D&D 5E A Mess of OP Characters (magic items, rest mechanics, etc.)

[iserith]

If I run my own adventures, what is the group going to talk to their friends about other than "We were lead into a trap by Geoff the Talking Mongoose, realizing too late that it was actually a nefarious trickster fey with a Ventriloquism spell on the animal."

That's certainly never stopped D&D nerds from cornering me in a gaming store and telling me all about their game while I desperately looked around for a fire alarm to pull so I could get the heck out of there.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

That's certainly never stopped D&D nerds from cornering me in a gaming store and telling me all about their game while I desperately looked around for a fire alarm to pull so I could get the heck out of there.

I went to Gencon the first time in 2001 and they were selling "Please don't tell me about your character" shirts

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

Well, we had a TPK last night and starting a new campaign at the players' request.
I'm not even sure if the problem was 100% the fault of the loot. Likely a combination of loot, number of players, poorly converted adventure, and rules mix-ups.
5e is a really finicky system, and it puts a lot on the DM without offering decent tools. But the players love it, so what can you do?

I hear ya. On a full night I can have 7 players and it always feels like someone gets left out or the session drags. Even without powerful loot, encounters are either laughable or drag on.

 

[pukunui]

I hear ya. On a full night I can have 7 players and it always feels like someone gets left out or the session drags. Even without powerful loot, encounters are either laughable or drag on.

Yeah. I've played with 6 players before and that's just too much. I prefer 3 or 4. 5 at the most.

I don't get why all the popular streaming shows these days seem to cram as many players around the table as they can.

 

[mamba]

Last night we had a near-TPK, with 3 character deaths out of the 5 characters present.

was that an encounter in the adventure, or did you buff it?

At least now you can avoid the 'mistakes' that got you there and have a more reasonable group of adventurers

 

[mamba]

don't get why all the popular streaming shows these days seem to cram as many players around the table as they can.

so they cater to a wider audience

 

[Retreater]

was that an encounter in the adventure, or did you buff it?

At least now you can avoid the 'mistakes' that got you there and have a more reasonable group of adventurers

I actually toned it down to do half damage with all attacks. It was an encounter in the book, though I had one of the NPCs get more involved than suggested in the adventure.

I'm going to copy and paste the write up from another post, so you can read the details...

The encounter was against a 14th level cleric and a CR 18 demon (I halved all damage from spells and attacks to give the party a fighting chance.)

Party approaches the portal that summons the demon (a combination constrictor snake/wyvern/crocodile). It has a Symbol on the floor for confusion. The rogue doesn't find it and triggers it with the barbarian. Sorcerer Counter-spells. Demon has a held action and casts Wall of Fire, separating the rogue and barbarian from the rest of the party. We roll Initiative and the fight begins.

Demon attacks the barbarian and grabs him in its jaws. Gets a critical hit with a poison stinger on the rogue. Both are already badly hurt.

Sorcerer Dispels the Wall of Fire. Ranger fires arrows at the demon, does a little damage (about 10% of the creature's total HP). Demon flies off the summoning platform. If the barbarian escapes the grapple, he's going to fall into demon-hippo infested waters and be killed. Rogue retreats to the "friendly" NPC cleric for healing (since she's near death), and he hits her with a Finger of Death. Demon breathes fire and hits everyone - if Rogue dies she becomes a zombie under the control of the Evil Cleric.

Sorcerer uses Reverse Gravity wand to try to push Evil Cleric from the stairs and into the demon-hippo lake, but he makes his save. Barbarian drinks a potion of invulnerability before he is swallowed by the demon. Ranger administers a potion of mega-healing to the rogue. Rogue drinks potion of heroism and gets into position to attack the Evil Cleric. The demon has now returned to the platform and staircase to attack the rest of the party. The demon kills the sorcerer with a poisonous stinger attack.

Evil Cleric casts Circle of Death, dropping the druid and greatly injuring the ranger. Meanwhile, the barbarian is cutting his way out of the stomach of the demon, hacking it apart from the inside. Evil Cleric drops Cloudkill on the party. This kills the druid. Druid rises as zombie and attacks ranger. Ranger goes unconscious and later dies in the Cloudkill.

The cleric's most damaging offensive magic cast, teleports away. Cloudkill dissipates. Demon bites and swallows rogue. Barbarian and rogue kill the demon from the inside, both terribly injured.

Alone in the evil temple's dungeon, out of healing and exhausted, the barbarian and rogue examined the ruin of their companions and their quest's end (since the group decided to abandon the campaign rather than fight their way out of the dungeon and resurrect their allies.)

I thought it was a pretty epic fight, everything considered.

 

[mamba]

The encounter was against a 14th level cleric and a CR 18 demon (I halved all damage from spells and attacks to give the party a fighting chance.)

ha, great balance in this adventure it seems... did the adventure provide a way to overcome them the chars missed?

 

[pukunui]

I thought it was a pretty epic fight, everything considered.

That's good. So would you recommend getting Necropolis or not?