When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn’t matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your GM’s option, you must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to clear a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump’s distance), such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.
When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.
High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement. In some circumstances, your GM might allow you to make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than you normally can.
You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1½ times your height."
Looking up rules is now so much faster, but it does handcuff me to my laptop.
