Level Up (A5E) A5E First Impressions

[Tessarael]

The "rule of cool" and "yes, you can" style of DMing is a lot of fun. Nice to see that you're applying it with A5E. It gets a little frustrating with D&D being pigeon-holed into using skills a certain way. The narrative explanations that you gave are nice.

 

[Retreater]

They're still not getting the hang of skills. Ultimately, I think for my own sanity I'm going to default to the 2014 way of doing things just so they can write clear numbers on their character sheets.
Every single time we make a die roll, it's "what's my bonus? do I get proficiency on this? do I get to add my ability score bonus? what if I have a save proficiency on Wis saves - do I get a skill proficiency bonus on Wis checks?" It's literally every time we roll dice.
No one considered using a Combat Maneuver in the first session they had them. I wonder if these will be used at all.

 

[Morrus]

They're still not getting the hang of skills.

I gotta admit I find that fact bewildering! Definitely don’t let them play WOIN ever!

 

[Retreater]

I gotta admit I find that fact bewildering! Definitely don’t let them play WOIN ever!

I agree. I think that the simplicity of the concept is affecting my ability to explain it.

 

[BalefulDM]

Maybe shadowdark is more their speed?

 

[Chaltab]

I agree. I think that the simplicity of the concept is affecting my ability to explain it.

It sounds to me like they're essentially asking 'which button do I press', but in general that's your decision. The players should be telling you what they want to do like "I flex my muscles to make him think twice about coming at me" or "I'm going to blend into the crowd and act very casual", and the Narrator should then say "Okay, that's a Strength (Intimidation) check." or "In that case, roll a Charisma check and you can add Stealth proficiency if you have it."

 

[Retreater]

Maybe shadowdark is more their speed?

Maybe. They've been hesitant to try OSR games and were really wanting something with tactical play and a lot of options. I talked them back from Pathfinder 2 to play A5E as a compromise.

 

[Tessarael]

My suggestion would be for the players to pre-specify which ability they intend to use by default with a skill, and write the corresponding total down on their character sheet. Silly stuff should be disallowed, but obvious combinations like Strength modifier + Intimidate for example should be fine.

As a DM, I'd be inclined to allow any of the following by default:

• Acrobatics - Dexterity or Strength modifier
• Animal Handling - Charisma or Wisdom modifier
• Arcana - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Athletics - Dexterity or Strength modifier
• Culture - Intelligence of Wisdom modifier
• Deception - Charisma or Intelligence modifier
• Engineering - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• History - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Insight - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Intimidate - Charisma or Strength modifier
• Medicine - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Nature - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Perception - Constitution or Wisdom modifier
• Performance - Dexterity or Charisma modifier
• Persuasion - Charisma or Wisdom modifier
• Religion - Intelligence or Wisdom modifier
• Sleight of Hand - Charisma or Dexterity modifier
• Stealth - Constitution or Dexterity modifier
• Survival - Constitution or Wisdom modifier

Specifying this ahead of time, opens up some options for some alternate character builds. You don't necessarily have to have a high Dexterity character to be good at Stealth, you could take advantage of your higher Constitution, your stamina helping you keep your breathing quiet and remaining still.

One of the problems with 5E D&D was that certain abilities were key for skills, particularly Charisma, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom. There is an advantage of being to write down the skill + ability modifier total to roll with, but that can be achieved while allowing more flexibility as in A5E. I will note that the virtual table top that I use, Fantasy Grounds, while it allows you to switch ability modifier to apply to a skill, has certain defaults, so ideally best to adjust that outside of the main game play to speed things up.

 

[Selganor]

They're still not getting the hang of skills. Ultimately, I think for my own sanity I'm going to default to the 2014 way of doing things just so they can write clear numbers on their character sheets.
Every single time we make a die roll, it's "what's my bonus? do I get proficiency on this? do I get to add my ability score bonus? what if I have a save proficiency on Wis saves - do I get a skill proficiency bonus on Wis checks?" It's literally every time we roll dice.
No one considered using a Combat Maneuver in the first session they had them. I wonder if these will be used at all.

What character sheet are you using? If there's a list of all the skills may mark proficiency better (either with a text marker, underlining the skill name, ...) so they know that those marks allow them their PB.
If they are "used" to skills being close to certain attributes maybe group them at those attributes but keep their minds open by calling for unusual rolls (like Strength(Stealth) for opening a heavy door silently)
As for Combat Maneuvers: Maybe giving them "Maneuver Cards" and giving them poker chips or other markers for their exertion points could help showing the group that these exist?

 

[Retreater]

What character sheet are you using?

The "official, plain" character sheet: https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...f3930/1635006238699/Level_Up_CharSheet_BW.pdf