D&D 5E Boop

[Fenris-77]

It's not just the aura though, there are other abilities in play that target a single ally. Plus potentially targeting enemies as well. In addition, and I can't stress this enough, it's also every single turn, including the messy melee part of a fight. Asking a DM to know how many allies are within X aura, plus how many enemies are within X aura, plus how many allies and enemies are within X targeted distance every turn is a lot of tracking that normally isn't the case without a grid, and all that equals increased cognitive load on the DM.

And do you know who expects hyper accurate location information? Players do, especially when they have a whole mess of short range powers that require accurate distance information to a wide range of targets. It sounds like an enormous pain in the ass. Your comment about being picky isn't helpful either, because the model we have puts the entire onus on the DM to figure all this out. It would be a pain even if I weren't being picky, and I'm not a picky DM.

Why you can't take my reservations about this at face value baffles me. So I guess we're both baffled.

 

[Fenris-77]

Its kinda the other-way 'round - a grid simplifies some things, so, at worst, an ability that depends on size & distance (like every attack potentially subject to cover, every AE, every range, movement, or relative position - all the more so the more granular it is) is harder in TotM. Not less useful, just harder.

Games meant to be run TotM avoid, minimize or adapt such things. Using less granular, even qualitative measures for movement/range/AEs.
So, rather than feet or meters, "areas" or close/near/far range-bands or whatever, either reducing granularity or even not defining or using a unit, at all.

Granularity can erase differences among some things, but, 5e doesn't take it that far, if anything, it's more granular.

And this is precisely why I wanted to avoid giving the Warlord too many abilities that require things in the 'harder' category. I'll be very clear here too, I'm not a TOTM DM, I run a mix of narrative and grid based combat, with the grid usually only getting busted out for the biggest or most complicate battles. I'm not being a TOTM purist here, I just want the concept to work as advertised both with and without constant use of a combat grid. If you ask for too many range related points on a turn by turn basis it will stop working for narrative combat. Either it will slow combat down to a crawl, or the DM will just fudge everything, neither of which is a good outcome.

 

[Garthanos]

Games meant to be run TotM adapt such things, using less granular, even qualitative measures for movement/range/AEs.
So, rather than feet or meters, "areas" or close/near/far range-bands or whatever, either reducing granularity or even not defining or using a unit, at all.

5E did not even pretend to do actively support theatre of the mind like I said warlord abilities work even when described as all allies nearby can disengage and move to make an attack against an enemy next to you. Peeps actually wanting that might be interested in 13A and they do have a captain class

 

[lowkey13]

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[Tony Vargas]

5E did not even pretend to do actively support theatre of the mind

Sure it did.
Mainly by not offering tools to leverage using minis & a play surface. No 3e-style AE templates, for instance.
5e isn't any better-suited to TotM than any other edition - going all the way back - it just doesn't get as much simpler or more certain with the addition of a grid as 4e, 3.x, or 2e C&T did.

Peeps actually wanting that might be interested in 13A and they do have a captain class

13A is a strong example it's a D&D-emulating game that both facilitates & eases TotM, and allows you to leverage minis & a grid to further simplify movement, positioning, and range/area, with greater precision, if desired.

 

[Garthanos]

Given your lack of experience in both 5e and narrative combat in 5e, i will have to assume that your comments are just projection at this point.

Tell me how feet as measurement implies less precision more ballpark I am applying standards of other games which do actually support it. People who think D&D version X are simple seem to have never looked at simple games. Same with support of TOTM

 

[Tony Vargas]

And this is precisely why I wanted to avoid giving the Warlord too many abilities that require things in the 'harder' category.

Sure, like if it mattered which allies were w/in 10', which other allies & enemies are w/in 30', and which allies had been w/in 30 in a previous round, that might be a bit much, right?

 

[Garthanos]

Sure it does.
Mainly by not offering tools to leverage using minis & a play surface. No 3e-style AE templates, for instance.

Less tools but just as many distances and area of effects and weapon reaches and so on hmmmmm

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm sorry. I've addressed this many times; more importantly, since you've missed the point of my questions, why do you think it is a good idea to call people liars when you seem to be unclear on how most TOTM games are adjudicated?

Does that help advance a conversation? Or does that make people think you are unlikely to be able to engage in a civil discussion, and are simply attacking people for no good reason?

To bypass the argument, I have a wonder.

Should captain abilities be worded similarly to spell areas of effect? This way, if 2-3 enemies would be hit by a 15ft cone, 2-3 allies would be affected by theCaptains chargingbattle cry or whatever because it’s a 15ft cone?

 

[lowkey13]

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