D&D 5E [+] How can 5e best handle role playing outside of combat?

[Crimson Longinus]

This was the quote that caught my attention. Is everything not-combat in 5e, filler until the next fight comes along as this poster seem to suggest.

It removed pretty much anything not hack&slash related in its quest to become as accessible as possible after 4E nearly killed D&D, meaning that D&D will for the foreseeable future remain a RPG only focused on murdering things (see recent threads about killing in D&D) instead evolving into something more.

Can you have a meaningful, enjoyable, challenging (not necessarily risk of death) session in D&D without inserting CR/level appropriate fights. If so, are there any specific techniques or rules you would use to do so?

Have interesting situations for the players to explore, and interesting NPCs for them to interact with, frame situations that intersect with the beliefs, values and fears etc of the characters. It has very little to do with any rules.

Personally I find the idea that you must have detailed and fiddly rules for anything forth doing dumbfounding. I mean have you ever been in a LARP? There often isn't basically any mechanics at all, it is just people talking and acting as their characters. And look at the most famous D&D campaigns in the world, Critical Role. A large swathes of it is just people acting in character and immersing in the world.

 

[R_J_K75]

I am relatively sure said player says it to mean, knowing where you stand allows you to form reasonable expectations and making decisions based on those expectations is fun. Would you ever use water breathing to explore an underground city if the length of time it lasted was arbitrary or random?

Or to put it another way. If you have a set of rules, conditions and norms that take care of basic expectations, then you can concentrate on more interesting stuff.

Well said that makes alot more sense.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I'm still amazed after all that talk that people still confuse mechanical resolution of whatever (combat, skills, exploration, social interaction) with roleplaying (that definition is not universal, by the way, but it's a least wider than just participating in a roleplaying game, which is completely circular).

I don't think anyone is confused about this. It is merely that any discussion about D&D outside of combat drags a certain amount of unspoken baggage in with the original thread contention (although OP's later response indicates that they might have intended this to be part of the question to begin with). Also as TwoSix mentions, this is a constrained view of roleplaying.

So to expand the original question, which was obviously not as clear as I thought it was. Then I was on a plane to Madrid so couldn’t clarify!

This was the quote that caught my attention. Is everything not-combat in 5e, filler until the next fight comes along as this poster seem to suggest.

Can you have a meaningful, enjoyable, challenging (not necessarily risk of death) session in D&D without inserting CR/level appropriate fights. If so, are there any specific techniques or rules you would use to do so?

If your answer is “yes, obviously” but you don’t want to talk about the how, the thread probably isn’t for you.

If your answer is “no, 5e can only ever be improv outside of combat” then the thread also probably also isn’t for you.

@vincegetorix gets if. Thanks for that list. I’ve never seen plot points before. It sounds like something that could take roleplaying encounters to a new level of engagement.

I mean, being original poster does not let one control what goes into a thread, but I see your point. As to whether everything not-combat in 5e is filler until the next fight comes along, the simple answer is no (and it never has been). It just does not have as exhaustively defined a ruleset as as some-to-many would prefer. You still do the going and talking to people, learning about things, discovering that such and such a curse has become active (because the PCs broke a seal in such and such a dungeon) and now the dragons have gone mad and now one has to travel by ship to island X in search of lost library Y which holds the key to stopping the problem (or whatever else convoluted series of social, transit, discovery, and similar non-combat activities one chooses to find).

I think it heavelly depends on what you consider "meaningfull, enjoyable, challenging". I don't really like a heavy system for social interaction. I don't like to know that if a roll a X on this test I will get the result Y with the NPC, but I like there to be some parameters for how to do things. I like skill challenges from 4e, and think they translate well to 5e, and beyond using skills for sucesses I allor my players to spend spell slots (if they can explain how the spell would help in the challenge) to have successes.

I think skill challenge rules would be a good insert into 5e for those who want a more expansive skill resolution mechanic. I remember complaints about it at times in the 4e era, but less so than 3e skills.

