D&D General 5.5 and making the game easier for players and harder for DMs

[overgeeked]

I mean, if you're not going through a ream of character sheets, are you even really playing D&D? It's kinda like riding a mechanical bull; you're going to lose eventually but the goal is to hold on for as long as you can.

Mothership has a box for the player's high score. The high score tracks the longest run of sessions one of your characters survived. That's pitch perfect for me.

 

[Remathilis]

Mothership has a box for the player's high score. The high score tracks the longest run of sessions one of your characters survived. That's pitch perfect for me.

Meh. If I wanted to play an endless maze game where a nameless toon kills things until they die, I'd fire up Gauntlet. Video games already handle that style of play better than any TTRPG. I play RPGs to make my own characters and settings.

 

[Chaltab]

Mothership has a box for the player's high score. The high score tracks the longest run of sessions one of your characters survived. That's pitch perfect for me.

That would be relevant in a Mothership thread.

 

[overgeeked]

Meh. If I wanted to play an endless maze game where a nameless toon kills things until they die, I'd fire up Gauntlet. Video games already handle that style of play better than any TTRPG. I play RPGs to make my own characters and settings.

Likewise, if I wanted to read endless Mary Sue fanfic I'd go back to being an editor. I don't play RPGs to read other people's terrible fanfic. I play RPGs to have fun with friends, be surprised by the dice, and play to find out what happens. If the basic premise of the game is the PCs are never in danger and always win...well, that's not much of a game.

 

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

I mean...Yes at first glance and hearing the videos, it does sound like they are making the DM's job far harder...but they are only talking about the Players Handbook. At first I thought the same thing, I was pissed at how much harder they were making DMing and it was really disheartening, but then I remembered that they are redoing the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual. So I don't know, or think really, that it's fair to say that they are making this game far easier than it already is. For the record, I played first growing up, so compared to first, 5th is FAR easier to me lol.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don’t see how PCs being more powerful and more survivable makes the DMs job harder. The DM’s job isn’t to kill the PCs.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah... 'harder for the DM' to do... what exactly?

 

[Demetrios1453]

How can this be judged until we at least know more about what's in the DMG and MM?

 

[Chaltab]

If there is one thing i hate as a DM it's feeling like the PCs are frail and will crumple like paper if I try to challenge them, so I generally don't mind these changes.

 

[MerricB]

Yeah... 'harder for the DM' to do... what exactly?

Most of the "harder for the DM" complaints I've had have been about a few more things to keep track of while running the game. Weapon Mastery in particular means a lot of characters will end up inflicting status effects.

"More mechanics for the players" making the game slow down is also a potential issue. More things you can do on your turn can lead to slower play.

(I haven't listened to Mike's podcast, but I've felt he's been on a similar wavelength).

As far as monsters vs. PC balance - well, we don't know yet. But 5E has been famous for overestimating how tough monsters are in their CR ratings (and in the balance of encounters in recent adventures). But for the majority of DMs, we adapt or we use monsters from Kobold Press or similar sources.

Sending an Ancient Red Dragon against first level PCs is not good for the PCs in any edition.

Cheers,
Merric