D&D 5E What (if anything) do you find "wrong" with 5E?

[tetrasodium]

IMO I think its easy to make them required, and then give DMs options for how to run games with low to no magic items. It's a lot easier figuring out how to compensate your party with alternatives vs having to gamble on magic items breaking the game or not.

Which they don't. Seriously, I've ran campaigns where I said naughty word it and gave players a legendary item at times below 5th level and somehow the game still didn't break and no one cared lol.

We even have history of just that with darksun having a little sidebar about starting pcs with better stats since they won't be getting as much magic gear & might even be limited to crude stone/bone gear

 

[Maxperson]

IMO I think its easy to make them required, and then give DMs options for how to run games with low to no magic items. It's a lot easier figuring out how to compensate your party with alternatives vs having to gamble on magic items breaking the game or not.

I don't want to have to give the players alternatives to magic items, though. By baking them into the math, you must give the PCs something or else they are way behind the curve. I think it's better not to bake them in, but give lots of details to the DM on how they will affect balance.

Which they don't. Seriously, I've ran campaigns where I said naughty word it and gave players a legendary item at times below 5th level and somehow the game still didn't break and no one cared lol.

I totally agree. I've handed out some major items in this campaign and haven't had any issues. The party just hit 10th level and they have 2 items that would be considered artifacts by 5e, plus a few other items. What's interesting is that I have no problems in this campaign, but when I handed out weapons with +s, they went through like leveled encounters like butter. Magic weapons have much more impact than powerful items that have other types of abilities and spells.

 

[Shardstone]

I don't want to have to give the players alternatives to magic items, though. By baking them into the math, you must give the PCs something or else they are way behind the curve. I think it's better not to bake them in, but give lots of details to the DM on how they will affect balance.

I totally agree. I've handed out some major items in this campaign and haven't had any issues. The party just hit 10th level and they have 2 items that would be considered artifacts by 5e, plus a few other items. What's interesting is that I have no problems in this campaign, but when I handed out weapons with +s, they went through like leveled encounters like butter. Magic weapons have much more impact than powerful items that have other types of abilities and spells.

The alternatives could be something as small as gaining a skill prof with an ASI, starting with better stats, starting with assets like NPC backing or favors to other NPCs, and you could still just start with none of it at all, because running a game with no magic items ought to have harder combat then the default.

 

[Malmuria]

The point is to know exactly how much more powerful the magic items make your PCs.

If you design the game so a +1 items make your PCs equal to 2 levels higher, the DM know about how much stronger the group is and how much they need to up the obstacles/CR to challenge them.

5e unbake the magic item math but doesn't teach you to bake it back it and the different ways you can. So every DM is forced to feel it out blind.

It should be easy for them to do that with stat-increasing items or weapons/armor. But I don’t know that it’s really possible to exactly calculate the impact of boots of levitation or something similar. I think attunement works well enough to put a cap on how much extra power you can get from magic items. The way the items are classified (uncommon, rare, etc) could be a lot more consistent and clear for dms. The structure given in xanathars is helpful here but could be simplified further

 

[Oofta]

My friends and I gave 4th Edition a try, but all of us burst into flames.

Boy, talk about hyperbole! A little smoldering around the edges, some light charring? Sure, I can buy that. Actual flames? I think not!

 

[James Gasik]

Here's a hot take: maybe they shouldn't have had magic items that granted bonuses to hit or AC to mess with bounded accuracy. No stat increasing (or really, stat setting) items, no +1 swords or armor, just items that grant new abilities to their users.

I'm on the fence about weapons that add damage dice; I think these are ok, even though I know the game is actually balanced around damage vs. hit points. But we do have items that don't have bonuses that still do stuff, like Adamantine armor, Brooms of Flying, Wands and Staves that grant extra spells, and the like.

I really think the only reason we have +1 magic items is because....well....someone would say it doesn't feel like D&D if we didn't.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Boy, talk about hyperbole! A little smoldering around the edges, some light charring? Sure, I can buy that. Actual flames? I think not!

I remember getting burned, after a few adventures my skin peeled and I had a decent tan for a while.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Here's a hot take: maybe they shouldn't have had magic items that granted bonuses to hit or AC to mess with bounded accuracy. No stat increasing (or really, stat setting) items, no +1 swords or armor, just items that grant new abilities to their users.

I'm on the fence about weapons that add damage dice; I think these are ok, even though I know the game is actually balanced around damage vs. hit points. But we do have items that don't have bonuses that still do stuff, like Adamantine armor, Brooms of Flying, Wands and Staves that grant extra spells, and the like.

I really think the only reason we have +1 magic items is because....well....someone would say it doesn't feel like D&D if we didn't.

I kinda think it would feel less like D&D without at least +1 stuff.

Of course, there are an awful lot of kids on my lawn...

 

[tetrasodium]

Here's a hot take: maybe they shouldn't have had magic items that granted bonuses to hit or AC to mess with bounded accuracy. No stat increasing (or really, stat setting) items, no +1 swords or armor, just items that grant new abilities to their users.

I'm on the fence about weapons that add damage dice; I think these are ok, even though I know the game is actually balanced around damage vs. hit points. But we do have items that don't have bonuses that still do stuff, like Adamantine armor, Brooms of Flying, Wands and Staves that grant extra spells, and the like.

I really think the only reason we have +1 magic items is because....well....someone would say it doesn't feel like D&D if we didn't.

+dice elemental weapons served an important purpose the system no longer supports but they didn't change them to some other mechanic & just left them as is. Fixing the item or returning the mechanics needed for the Ole item to regain the function plus elemental dice weapons served needs to be fixed.

+n weapons & AR. Or are in a similar boat turned to eleven by the flat math of bounded accuracy & poor in combat healing support

 

[Lanefan]

I don't want to have to give the players alternatives to magic items, though. By baking them into the math, you must give the PCs something or else they are way behind the curve.

So let them be behind the curve. You can then run them through slightly-lower-level adventures to compensate, and thus spin your campaign out a bit longer.