D&D 5E 5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.

[Gorg]

I've got one of those. If he's a wizard, he studies the board for 10 minutes before casting Ray of Frost again. Then you've got the players who simply will not let anyone else take their turn if he deems their choice of action to be sub-optimal.

That sounds like the sort of player who'd get uninvited quickly. My players and DM tend to lose patience quickly with that sort of behavior... (the latter example)

As for my own issue, the problem seems to be primarily a combination of truly horrid dice rolls on the player side; really lucky rolls on the monster side, and the use of finesse weapons by high dex monsters. Those +5 to hit modifiers, and +3 to damage add up. also, it completely circumvents the main disadvantage kobolds have:being weak! The pack tactics, and the advantage on to hit rolls doesn't help. Adding the dex modifier to missile damage similarly ramps up damage totals. We're talking a bare minimum of 3pts of damage per hit from a dagger or sling stone for kobolds. Even more for orcs.

Today we tried our luck with the Orc cavern. I had the area 8 orcs set up the ambush in area 9 rather than hitting the party from behind. First group was wiped out quickly, thanks to some good tactics and nice die rolls. (the crit rolled on a sneak attack by the rogue certainly helped!) The ambush was a tad harder, thanks to 1/2 cover- and they weren't able to get them all before reinforcements started arriving from the common area. Those wave attacks were pretty draining, and we needed to burn 2 cure wounds spells on the rogue and mage, before moving on. The chief and his consorts were faced with both cleric and mage down to 1/ea 1st and 2nd level slots, and none but the rogue was at full health. By the end, the cleric was unconscious, and blew his first death save! (and it was a freaking consort with a dagger that did it...) Luckily, the last 2 were killed by the end of that round, and the mage was able to provide aid to stabilize him. (I KNEW that healer's kit would come in handy!)

I gotta say, that tactical nuke known as Radiance of the Dawn that's the Light Domain's 3rd level power came in right handy- it literally saved our bacon!! Being 3 for 3 with that mace of his didn't hurt either, lol. Fighter whiffs every other swing, but the cleric has a near 100% hit rate... Gotta love those rolls of the dice!

Also, whomever gave the Light domain Burning hands, Flaming Sphere, and Scorching Ray as domain spells is just plain mean!

 

[The Green Hermit]

I have a house rule that if you get knocked to 0 hp, you come back with a level of exhaustion. This definitely helped.

I have to admit, I still haven't figured out the exhaustion rule.

 

[dave2008]

I have to admit, I still haven't figured out the exhaustion rule.

What is troubling you with exhaustion?

 

[Morrus]

Your the one who cut my post short. I can say it sucks "I think" if I do. Not rude, just honest.

No, it was rude. If you can't post without insulting people, please refrain from posting.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I can't say this will be the case for you, but more people on these forums tend to complain that it is to easy to get advantage. Specifically regarding the rogue (my favorite characters), you don't need advantage to use Sneak Attack:

"You don't need advantage on the Attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't Incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the Attack roll."

From my experience, that situation happens a lot.

Again, I can't say this will be the case for you, but more people on these forums complain that monsters are to easy.

Personally, I think a lot of higher level monsters are weak for my tastes as DM; however, they work really well for my group which is not very tactically inclined nor into optimizing.

Kobolds however are indeed too tough as are goblins.
The playtest had str 8, dex 10 kobolds and it was good that way.
In my experience, it does not hurt to use commoners as the rank and file kobolds and goblins to emulate the feel of old dnd.

 

[dave2008]

Kobolds however are indeed too tough as are goblins.
The playtest had str 8, dex 10 kobolds and it was good that way.
In my experience, it does not hurt to use commoners as the rank and file kobolds and goblins to emulate the feel of old dnd.

To be fair, all the monsters feel tougher at lower levels. In 5e, levels 1-3 are really training levels. If you want to start as "heroes," you really need to start at level 3 at least, that is when most arch-types come into play.

 

[tetrasodium]

To the OP there are a few things being discussed that you probably haven't noticed yet.

On the 6-8 encounter discussion it's a pretty complicated set of problems that aren't easy to quickly explain but "just follow the guidelines" isn't as meaningful as it sounds for a lot of reasons ranging from short/long rest class balance being thrown to the gm to manage and the simple fact that they assume near universal doom clock use at all times with the campaign being structured to enforce that 6-8 appropriate encounter with 2short rests per long over all else.

On 5e being deadly..... if your players are at or close to a level where a house cat could pose a serious risk of pc death they are at risk of getting killed in a battle. After level 5 or so that moves more and more into wackamole healing the second the players put the pieces together to notice. I picked that post because it explains the problem in detail and the thread poll shows how pervasive it is

 

[BookTenTiger]

@BookTenTiger there are a few things being discussed that you probably haven't noticed yet.

On the 6-8 encounter discussion it's a pretty complicated set of problems that aren't easy to quickly explain but "just follow the guidelines" isn't as meaningful as it sounds for a lot of reasons ranging from short/long rest class balance being thrown to the gm to manage and the simple fact that they assume near universal doom clock use at all times with the campaign being structured to enforce that 6-8 appropriate encounter with 2short rests per long over all else.

On 5e being deadly..... if your players are at or close to a level where a house cat could pose a serious risk of pc death they are at risk of getting killed in a battle. After level 5 or so that moves more and more into [url="https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-%E2%80%9Cwhack-a-mole%E2%80%9D-healing-really-happen-in-games.677252/post-8157206]wackamole healing[/url] the second the players put the pieces together to notice. I picked that post because it explains the problem in detail and the thread poll shows how pervasive it is

I think you @'d the wrong person.

 

[JimmyG]

No, it was rude. If you can't post without insulting people, please refrain from posting.

How about this: f' off, dick wad!

Was that rude? or just honest?

Oh, look, I can use red text. Impressive. Not!

Yeah, cancel my account--you are all lame.

 

[Morrus]

JImmyG has left the building, folks. No need to reply to him.