D&D 5E (2024) Mike Mearls explains why your boss monsters die too easily

[Micah Sweet]

Maybe. A lot of the optional rules are gone. I think it has more to do with space issues than with player priorities.

Space issues? What did they put in instead?

 

[Staffan]

That bold bit seems a bit off the mark though. The push there is to ensure that the GM has no meaningful say other than railroading levels of fiat.

To me it's also a matter of balancing an encounter without having to worry about the next four.

The attack roll is gone. Both monsters and PCs always hit successfully. Instead you have a power roll that determines which of your abilities are available. You can always use an ability that needed a lower roll if you roll high but not the other way around if you roll high.

Each class has some kind of class specific resource used to power their abilities in combat (usually kinda free outside combat). Those resources are gained by doing things that fit the class theme and such so you tend to get more of your resource by playing your character and being awesome. The GM ALSO has a resource called Malice, iirc it's one per player each round of combat and it can be used for a bunch of stuff in combat.

I think you're confusing your terms here. In Draw Steel, the Power roll is the stand-in for the attack roll, and is 2d10+one of your stats – your class-relevant stats will usually start at 2 and go up as you level up. It can have three different outcomes (or four counting crits), conveniently named Tier 1, 2, and 3. Attacks always do hit, but deal different damage depending on tier outcome, and can also have different special effects. For example, the Fury ability "Impaled!" has these outcomes:
≤11: 2 + M damage; M < WEAK, grabbed
12-16: 5 + M damage; M < AVERAGE, grabbed
17+: 7 + M damage; M < STRONG, grabbed

So on a bad roll, you deal 5+M (your Might score) damage, and if the enemy has Might less than your "Weak" potency they are grabbed. That's not where you want to be, but at least you didn't waste your turn. On a middling roll you deal 5+M damage and grab them if they have Might less than your Average potency. On a great roll, that's 7+Might damage and grabbing if they have Might less than your Strong potency. On a crit (natural 19-20) you get a tier 3 result and also get another action. Those intervals are the same for every ability so you'll quickly get used to them.

What you're thinking of is probably the d3 roll (for some classes, others have a fixed 2) at the start of your turn to gain resources.

Potencies are what Draw Steel uses instead of saving throws for attack riders. Your Strong potency is equal to your class's main stat (so Might for a Fury), and the Average and Weak are that -1 and -2. So in this case, a tier 1 result grabs opponents with Might less than 0, tier 2 less than 1, and tier 3 less than 2.

 

[mamba]

Space issues? What did they put in instead?

art, larger font, Greyhawk, bastions

 

[Mort]

Maybe. A lot of the optional rules are gone. I think it has more to do with space issues than with player priorities.

At the end of the day, it's usually about space issues, pretty hard to fit everything in. WoTC picked a side. They wanted to present (even showcase) the game as written. Can't blame them at all, one of the biggest complaints of prior DMGs (Certainly of the 5e one) is that they are opaque for new players.

 

[Parmandur]

D&D is both LotR and Conan. I know this because I've played D&D LotR and played through the D&D Conan module a long time ago. Those two IPs are a billion times closer to what roleplaying games are than a video game.

I have played Lotd of the Rings and Conan video games...? My first exposure to Lord of the Rings was actually the Interplay CRPG.

 

[Parmandur]

And Baldur's Gate 3 is a great one. I don't want my sit down game to play like a video game, though. I want it to play like a sit down RPG.

I'm just not sure what that has to do with Encounter vs. Long Rest vs. Old School logistical attrition, video games and TTRPGs can all do all 3...?

 

[Parmandur]

No, there is not. We do not closely examine what extra lives that Supermario collects to be able to start the level again if he dies imply from the perspective of the narrative. We do not think that in the fiction of the World of Warcraft people who are killed merely respawn on the nearest graveyard. The examples would be endless.


Yes, because the RPGs are mainly about the fiction, and are far more interactive than any computer game. The players can attempt basically any sort of thing conceivable in the fiction, and the mechanics are there to merely represent it.

I'm not trying to be difficult here, O honestly don't understand the distinction: I don't see what makes video games or TTRPGs unable to reflect either end of the spectrum, I only see one spectrum that applies the same to either medium...?

 

[Minigiant]

All this talk of rest.

To me the true source of the issues were the large quantity of your resources and the scaling of the usages of them.

D&D more or less gives you a sack of bullets and tells you to manage them.

Because of realism, you don't start with a small bag and pick up bullets every so often. No ammo pickups assumed.

And because of tropes, the few "restore your resources" items are NEVER EVER EVER crafted by ANYONE in the environment.

1) D&D should assume that the worlds contain basic common magic items.

2) Skilled craftspersons and intelligent monsters should be able to craft healing potions, mana potions, stamina potions, power pearls, chaos powder, and whatever else restores their strength.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm not trying to be difficult here, O honestly don't understand the distinction: I don't see what makes video games or TTRPGs unable to reflect either end of the spectrum, I only see one spectrum that applies the same to either medium...?

It has been explained several times. Yes, video games in theory could have robust fiction/rules connection. They rarely don't. And because they don't, they can do all sort of things a tabletop RPG can't. Like in WoW you can just respawn on the graveyard and retry the battle if you die. So you can scale a start-at-full-resources fight to be challenging, as you can try it several times. In a tabletop RPG which needs to maintain at least some sort of connection between the fiction and the rules you cannot do that without the game becoming insanely lethal.

 

[Minigiant]

It has been explained several times. Yes, video games in theory could have robust fiction/rules connection. They rarely don't. And because they don't, they can do all sort of things a tabletop RPG can't. Like in WoW you can just respawn on the graveyard and retry the battle if you die. So you can scale a start-at-full-resources fight to be challenging, as you can try it several times. In a tabletop RPG which needs to maintain at least some sort of connection between the fiction and the rules you cannot do that without the game becoming insanely lethal.

That's only because we insist on either giving you a ton of high powered rifle bullets or an infinite ammo dart gun.

Why are you fully rested with 2 fireballs and 3 scorching rays at level 5?