D&D 5E "The so-called '5-Minute Workday' is Something I've Seen Regularly Playing 5E D&D" (a poll)

[Asisreo]

Who the heck do you play with? Like, every time I hear you talk about player behaviors you’ve seen, it sounds like an r/RPGhorrorstories post I wouldn’t believe if I read it there.

If I were to fashion a guess, I'd say they play online.

In the nicest way possible: people online are rather annoying to DM because they often lie about what they're okay with just to join a game and their behavior is a few pegs short of rabid primates whenever they don't get their way.

That's why I pretty much quit online DM'ing.

 

[Charlaquin]

If I were to fashion a guess, I'd say they play online.

In the nicest way possible: people online are rather annoying to DM because they often lie about what they're okay with just to join a game and their behavior is a few pegs short of rabid primates whenever they don't get their way.

Which is bizarre, like… I get wanting to get into a game, but why bother if you know the game isn’t going to be run in a way you’re cool with?

That's why I pretty much quit online DM'ing.

Yeah, I haven’t attempted to look for groups online for fear of similar behavior.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Which is bizarre, like… I get wanting to get into a game, but why bother if you know the game isn’t going to be run in a way you’re cool with?

Yeah, I haven’t attempted to look for groups online for fear of similar behavior.

I've had plenty of success with online groups. But you gotta be willing to cut bad/disruptive players. If you don't, the good players will cut themselves. Don't worry about finding someone to fill the gap, and keep churning until you get a solid group. My longest-running group is over seven years, and another is over 6. But it took a couple months of one-shots to get those groups rolling.

I do recommend playing one-shots to screen rather than interviews/questionnaires. The best way to see what playing with someone is like is to play with them.

 

[Luceilia]

I don't see the point of inventing a new term for what is essentially exactly the same problem ("full casters get all the resources they'll ever get for the day all at once, and can thus blow through them really really fast and demand a rest, before the other types of classes get the chance to 'catch up' to that level of impact.")

Hilariously, getting rid of short rests in favor of long rests (the suspected plan for 5.5) does absolutely nothing to resolve this lol.

I've actually started to dabble in homebrew to do the opposite for my own games. Pulling back full caster spells and setting everyone to either 'per encounter or 'at will.'

Currently for full casters it's 2 cantrip slots (ala 3E, but stronger and with some scaling) and 1 spell slot gained of the highest level they can cast gained at each character level. So 1: 0/0/1 | 2: 0/0/1/1 | 3: 0/0/1/1/2 etc

Only playtested it a little, but so far it's working well.

EDIT: To clarify, spellcasters don't instantly regain their spells but I don't have a short rest mechanic sorted out either. Since nobody's asked to play a spontaneous caster yet, I've just been rolling with 1 minute to prepare a spell + 1 minute per level of the spell. (0=1, 1 =2 etc)

 

[iserith]

Which is bizarre, like… I get wanting to get into a game, but why bother if you know the game isn’t going to be run in a way you’re cool with?

Yeah, I haven’t attempted to look for groups online for fear of similar behavior.

Gaming online since 2011, often with random pick-up groups. While occasionally I would see the typical D&D nerd annoying behaviors, I can only think of 1 person in all that time who pitched a fit about getting knocked unconscious. That was during the D&D 5e playtest. Nobody that I've gamed with has complained about optional, variant, or house rules, even when I had to remind them during play that something wasn't legal or couldn't be done in a game with those rules.

So either I'm exceedingly lucky or maybe there's something else going on. All that to say, don't let it keep you from trying online DMing!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Hilariously, getting rid of short rests in favor of long rests (the suspected plan for 5.5) does absolutely nothing to resolve this lol.

I've actually started to dabble in homebrew to do the opposite for my own games. Pulling back full caster spells and setting everyone to either 'per encounter or 'at will.'

Currently for full casters it's 2 cantrip slots (ala 3E, but stronger and with some scaling) and 1 spell slot gained of the highest level they can cast gained at each character level. So 1: 0/0/1 | 2: 0/0/1/1 | 3: 0/0/1/1/2 etc

Only playtested it a little, but so far it's working well.

EDIT: To clarify, spellcasters don't instantly regain their spells but I don't have a short rest mechanic sorted out either. Since nobody's asked to play a spontaneous caster yet, I've just been rolling with 1 minute to prepare a spell + 1 minute per level of the spell. (0=1, 1 =2 etc)

Well, if they make it so (frex) Battle Masters can recharge their Superiority Dice with a five-minute exercise PB times per day, then it will close some of the gap. Not all of it by any means, but some, and "fix some of the problem but not all of it" is kind of 5e's manifesto. Concentration fixes some of the problem of magic being OP, but not all of it. Reduced spell slots (relative to 3e) and no automatic scaling reduces some of the "linear fighter, quadratic wizard" problems, but not all of them. Feats/ASIs being tied to class level, plus ability score prerequisites, fixes some of the problems with a la carté multiclassing, but not all of them.

(This doesn't touch on the new problems 5e created, of course, like the "you fall behind on 4 of 6 saving throws so attacks based on saves are too powerful" problem, or the Ghoul Surprise, or the lack of design purpose behind most subclasses leading to many of them being super weak, e.g. Champion, Berserker, Beast Master, Four Elements, etc., and a few being excessively strong, e.g. Twilight, Moon at certain levels, Hexblade, etc.)

 

[Hussar]

If I were to fashion a guess, I'd say they play online.

In the nicest way possible: people online are rather annoying to DM because they often lie about what they're okay with just to join a game and their behavior is a few pegs short of rabid primates whenever they don't get their way.

That's why I pretty much quit online DM'ing.

Wow.

I’ve gamed over vtt for twenty years and, of course, I’ve seen the odd asshat but nothing even remotely close to this.

My experience with online play is nothing like what you’ve described.

 

[overgeeked]

I've switched to the alternate rest rules, but even before then I didn't have a problem limiting people to more than 1 or 2 short rests per day. As far as 4E, that was a different game, different rules.

I’m curious about this. Which alternate rules are you using? Gritty Realism?

 

[overgeeked]

If I were to fashion a guess, I'd say they play online.

Mostly, yes. Since the pandemic, exclusively.

In the nicest way possible: people online are rather annoying to DM because they often lie about what they're okay with just to join a game and their behavior is a few pegs short of rabid primates whenever they don't get their way.

I feel that.

That's why I pretty much quit online DM'ing.

I am right there with you.

Which is bizarre, like… I get wanting to get into a game, but why bother if you know the game isn’t going to be run in a way you’re cool with?

I honestly wish I knew.

I've had plenty of success with online groups. But you gotta be willing to cut bad/disruptive players. If you don't, the good players will cut themselves. Don't worry about finding someone to fill the gap, and keep churning until you get a solid group.

This is spot on advice. My trouble was it was an endless stream of disruptive players.

I do recommend playing one-shots to screen rather than interviews/questionnaires. The best way to see what playing with someone is like is to play with them.

Absolutely. No one’s going to admit to throwing the controller when they lose, but it’s important to know.

 

[Oofta]

I’m curious about this. Which alternate rules are you using? Gritty Realism?

Yeah, short rest is overnight long rest is a week.

Works better for my style of game.