I am relatively sure said player says it to mean, knowing where you stand allows you to form reasonable expectations and making decisions based on those expectations is fun. Would you ever use water breathing to explore an underground city if the length of time it lasted was arbitrary or random?

Or to put it another way. If you have a set of rules, conditions and norms that take care of basic expectations, then you can concentrate on more interesting stuff.

Another example might be the idea that the mechanics surrounding the 5e ranger actually makes the thing for which you would choose to play a ranger less interesting, instead of more.

 

[Fenris-77]

By roleplaying I’m referring to everything outside the cut and thrust of tactical combat. Maybe that’s lazy. I can amend the OP and clarify if people have a better suggestion.

This issue you're going to run into here is that lots of people also engage in what might fall under the term roleplaying while in combat. I know I do.

 

[Lyxen]

Can you have a meaningful, enjoyable, challenging (not necessarily risk of death) session in D&D without inserting CR/level appropriate fights. If so, are there any specific techniques or rules you would use to do so?

If your answer is “yes, obviously” but you don’t want to talk about the how, the thread probably isn’t for you.

Yes, obviously, we do it all the time, focussing on the story, the characters, the world, the background, and roleplaying around all that. It's usually as simple as setting up an intrigue and interesting NPCs (possibly in factions) for the players to interact with in various fashions. Most of the published adventures provide examples of this.

 

[HammerMan]

I'm not 100% sure what a + thread is so I hope what I am about to say is right....

I want more robust backgrounds. I LOVE the background features and wish they were more mechanic and less ribbon. and when i say mechanic I mean mostly social but a little exploration with only corner case maybe creative helpful in combat.

World of darkness used to have background traits like contacts, allies, mentor and some of the background features can be read to duplicate some of them. I just wish they were more. I also would take the 4e theme and give that some social and exploration abilities.

My biggest complaint is that 90% of social mechanic and exploration mechanic is hidden or ignored(by the system not the group). Where is it hidden/ignored... why in the spells.

I almost want a mechanic where I can turn spells into non magical abilities that do the same thing as the spell but is just extraordinary training and being a paragon of your race. Like a rouge getting pass without trace, or a fighter getting Jump.

edit: a smooth talker being able to apply the charmed condition if they make a persuasion roll high enough, a frighten condition with intimadate could round out the skills and really just duplicate what a wizard can do with a 1st level spell

heck make druidcraft and prestidigitation (okay maybe only half of each) into survival and sligh of hand

let a fighter change the course of a river to clean a stable

 

[Lyxen]

I don't think anyone is confused about this.

They certainly do a credible imitation, seeing the percentage of answers that have absolutely nothing to do with roleplay and focus on the mechanics (or absence thereof) instead.

I think skill challenge rules would be a good insert into 5e for those who want a more expansive skill resolution mechanic. I remember complaints about it at times in the 4e era, but less so than 3e skills.

Skill challenges don't work in 5e, because 5e has actual magic and powers that work outside combat but in a reasonable time fram e(i.e. not long rituals) and not only skills.

Also, this is still about mechanics, not about roleplay, which can come on top of mechanics but which do not require them at all.

 

[Bolares]

I remember complaints about it at times in the 4e era, but less so than 3e skills.

In the 4e era there were complains about everything. I can understand someone not liking skill challenges because they can feel a little to mechanic/robotic if the DM is not carefull and maleable in its aplication. But in my table it solves a lot of problems in a efficient and fun manner.

 

[Fenris-77]

In the 4e era there were complains about everything. I can understand someone not liking skill challenges because they can feel a little to mechanic/robotic if the DM is not carefull and maleable in its aplication. But in my table it solves a lot of problems in a efficient and fun manner.

Yup. I use something like skill challenges at my 5E table as well.

 

[Lyxen]

This issue you're going to run into here is that lots of people so engage in what might fall under the term roleplaying while in combat. I know I do.

Exactly, in our games, there is no specific "in combat" or "out of combat" toggle, roleplay happens all the time. You make combat decision based on roleplay for example, choosing who to help depending on affinities, attacking to kill or to render unconscious, letting survivors go or not, etc. And these are just a few examples.