D&D 5E What are your biggest immersion breakers, rules wise?

[Oofta]

Firearms would have the same primary advantage over magic that they have over bows and arrows. They're easy to use. They require less training than a bow and less strength than either a bow or a crossbow.

There were centuries of development of gunpowder based weapons before the first crude cannons appeared. Compared to what even a middling wizard could do, these early weapons were not all that impressive. Which is assuming, of course, that gunpowder works and can be manufactured using the same techniques we use.

I do throw in a bit of steam-punk into my games, but it's really magi-tech. I've considered campaigns where guns dominate (up to a weird wild-west genre) but I'm having too much fun in my current campaign world.

Funny thing with introducing guns is that I don't have a problem with metal armor being effective against bullets. I can justify that as a little bit of adamantine added to the steel making that breastplate bulletproof. But dex based AC? Dodging fast enough to get out of the way of a bullet is even more ridiculous than dodging out of the way of an arrow.

 

[Garthanos]

But dex based AC? Dodging fast enough to get out of the way of a bullet is even more ridiculous than dodging out of the way of an arrow.

IRL you are always dodging their aim and moving unpredictably you also use retaliatory fire (hence the cover me addage) to stop them from seating that aim ...but not dodging the bullet.

 

[Tony Vargas]

But dex based AC? Dodging fast enough to get out of the way of a bullet is even more ridiculous than dodging out of the way of an arrow.

You're not dodging the bullet, you're dodging the gunman.

Edit: It's a thing ninjas do. Like the one above!

 

[Garthanos]

Edit: It's a thing ninjas do. Like the one above!

Ninjas can dodge rain drops pirates are all wet

 

[Oofta]

IRL you are always dodging their aim and moving unpredictably you also use retaliatory fire (hence the cover me addage) to stop them from seating that aim ...but not dodging the bullet.

You're not dodging the bullet, you're dodging the gunman.

Edit: It's a thing ninjas do. Like the one above!

You have your immersion breakers, dexterity allowing you to dodge bullets (or arrows) is one of mine. They proved this on Mythbusters once - even when he knew where the arrows were coming from the martial arts expert couldn't dodge out of the way.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You have your immersion breakers

Not s'much really. I think one of the problems I have with talking about immersion is the implication in saying "....breaks my immersions" that immersion can just be blithely assumed, taken for granted, /unless/ some mean mechanic comes along and breaks it.

IMX, immersion is a rarefied, fleeting thing, and you can experience a sense of it, for a moment here and there, and it's nice and all, but some mechanics, at best, might facilitate it, while the vast majority of mechanics - and other qualities of a TTRPG, like, oh, sitting at a table - really mitigate against it rather profoundly.
Maybe, when D&D ne is played on Star Trek holodecks or in Matrix VR, we (or our robot simulants, clones, or brains in jars, or whatever) will be able to just take immersion for granted, unless something breaks it.

They proved this on Mythbusters once - even when he knew where the arrows were coming from the martial arts expert couldn't dodge out of the way.

Nod. Yet, something, in actual firefights causes a whole lotta bullets to be wasted.

 

[Garthanos]

You have your immersion breakers, dexterity allowing you to dodge bullets (or arrows) is one of mine. They proved this on Mythbusters once - even when he knew where the arrows were coming from the martial arts expert couldn't dodge out of the way.

Was the martial arts dude moving in an unpredictable zigzag which is basically what I meant by dodging their aim? You do not remain in the same hit zone for any period of time and you are less paying attention to exactly when the individual is firing and more making yourself hard to aim at. Force them to adjust a lot.

 

[Lanefan]

I do throw in a bit of steam-punk into my games, but it's really magi-tech.

Ditto. No gunpowder, but the idea of an occasional zeppelin showing up is just too good to ignore.

Dodging fast enough to get out of the way of a bullet is even more ridiculous than dodging out of the way of an arrow.

Unless your campaign takes place in the Matrix, of course, where dodging things in slow motion is par for the course.

 

[Oofta]

Was the martial arts dude moving in an unpredictable zigzag which is basically what I meant by dodging their aim? You do not remain in the same hit zone for any period of time and you are less paying attention to exactly when the individual is firing and more making yourself hard to aim at. Force them to adjust a lot.

Do you really need a high dex to take cover? I find it hard to believe it would make more than a minor difference. It also doesn't account for fire from sources you don't see. In wartime soldiers frequently only have a general idea of location of the shooter, there is no "dodge out of the way the shooter is aiming".

Of course I'm also not willing to be shot at after taking a dexterity test to prove my point so it will likely remain a mystery.

 

[billd91]

The game's poor handling of size differences - as well as its poor handling of any size larger than large or smaller than small even if all creatures are equal sized - is problematic. How come a cat can beat up a commoner? How can you fight a mouse on the ground with a dagger while standing? How can you crit on something that's so big you can't reach its vital organs?

There have been problems in various editions with size (3e family, I'm looking at you) because how they come out in the math. But I'll repeat that some issues really depend on idiosyncratic interpretations. For example, does a crit really need to hit vital organs or can you just hit a place that has a heavier impact? The main torso vitals may be out of reach when you fight a giant, but his femoral artery might not be, nor would his ACL or Achilles tendon. Hitting those may also indicate a "crit". Sometimes, you just need to shift your perspective a little and ding things fall into place.

Also problematic is the shallowness of the weapon and armor system; most of the weapons are more-or-less interchangable. Particularly problematic is that they all deal equally well with armor.

Back in 1e, there were massive tables for that. They were largely too cumbersome to use and pretty brutal to monks (honestly, why would anyone play a monk back in 1e?). But I'll admit, some of the difference in weapons really were best reflected in how well they did against armor.