D&D 5E The problem with 5e

[Helldritch]

Well, for D&D (in any edition I know of anyway), unless you are using house-rules, critical hit tables, or the like, IME you really shouldn't experience such things. shrug Otherwise, I have to assume you are exaggerating for emphasis?
@Helldritch!

Barely. Rolemaster had such possibilities. This is something I will avoid at all costs.The fireball spell crit I have seen in a 1ed D&D in a heavy moded game. An other avenue that I don't want to see. But players dying due to poor planning or a few crit against them I have no problem as long as they can see it coming and they can react to it. A bang you're dead out of nowhere is just badwrongfun.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yeah, who can forget the scintillating dialog ... all 5 of Arnie's lines were amazing.

LOL if you're watching it for the "scintillating dialog" you are watching it for the wrong reasons.

Barely. Rolemaster had such possibilities. This is something I will avoid at all costs.The fireball spell crit I have seen in a 1ed D&D in a heavy moded game. An other avenue that I don't want to see. But players dying due to poor planning or a few crit against them I have no problem as long as they can see it coming and they can react to it. A bang you're dead out of nowhere is just badwrongfun.

I've never played Rolemaster or heavily moded D&D to the extent that insta-kills can happen. IME in 1E/2E the more likely culprits were the save -or-die rolls, but such features were what made such creatures (like the beholder's disintegrate beam!) so terrifying back then. Many such creatures can still be very scary and effective opponents, but now it requires a bit more finesse. shrug

Anyway, even in such cases when a single PC bites it due to save-or-die rolls, etc. I tried to offer the survivors a way to rescue/save/revive their fallen friend, often making a quest out of it. But then there is the issue of making sure the player with the deceased PC has something fun to do while the others try to restore the missing PC to the game.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

LOL if you're watching it for the "scintillating dialog" you are watching it for the wrong reasons.


I've never played Rolemaster or heavily moded D&D to the extent that insta-kills can happen. IME in 1E/2E the more likely culprits were the save -or-die rolls, but such features were what made such creatures (like the beholder's disintegrate beam!) so terrifying back then. Many such creatures can still be very scary and effective opponents, but now it requires a bit more finesse. shrug

Anyway, even in such cases when a single PC bites it due to save-or-die rolls, etc. I tried to offer the survivors a way to rescue/save/revive their fallen friend, often making a quest out of it. But then there is the issue of making sure the player with the deceased PC has something fun to do while the others try to restore the missing PC to the game.

That’s the challenge. Heck even with 1 e healing, sometimes a person would be left to heal somewhere if needed and that is not a thrill a minute either.

the dm is challenged to keep several balls in the air in this situations.

we had those events occur. Save vs petrification and hope you can get the ‘statue’ back or someone comes looking for you...it sucks!

 

[DND_Reborn]

That’s the challenge. Heck even with 1 e healing, sometimes a person would be left to heal somewhere if needed and that is not a thrill a minute either.

the dm is challenged to keep several balls in the air in this situations.

we had those events occur. Save vs petrification and hope you can get the ‘statue’ back or someone comes looking for you...it sucks!

Shrug

To me it was the nature of the beast. I had PC's left behind to heal 1 HP / day while others had to press on due to the time-sensitive nature of the adventure or something. It never bothered me, personally.

I've had PCs turned to stone and disintegrated as well, and despite the efforts of the party, they were unable to return that PC to the game. In those cases the party still "won the day", so it was unfortunate but I still had fun. To me, those threats and risky rolls and the excitement that comes with them was a big part of the fun.

Anyway, everyone has their own version of what is fun or not, and if I had fun playing the game up until the moment a bad decision on my part or an unlucky roll killed off my PC, I am okay with that. Sure, I am not happy about it at that moment, but again the risk/challenge is what makes it exciting to me.

