MGibster
Legend
I agree. Obviously D&D is "terrible" for horror because it doesn't use the same ruleset as other games without ever discussing what those other rules implement that can't be closely emulated in 5E.
The fact that D&D doesn't use the same rules as other games for horror isn't what makes it bad for the genre. Vampire doesn't use the same rules as Call of Cthulhu or Alien, and while some people might think Vampire is a bad game, they don't generally complain that it's not good at horror because it doesn't use the same rules as other games.
What makes D&D terrible for horror is the lack of support for such game play in the rules. There's nothing in the PHB that supports a horror game. And the DMG doesn't offer much in the way of support for horror. It's got madness rules and then two paragraphs on fear and horror. The rules as written are designed to maximize the chances of survival, minimize the risk of permanent death, and the player characters are just too powerful. Even the most terrible of conditions, like paralysis, restrained, and blinded, are designed in such a way as to allow a PC to end it at every turn.
About the only thing you didn't mention is another aspect that people don't discuss. The permanent drain that presumably can't be reversed. I don't get how that works - if it's actually used the PC becomes pointless after a while.
Permanent drain does suck. There's a reason they got rid of it.
But I guess I don't run a D&D game because my player's PCs don't glow like Christmas trees, no PC has ever been raised from the dead because it's not as simple as casting a spell, I don't care for long distance teleport so I banned it* and to plane shift you have to access a portal.
Of course you run D&D. And if you guys are having a good time you're not doing anything wrong.
To me, minor tweaks to the system are what D&D is all about. I already do just about everything "required" for a horror campaign outside of truly permanent drains. Does that mean we're no longer playing D&D? My players will be quite shocked. Horrified even.
And this is one of those things where people have their opinions. If you think D&D is good for horror games, okay, that's great. I think it's terrible for horror games but it's not like I can objectively prove this. One thing we can all agree on is that drain is terrible though.