D&D 5E Concentration mechanic can ruin plots in adventures

[Seramus]

I've always assumed those cultists had found a book or some other source, which the PCs could in theory use to raise that same Dread Thing, if they were so inclined. I'm also happier if the NPCs at least very much mostly follow the same rules as the PCs, and concentration is a rule I'd be really reluctant to hand-wave away if I were working on something like this.

I do the same thing, with a knowing wink. Sure, everything that an NPC can do is something that the players can do... provided they have made the same sacrifices and joined the same organizations as the NPC. And it's not even a bluff. If they really do swear allegiance to BBEG group and meditate for one full day every week, then I actually give it to the PC. But I get very few takers.

 

[jasper]

...With the concentration mechanic, it is now impossible to charm that much people/monsters into working for you. Giving such a power to an NPC would not be my style......
Please fix the title. ADD " adventures from older editions."
My default when dming. Monsters, and NPC CHEAT. Aka for reasons to make the game work, only PCS have to follow the built rules.

 

[Bohandas]

Giving such a power to an NPC would not be my style (and I would not give him an artifact).

Could it be done using multiple non-artifact magic items?

 

[prabe]

Could it be done using multiple non-artifact magic items?

Not unless at least one item was sentient, per my understanding of the rules. If you use a magic item to cast or otherwise generate a spell that requires concentration, you need to do the concentrating. Only exception is sentient items, which are specifically described as "doing the concentrating."

 

[The Crimson Binome]

NPCs don't follow PC character creation rules.

This is not like 3e.

They have whatever powers you want to give them.

Monsters don't necessarily follow PC character creation rules, but NPCs have to play close enough to rules that the players won't complain.

If a DM tried to claim that their NPC operates by their own rules, and there's no way for me to know what those rules are, then that DM would be out of a group in short order. Nobody has time for those shenanigans.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

With the concentration mechanic, it is now impossible to charm that much people/monsters into working for you. Giving such a power to an NPC would not be my style (and I would not give him an artifact). Making the evil group willing pawns of Excapode would work but how to make it so that the good NPCs work for the mad mage without breaking the rules by which the players must abide? So far I saw nothing that could make it work without giving too much powers to Excapode, which would make him a much higher threath than he should be.

It's possible to manipulate good people into doing evil things by careful social manipulation and misinformation, without magic. It just takes a lot more time and effort to set up.

I know that doesn't really jive with the insanity angle, but if the evil adventurers are working for him, they could have done the legwork.

 

[prabe]

Monsters don't necessarily follow PC character creation rules, but NPCs have to play be close enough rules that the players won't complain.

If a DM tried to claim that their NPC operates by their own rules, and there's no way for me to know what those rules are, then that DM would be out of a group in short order. Nobody has time for those shenanigans.

I wouldn't say that NPCs have to follow the same rules as PCs, but there are good reasons one might prefer them to. I've played (and run (and enjoyed)) other games where NPCs were explicitly not built the same way as PCs. My problem with just handwaving or giving this NPC this trait is that the concentration mechanic is a hard limit on spellcasters' capabilities, and it's pretty clear to me that the intent is for that to apply to monsters and NPCs as well as PCs, as something like a physical law of How the World Works; I'm very reluctant to blithely ignore that.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Honestly (and I don't look at a lot of things in this way), "NPCs don't have to follow the same rules as PCs" feels like adversarial DMing to me. I've never understood why people see that approach as a feature rather than a bug. Part of what I want as a player is a consistent world where I can accomplish the same things as the characters I meet. I'm totally fine with there being believable requirements that the NPC met that a PC rarely would (like sacrificing infants and sanity to fuel some powerful dark ritual). I'm also okay with the DM not putting much thought into it, as long as they will come up with an answer when it becomes relevant. For example, it becomes relevant when I want to trick out my wizard's tower with the sorts of cool permanent effects NPCs put in theirs. A good way to deal with that, for me, would be to use whatever magic items creation rules are in effect. Or to say that learning how to do that sort of thing is the sort of lore wizards are always searching for, and I can accomplish the same stuff by seeking out such magical lore.

I'm not sure if the sentiment is just a conceptual backlash against the concrete way 3e NPC/monster rules could grind the game to a halt (believe me, I understand how much of a pain those statblocks could be), or some unconscious DM power trip, or just a bandwagon effect. In any event it completely rubs me the wrong way.

5e also walks a subtle enough line (at least in the earlier products, later ones have veered further away) that you can easily (as I do when DMing) say that they do follow the same basic rules, the stat blocks are just simplifications to expedite play. A veteran statblock represents what is really a 5th level fighter if it somehow became important, and most commoners don't actually have straight 10s for ability scores.

 

[toucanbuzz]

...If a DM tried to claim that their NPC operates by their own rules, and there's no way for me to know what those rules are, then that DM would be out of a group in short order. Nobody has time for those shenanigans.

The Archmage gets innate Magic Resistance. The Tribal Warrior has pack tactics. The Assassin and many other rogue types (e.g. the Thug) get multi-attack.

I don't think there's a one of the Monster Manual NPCs that is constructed using Player Handbook rules for the class. I wouldn't call that shenanigans, but rather it's clear that NPCs weren't meant to use the same rules.

But, if we want, we can simply say this BBEG is god-touched (he has one or more Boons), which are pretty much anything the DM wants the gods to give the mortal. Which circles us back around to the DM's ability to create pretty much anything they want to challenge the players with something unexpected.

 

[ad_hoc]

Yep. But I do like my NPC to follow the same rules as the players. Maybe a wish gave him that power but it drove him mad... I don't know. But most suggestions (even mine) seems wonky.

But nice suggestions did came up. Thank you all. I'll have to rewrite a bit of Excapode's background.

Do you play adventures with each NPC to level them up to where you need them to be?