D&D 5E Are ranged attacks too good in 5e?

[Stalker0]

Also in 4e every combatant has a charge maneuver giving them a longer effective range for their melee attacks. IMHO 5e debuffed melee martials and buffed the ranged combatants .... a lot.

Its a yes and a no for me on this one. On the one hand, yes the loss of a charge action is a nerf for martials. On the other, 5e's flexible move lets martials move to places they need to get to and delivery their full offense, as opposed to a single attack in 3e (though about equivalent to 4e where you could move and deliver a power).

I do think have a basic charge rule would be a good thing to add back in to 5.5

 

[Warpiglet-7]

It’s funny. People rail against considering ammunition. If you keep track of it, it can make a little more balance.

Additionally is it just my DM/group? We get hit with missile fire at times but also don’t always have a front line that just keeps a bowman secure.

They end up shooting with disadvantage in some cases. If not variant human, sharpshooter with the crossbow feat don’t come online until 12.

Even then, there is opportunity cost. It has not been a huge issue for us. Granted we do some classic dungeoneering and make front liners act as half cover, count ammo and also the DM like to have more than one front.

It’s good no doubt! But not tons better than say a guy with a greatsword and GWM.

 

[Garthanos]

I do think have a basic charge rule would be a good thing to add back in to 5.5

Yes that is my thought though currently I have been adding to Level Up

 

[Garthanos]

It’s funny. People rail against considering ammunition. If you keep track of it, it can make a little more balance.

I just have never seen it used that it was not a tedium... here roll to see how many you recover and how long you have to spend repairing them after battle (this was during AD&D though)

Additionally is it just my DM/group? We get hit with missile fire at times but also don’t always have a front line that just keeps a bowman secure.

Casters do that best at least in 5e (holding back the enemy troops)

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I just have never seen it used that it was not a tedium... here roll to see how many you recover and how long you have to spend repairing them after battle (this was during AD&D though)

Casters do that best at least in 5e (holding back the enemy troops)

Yeah. It’s going to vary. My DM says roll OR more often, you recover 50%

It’s not hard to run out. Occasionally the bowMan is glad he has a sword to pull, which I like.

Realize some folks don’t like to keep track of anything and if it works for their group, it’s a good way to go.

Though at lower levels it is less of an issue. Combats are 3 rounds or so and often not much more.

It’s just not been too overpowered in our games. Guess I am trying to figure out why that is so different than a lot of online reports.

Now a high level fighter shooting 3+ arrows a round is more an issue until we get bags of holding involved or magic quivers I guess.

Maybe it’s that we are usually playing level 5-10 vs. higher. I guess that may be part of it.

 

[Garthanos]

Maybe it’s that we are usually playing level 5-10 vs. higher. I guess that may be part of it.

Do you have casters tracking bat guano? , inquiring minds want to know /s. Now with cantrips it shows the game was probably not designed with tracking of that sort in mind.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Do you have casters tracking bat guano? , inquiring minds want to know /s. Now with cantrips it shows the game was probably not designed with tracking of that sort in mind.

No—-but I am not citing it as a problem either

My suggestion was for those with issues—-friendly sharing of what works for us.

As to casters, their 1-10 firebolt just does not seem disruptive. At level 5, we are talking 9 damage TOTAL vs 1-8 +15 for a called sharpshooter shot in addition to any magic on bow and or arrow. What if we hit twice? With bless or something totally possible.

Say we hit once, it’s still 1-8 +15. I personally have not seen a ton of online concern about firebolt. Eldritch blast? Yes.

And regarding guano—-even with a focus? I thought none needed.

 

[Garthanos]

And regarding guano—-even with a focus? I thought none needed.

That was a 1e reference to the fire ball component that everyone just assumed the character had.....

 

[Warpiglet-7]

That was a 1e reference to the fire ball component that everyone just assumed the character had.....

Very good.

We did not have an issue with that generally. My still current DM said things that were rare were different. Cricket legs for example were not counted.

But back then sneezing on a caster ruined the spell—I think they had it right. And my DM also made sure the front line tended to be everywhere at times.

We did off camera component collection as now. It’s not fun in an of itself for common stuff. I think missiles are ok to govern a bit.

If it means a few more beefy dudes with axes and not rapiers, I am all in.

 

[Garthanos]

Very good.

We did not have an issue with that generally. My still current DM said things that were rare were different. Cricket legs for example were not counted.

But back then sneezing on a caster ruined the spell—I think they had it right. And my DM also made sure the front line tended to be everywhere at times.

It took a lot of DM in effect making bad choices for the NPCs

We did off camera component collection as now.

Just as plausible to make arrow recovery and repair as off camera

It’s not fun in an of itself for common stuff. I think missiles are ok to govern a bit.

Anything is ok technically but if you are trying to rationalize it... It is very common components to fix an arrow with and fletching is a very straight forward appropriate skill for the archer specialist to have and one could have 20 arrows in a quiver easy (and an extra quiver on your mount or mule) .... just like the wizard having the skills to prepare those components can be and is assumed.

The way we played In 4e unless the arrow was magical it was basically off screen and not tracked but then in 4e there was no problem encouraging strength based melee characters either.