I'm reminded of Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, where the old well is infested with throat leeches on the off chance someone might think to drink the water...
D&D General Is power creep bad?
I recently decided to give it a nice hard look and I think it may solve many of the issues I have developed with 5E, too, for what it may be worth.
I'm still waiting for in person play to resume in my area, and I expected everyone to want to continue to play 5e, so I hadn't looked into yet. Selling people on new systems "when we already have all the books" is so much FUN!
Vaalingrade
Legend
Which is why I don't trust them.
This. The first time a DM uses earseekers (and the like), I laugh and consider it a nostalgic blast from the past. The second time? I simply don't have enough free time to enjoy that playstyle anymore, and it will prompt a conversation with the DM about playstyle that may or may not see me leaving for faster paced games. Not because the DM did anything wrong, but because I have no time.It also tells me not to trust anything in the setting, and to check everything twice. It's a slow and patient style of play that doesn't suit some these days, but there it is; and if that's what the DM gives you and you don't check everything twice, on (or off!) your head be it.
Shardstone
Hero
Bringing up Level Drain in 2022 is about as close to a bad faith argument as you can get without actually being in bad faith.
No one in my generation of D&D players, that is, 5E gives any thought whatsoever to the concept of Level Drain. It is so horribly outdated and irrelevant that it pretty much only exists so that people over the age of 35-40 can talk about how stupid of an idea it was 50 years after the fact.
As for Power Creep and what that means in 2022, what has to be remembered is that TTRPGs are not video games. The search for truly perfect balance is a mistake, because only a niche crowd cares about actual super-rigid balance. Most people want to have a fair chance at winning, want to have moments to feel cool, and want to feel like they contribute to the success of the adventuring party. Power Creep only explicitly matters in two ways then:
If the answer to those remains yes, then Power Creep hasn't happened, all that's happened is an exercise in showing you the upper bound of what a character can do before the system breaks. And Twilight Cleric, though very powerful, does not outright break the system. It outshines each other cleric no better then how Battlemaster or Totem Warrior or College of Lore do their peers. For what its worth, most Cleric subclasses are dirt weak btw. Having some that are actually good is by no means a forewarning to the system going crazy with power creep.
Finally, just to say this, starting with 1 bonus feat and gaining a feat at 4th is the most anemic example of Power Creep I could imagine. The system culd already handle that. People have played this way in my circles both online and in person for years. If anything, the vast majority of power creep examples are actually just people who think the system is so fragile that 3 extra damage a round, or hitting one more time over the course of 5 rounds is significant to the majority of tables. Spoiler: its not.
No one in my generation of D&D players, that is, 5E gives any thought whatsoever to the concept of Level Drain. It is so horribly outdated and irrelevant that it pretty much only exists so that people over the age of 35-40 can talk about how stupid of an idea it was 50 years after the fact.
As for Power Creep and what that means in 2022, what has to be remembered is that TTRPGs are not video games. The search for truly perfect balance is a mistake, because only a niche crowd cares about actual super-rigid balance. Most people want to have a fair chance at winning, want to have moments to feel cool, and want to feel like they contribute to the success of the adventuring party. Power Creep only explicitly matters in two ways then:
- Do different players have a massive gap in their overall capabilities?
- Are there challenging monsters and other obstacles that you can quickly reference to throw at the players?
If the answer to those remains yes, then Power Creep hasn't happened, all that's happened is an exercise in showing you the upper bound of what a character can do before the system breaks. And Twilight Cleric, though very powerful, does not outright break the system. It outshines each other cleric no better then how Battlemaster or Totem Warrior or College of Lore do their peers. For what its worth, most Cleric subclasses are dirt weak btw. Having some that are actually good is by no means a forewarning to the system going crazy with power creep.
Finally, just to say this, starting with 1 bonus feat and gaining a feat at 4th is the most anemic example of Power Creep I could imagine. The system culd already handle that. People have played this way in my circles both online and in person for years. If anything, the vast majority of power creep examples are actually just people who think the system is so fragile that 3 extra damage a round, or hitting one more time over the course of 5 rounds is significant to the majority of tables. Spoiler: its not.
Is this the modern D&D version of "Ok, Boomer"?
Shardstone
Hero
Yes.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
What an extraordinarily judgemental point of view.
Zubatcarteira
Now you're infected by the Musical Doodle
Power creep on a system as a whole is probably a bad idea. On certain specific underwhelming options, it should be fine if they're just making it more in line with the other stuff.
For 5e in particular, you'll have a hard time making stuff more op than what the PHB already has.
For 5e in particular, you'll have a hard time making stuff more op than what the PHB already has.
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