D&D General How has D&D changed over the decades?

[Fifth Element]

Yeah, I booted +X everything from the game.

If it doesn't do anything interesting, it's not magic.

Nothing has ever disappointed me more than getting a +Numbers item when I could have gotten one that does anything at all in-universe.

I like to have both available. Some players aren't interested in having to keep track of even more things they can do, so prefer to just have a bonus added to their die roll to do a thing they know they can already do.

 

[billd91]

But as the poster below this indicates, for many people its not so fine; its boring. Its just numbers.

So? The game’s big enough for them and for players/DMs who have a use for things to be “just numbers”.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The third or fourth Frost Brand or Flame Tongue would be boring too, wouldn't it? I don't think I've ever had had a party that wasn't excited (or at least happy) about their first +1 item. The second ones for each character are another story. Same for first big-plus item.

I think there's some residual effect for a lot of people, though; the first time they get a +1 item in the campaign isn't the first time they've ever seen one, after all, unless its their first campaign. It at least takes a lot of campaigns before you've seen enough Flame Tongues they've become old hat.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I like to have both available. Some players aren't interested in having to keep track of even more things they can do, so prefer to just have a bonus added to their die roll to do a thing they know they can already do.

While absolutely true, they aren't the people who are liable to get excited about either.

 

[Thomas Shey]

So? The game’s big enough for them and for players/DMs who have a use for things to be “just numbers”.

So the point is some people are just not going to be excited about things with a plus. What more point do I need to be making?

 

[billd91]

So the point is some people are just not going to be excited about things with a plus. What more point do I need to be making?

So those players can give all their so boring/just numbers items to the players who want them and get on with their busybody lives.

 

[Cadence]

I think there's some residual effect for a lot of people, though; the first time they get a +1 item in the campaign isn't the first time they've ever seen one, after all, unless its their first campaign. It at least takes a lot of campaigns before you've seen enough Flame Tongues they've become old hat.

I wonder if I'm mixing "excited as a player to see a +1 item" and "excited as a player to have this character who can really use one see a +1 item". I would believe many I'm classing as the later aren't the former.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah, there's a difference between 'this is an exciting and interesting thing to interact with' and 'oh thank god, I finally got something that makes me slightly more competent in the face of a game math that makes my character feel constantly incompetent'.

I guess I finally found a 'positive' to bounded accuracy. It makes +X trash slightly more of a boon to get.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, there's a difference between 'this is an exciting and interesting thing to interact with' and 'oh thank god, I finally got something that makes me slightly more competent in the face of a game math that makes my character feel constantly incompetent'.

I guess I finally found a 'positive' to bounded accuracy. It makes +X trash slightly more of a boon to get.

How the heck does the game math of 5e make any character feel constantly incompetent?

 

[Vaalingrade]

How the heck does the game math of 5e make any character feel constantly incompetent?

Numbers low. Fail lots. Get hit constantly. Dice clearly in charge.