D&D 5E 2024 D&D is 2014 D&D with 4E sprinkled on top

[Scribe]

this post was going so well for me and then that final paragraph came along, i don't know why martials can't just be the farmer's kid who came from the long line of ordinary folk and still be extraordinary and influential without the crutch of the supernatural coming along to justify how they manage at higher levels.

They can be. Just dont expect them to do things that break the laws of reality.

Simone Biles is extraordinary, influential, and physically does things 99.% of the people on this planet would never do.

Hell, the number of men who have lifted 500KG, can be counted within history on one hand. Thats pretty extraordinary.

I mean seriously folks, watch Sports. The things our species is able to do, can blow your mind.

I read the other day, there is a group that has adapted to living on the water, and specifically free diving. They can stay under water for up to 10 minutes.

The dismissive attitude about people just wanting Gym Bro Fighters, just isnt it. Look at top level athletes. Now increase it JUST A BIT, and give them Magic Items.

That's all it takes.

 

[Remathilis]

This posted to my YouTube. Seemed appropriate here.

 

[Scribe]

 

[Hussar]

Heh. It always does seem that the ever shifting goal post of what is considered "mundane" tends to depend on whatever point someone is trying to make. If Batman is mundane, then, why are things like flight, massive damage reduction and encounter ending abilities off the table. Batman stares at bad guys and they surrender and give up all their information. Batman can dodge Darkseid's Omega Beams. Batman can be falling, shoot a grapple and stop dead without ripping his arm out of the socket. On and on. And all that is considered "mundane".

But a fighter jumping 35 feet? Oh, that needs magic.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

The dismissive attitude about people just wanting Gym Bro Fighters, just isnt it.

Except that it is.

Things that should be completely mundane activities have been transmuted into spells in 5e. It really, truly IS the case that a number of people--not you, obviously, but plenty of folks out there--refuse to accept that there are things achievable in real life that they repeatedly reject as impossible or unrealistic within the game. Their standard for the top end of human physical achievement has jack-all to do with what humans can actually do with natural talent and rigorous training, and everything to do with only very slightly expanding beyond what either they personally are capable of doing, or what they've personally seen another person doing, usually in the context of a gym or other physical exercise context.

Like...firing enough arrows to hit a handful of targets at once? Not that big a deal, we have IRL archers who can fire three, four, even five arrows in a 6-second period if they've got the arrows readily accessible (e.g. holding them between their fingers). But according to 5e, that's so fantastical, it has to be transmuted into hail of thorns.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Except that it is.

Things that should be completely mundane activities have been transmuted into spells in 5e. It really, truly IS the case that a number of people--not you, obviously, but plenty of folks out there--refuse to accept that there are things achievable in real life that they repeatedly reject as impossible or unrealistic within the game. Their standard for the top end of human physical achievement has jack-all to do with what humans can actually do with natural talent and rigorous training, and everything to do with only very slightly expanding beyond what either they personally are capable of doing, or what they've personally seen another person doing, usually in the context of a gym or other physical exercise context.

Like...firing enough arrows to hit a handful of targets at once? Not that big a deal, we have IRL archers who can fire three, four, even five arrows in a 6-second period if they've got the arrows readily accessible (e.g. holding them between their fingers). But according to 5e, that's so fantastical, it has to be transmuted into hail of thorns.

I've never heard anyone say the sort of things you're saying you routinely hear, and even if it were true, it is a relatively matter to adjust spells and class abilities to more accurately model what mundane people can actually do, or failing that find a version out there that comes closer to what you want.

 

[Scribe]

Except that it is.

I go to the Gym, I see guys who have been going for years.

None of them are deadlifting 500 KG.

 

[Scribe]

But according to 5e, that's so fantastical, it has to be transmuted into hail of thorns.

Maybe you need to come to grips with the fact 5e just isnt that good.

 

[Zardnaar]

@EzekielRaiden meant to ask how much 4E you've played since say 2012?

I played 2E 1995-2000 so I didn't burn out on it like 3E or 10+ years of 5E.

I've got 3 games on the boil ones C&C to break up the monotony. Doing 2E once C&C wraps up.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

@EzekielRaiden meant to ask how much 4E you've played since say 2012?

I played 2E 1995-2000 so I didn't burn out on it like 3E or 10+ years of 5E.

I've got 3 games on the boil ones C&C to break up the monotony. Doing 2E once C&C wraps up.

One campaign meant to be a long-runner, but the DM had to stop because of an extremely serious family matter that was much more important than continuing to run that game. One of the best DMs I've ever had, with a great group. That was back in 2014; the rest below happened after this.

Three single-adventure campaigns. One I had hoped might run longer, but the DM felt called to political activism at the time and thus felt he couldn't continue focusing on D&D stuff. The second was one I had personally pulled together from various people on forums I was a member of, but sadly that group didn't gel together and we split as soon as that first adventure ended, probably for the best. Third was a lighthearted parody run by @MichaelSomething for some folks here on ENWorld.

Three attempts that never fully took off. One was a PbP game that had some players ghost midway through, one was a Gardmore Abbey game that didn't end up working out a few weeks in, and one had the only 4e DM I've ever had that I did not actually get along with, so I chose to bow out.

When I say I really, truly tried to find a long-runner 4e game, I meant it. I've intentionally avoided spoilers for Zeitgeist, for example, even if it's over a decade old now, because there's always the chance that I might find a 4e group interested in it.