D&D 5E Why my friends hate talking to me about 5e.

[lingual]

My DM made it so "bloodied" (under half HP) would add a level of exhaustion until you weren't bloodied anymore.

He also doubled the dice of healing spells.

Haven't been in a lot of combats. But it seems good for now. Definitely reduces yo-yo healing and increases the value of in-combat healing. It may affect martials more than others. We shall see how it plays out.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Of course, retreating in of itself is not a guarantee. You can't just say "ah, my house rule to make players more likely to want to retreat" will result in their ability to do so.

I probably brought this point up in this thread already, but I'm too lazy to check. It's something I have to say a lot, because I see a lot of "just run then!" comments on this forum.

But unless you have the ability to actually slow your enemies down, how can you run? You withdraw. They can follow you. Some enemies are faster than you. Some have ranged attacks they can use.

Most enemies are not likely to go "oh look, those guys who attacked us are running away, great, let's let them go and hope they never come back" unless they are in as bad shape as the players.

retreating is not viable in 5e unless you have a teleport of some kind and/or Invisability/sight blocking

just town guard... 3 gaurds and 3 PCs are in melee range... the PCs use there action to disengage (no attack of op) and then move 30ft. the guards then move 30ft and are in melee and attack again... all the PCs did was give up an attack

 

[Crimson Longinus]

retreating is not viable in 5e unless you have a teleport of some kind and/or Invisability/sight blocking

just town guard... 3 gaurds and 3 PCs are in melee range... the PCs use there action to disengage (no attack of op) and then move 30ft. the guards then move 30ft and are in melee and attack again... all the PCs did was give up an attack

Disengage is useless most of the time. Just eat the OA and dash. Though sure, fleeing is annoyingly hard.

 

[Medic]

retreating is not viable in 5e unless you have a teleport of some kind and/or Invisability/sight blocking

just town guard... 3 gaurds and 3 PCs are in melee range... the PCs use there action to disengage (no attack of op) and then move 30ft. the guards then move 30ft and are in melee and attack again... all the PCs did was give up an attack

All right, I'm going to be that person. People don't just dive into encounters without any contingencies, right? No caltrops or ball bearings to drop while running, no grease or web spells prepared? Nobody scoped out the area, saw that ogre boiling elf bones in a pot, and wisely told everyone else "There's no way we're fighting that thing at level 1! Let's get out of here!"

These aren't high-level solutions. A bag of 1,000 ball bearings costs a mere 1 gp and it can save your life!

 

[James Gasik]

We did just have a big thread about this, ja? There is a procedure, but how to transition from combat to it is apparently left up to the DM's discretion. I agree that if DMs want players retreating to be a tactic players use, we need to make sure they're aware it's an option and make sure the odds are reasonable.

D&D General - Run Away!

If players act that way it's the DM's fault. They think the DM won't kill their PC. Probably because they never do. Kill a few. They'll learn and start to run. These folks have been playing with me for years -- decades in some cases. They know. Yet here we are.

www.enworld.org

I know that thread exists, and this is a discussion that's come up in other threads, but since it was being talked about here, I assumed that some people didn't read that thread, lol.

 

[Charlaquin]

just town guard... 3 gaurds and 3 PCs are in melee range... the PCs use there action to disengage (no attack of op) and then move 30ft. the guards then move 30ft and are in melee and attack again... all the PCs did was give up an attack

Bad strategy for a retreat. Either dash, or even better, shove the target to knock them prone so they have to use half their movement standing up and can’t keep up with you. Yes, you risk one opportunity attack as you move away. Better that than give them the chance to use their action to multiattack, or target you with a ranged attack or something.

 

[James Gasik]

All right, I'm going to be that person. People don't just dive into encounters without any contingencies, right? No caltrops or ball bearings to drop while running, no grease or web spells prepared? Nobody scoped out the area, saw that ogre boiling elf bones in a pot, and wisely told everyone else "There's no way we're fighting that thing at level 1! Let's get out of here!"

These aren't high-level solutions. A bag of 1,000 ball bearings costs a mere 1 gp and it can save your life!

Spell slots devoted to running away might be the answer. But if you're running away, do you have those resources to work with?

As for ball bearings and caltrops, I'm not sure how useful those are since they take an action to cover a 5' square. Unless you're saying people should spread them before they get into a fight to possibly cover a retreat?

That might work for some battles, but not sure about spreading them all over a dungeon.

 

[Charlaquin]

All right, I'm going to be that person. People don't just dive into encounters without any contingencies, right? No caltrops or ball bearings to drop while running, no grease or web spells prepared? Nobody scoped out the area, saw that ogre boiling elf bones in a pot, and wisely told everyone else "There's no way we're fighting that thing at level 1! Let's get out of here!"

These aren't high-level solutions. A bag of 1,000 ball bearings costs a mere 1 gp and it can save your life!

These are the sorts of things you think about when you play in a game where you regularly need to retreat. But when you’re used to a game where every fight is to the death and the PCs are pretty much expected to win every time? No, you’re not really thinking about contingencies, and you’re certainly not packing ball bearings or caltrops.

 

[Charlaquin]

Spell slots devoted to running away might be the answer. But if you're running away, do you have those resources to work with?

If you’re planning ahead, yeah, you should. You’ve got to have a plan for how to get out of the dungeon safely, which probably means turning back while you still have the resources you’ll need to get you to town. You can’t just bring enough fuel to get you where you’re going, you need enough to get you back home too.

As for ball bearings and caltrops, I'm not sure how useful those are since they take an action to cover a 5' square. Unless you're saying people should spread them before they get into a fight to possibly cover a retreat?

That’s an option, yeah. Or having a thief rogue who can use items as a bonus action in the party. Or both.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

All right, I'm going to be that person. People don't just dive into encounters without any contingencies, right?

I guess it depends... I would say 1/3 of the time the PCs can set the ground work and have advantages and pick teh battle field, and the other 2/3 of the time they mostly happen where and when they happen...

No caltrops or ball bearings to drop while running,

since that is a 5ft sq of terrain the bad guys can dance around them unless you are in a 5ft hallway... not very helpful (unless all the PCs are useing multi actions to cover an area)

no grease or web spells prepared?

yes Spell as usuale are the answer... but if you can web the enemy you don't need to run from them

Nobody scoped out the area, saw that ogre boiling elf bones in a pot, and wisely told everyone else "There's no way we're fighting that thing at level 1! Let's get out of here!"

if they had there would be no reason to disengage... I would not call that "an encounter to run from" as much as "flavor text we went around" so not much help... if you are already in melee

These aren't high-level solutions. A bag of 1,000 ball bearings costs a mere 1 gp and it can save your life!

if you are in a 5ft hallway or smaller