 

[nevin]

Wizards of th Coast fell in to the trap of trying to standardize play styles and finally realized it was hurting sales.
Pathfinder is going through that now. I think it must be hard to make a game spend all that time working it out and then find out that your in the 5% of the playerbase that plays like you do and that all the money is with the other 95% who play it thier way and never go to forums.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Shrug

To me it was the nature of the beast. I had PC's left behind to heal 1 HP / day while others had to press on due to the time-sensitive nature of the adventure or something. It never bothered me, personally.

I've had PCs turned to stone and disintegrated as well, and despite the efforts of the party, they were unable to return that PC to the game. In those cases the party still "won the day", so it was unfortunate but I still had fun. To me, those threats and risky rolls and the excitement that comes with them was a big part of the fun.

Anyway, everyone has their own version of what is fun or not, and if I had fun playing the game up until the moment a bad decision on my part or an unlucky roll killed off my PC, I am okay with that. Sure, I am not happy about it at that moment, but again the risk/challenge is what makes it exciting to me.

Well agreed.

and to that point we would Telegraph our preference to the DM so he was not stressed about creating openings or plots to change things.

with my ranger in the catacombs, I told him it’s all good, he knew it was a terrible risk and he died with honor!

mother times we wrapped a body and carted them back to town to see about a raise dead.

give the timelines there, a hasty trip back sometimes meant an exciting encounter so all frost for the mill.

I still want it that way though and think that changing some of the healing rules for my taste will help. Can’t win em all and don’t want to. Really without any risk it’s not fun.

conversely I don’t want to play basic with a 3 starting hp character, either.

pretty excited we are finishing up (for now) with 8th level party and starting a new one...

I just cannot choose what to play...

 

[The Crimson Binome]

At the end of a Long Rest, a character regains one hit point per character level plus its constitution modifier. The character additionally loses one level of exhaustion if they have any. The character also regains one Hit Die, and a character can spend any hit dice it has as if it had a short rest.

A lot of people might look at these rules and think you're being pretty harsh. The thing is, though, even such an extreme house rule doesn't do anything to make the world less of a cartoon. It still doesn't pass the "are you even trying to take this seriously?" test.

Even if you only recover one Hit Die per long rest, it's still possible to go from 1hp to full over the course of a short rest, without any magical intervention. The only thing your house rule does is address how frequently a character can pull off that comical feat.

 

[Oofta]

A lot of people might look at these rules and think you're being pretty harsh. The thing is, though, even such an extreme house rule doesn't do anything to make the world less of a cartoon. It still doesn't pass the "are you even trying to take this seriously?" test.

Even if you only recover one Hit Die per long rest, it's still possible to go from 1hp to full over the course of a short rest, without any magical intervention. The only thing your house rule does is address how frequently a character can pull off that comical feat.

Goes back to the whole "what are HP". Personally? I don't have a problem with relatively quick healing, people in a fantasy world magically heal faster than we would in real life? Cool. Apparently evolution favored those that could use a tiny bit of slow healing magic without even realizing it.

Or any number of other explanations.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Goes back to the whole "what are HP". Personally? I don't have a problem with relatively quick healing, people in a fantasy world magically heal faster than we would in real life? Cool. Apparently evolution favored those that could use a tiny bit of slow healing magic without even realizing it.

Or any number of other explanations.

Well this was my first thought. I assume it is being winded and exhausted and some metaphysical luck running out as well.
Gygax knew hit points were odd from the start and tried to clarify with his warhorse vs fighter example.

 

[Helldritch]

Goes back to the whole "what are HP". Personally? I don't have a problem with relatively quick healing, people in a fantasy world magically heal faster than we would in real life? Cool. Apparently evolution favored those that could use a tiny bit of slow healing magic without even realizing it.

Or any number of other explanations.

Well this was my first thought. I assume it is being winded and exhausted and some metaphysical luck running out as well.
Gygax knew hit points were odd from the start and tried to clarify with his warhorse vs fighter example.

For me, HP has always been luck, plot armor, gods' favors and heroes' reflexes and experience. I never ever considered HP to be meat points.