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Ptobably play style differences. I find you need to ration your daily spell slots across what you project the day to look like - and as a result I think you're generally better off blowing off your spells before you engage in close combat or when you are knocked out of wild shape. Unless...

There are only two real options here because 2 requires DM fiat and 4 is as you point out generally a not good idea. The net is a good strategy if the party outnumbers the monsters and they are eligible to be netted. But... that's the thing. It doesn't change the flow chart significantly. 'Can...

The only thing to be cautious of is the power schedule of classes is different, and the rest schedule they pick is may advantage some classes over others. This has been extensively discussed in the 6-8 encounters a day thread. You might want to keep an eye on this and if you think the classes...

The converse question is if you want a game with a low focus on combat, wouldn't be better off playing something that didn't have a huge ton of rules focused on combat? If I glance at my 5E character sheets, they are overwhelmingly dominated by combat related 'stuff' as is the PHB. Also an...

He does, and that is what he does. But... that's his first order strategy (stand as far as possible away (in this case 5 ft) and shoot). Generally the problem with switching to other weapons is that while he's got a rapier and, I think, Duelist fighting style, his golfbag weapons are not as...

I'm the guy playing the sorcerer in that play example, for what it's worth. My observation earlier was that a number of classes don't have interesting choices to make in combat, particularly non spell-casters and particularly not ranged characters. Telling me 'don't play anything other than...

Yes, but the problem is that an Battlemaster Archer doesn't actually have a 2nd order strategy. He's sunk tons of resources into being great with a hand crossbow (or whatever) and the upshot is that he's a hugely reduced combat effectiveness if he changes weapons. There is one play: Stand as far...

This is fine, but if you sat down with me and said 'hey dude, want to play a game with a strong focus on story and character personality and choices that impact the world, and a minimal focus on combat' and I said 'hey that sounds like a cool game, what are we playing, Mouseguard? I've always...

There is pretty much just one fight script though, particularly for ranged characters. (I think on a scale of 'most choices' it's Spellcasters >> Melee Combatants > Ranged Combatants). If you asked me when I get to play I'm probably a 'powergamer' and the thing I don't like about 5e from a...

A staple of paying protection money is that you may actually have to provide protection - the background for Zeitgeist indicates a gang war is going on, so maybe you need to recover goods stolen from Kell guild fronts or protected stores, track down criminals who have been hitting your turf...

Instead of the Kell guild, can I suggest the Family? If you intend to play the full campaign afterwards the Kell guild are definitely set up as 'the baddies' whereas the Family are possible allies. Also, another potential option would be a series of episodic one shots as the players are regular...

S'mon: Druid wildshape is 1/2 druid level in duration, so its definately supposed to be able to last over a short rest. I suspect a significant part of it is going to be a reduction in the use of wandering monsters due to people playing different campaign types. Wandering monsters tend to...

The problem is that damages the class balance and there isn't a ton of assistance on what you should do. I mean, say I want to run a game that is going to 3-4 encounters per long rest. What do I need to do to the champion fighter to make it competitive with the warlock and bard in this...

Isn't the solution here to sit down the problem player and say 'hey man, combat is taking ages because you don't know the spell list very well, what can we do to help make combat faster?' Yeah I do this all the time - if it's not imperative to have the answer right this second tell the player...

From playing at a table with 1 short rest per fight (defacto), if you have a druid it will clown your encounter balance something shocking. You may want to house rule that resting ends wild shape, otherwise dumbness of this format begins: End fight 1 in Elk or Bear form. Short rest, using Elk...

I had Haddin get killed in the attack on the hunt because he doesn't seem to add measurably value to subsequent events and the game already has a ton of NPCs kicking around.

Part of the problem with this discussion is I suspect we don't have a common reference point. My touchstones for this discussion for what I consider 'good support' include 4E's encounter design and monster balancing and something like 'Stars without number' for what I consider good advice and...

The solution there is easy: Have zero stupid battles. Look, you're suggesting I run a hexcrawl or sandbox style game based off my long term experience with DMing. I could probably do that if I wanted to, but look, this is exactly the point I'm making: If I want to run a sandbox or hexcrawl...

I have previously run this style in 2nd and 3.5 where encounter guidelines didn't really exist (AD&D) or are just comically bad (3.5). Look, it's not terrible or unworkable, but I don't love it. A lot of it boils down to how you think combat is supposed to/going to work. *I* want to have fun in...

Given that every version of D&D ever has had a problem with spell casting generally and teleportation specifically being ridiculous, I've always assumed everyone's game had some sort of block teleportation McGuffin, whether that was lead walls, or putting it in a gold ring, or some other...