D&D 5E Boy, that escalated quickly...

[I'm A Banana]

One of the things I'm REALLY fond of in 5e is that it has much less of an "encounter" focus than 3e or 4e.

One of the things this makes viable is NPC's running to get reinforcements.

One of the things I'm noticing with one of my groups is a tendency to not really stop that.

So there's a lot of this as they contemplate their possible escape routes:

Maybe they're suffering Older-Edition-Itis (each encounter is a self-contained unit), or maybe I'm a little more prone to do this than other DMs, but enemies going to get reinforcements from other areas of the dungeon has wound up putting them in more than one situation where things spiraled out of control. It probably doesn't help that they've also shown a tendency to split the party a bit during the initial foray into the dungeon....and the meat of the party is definitely melee-focused.

I definitely didn't see a lot of this happening in 3e and 4e. In 3e, "one big monster at a time" was pretty much what my groups could handle, so there was no one to run away, and 4e had neatly packaged encounters that didn't really want you to go beyond them. I also don't see as much of this with some of my groups (my newbie group, forex, is pretty alert to the possibilities of sneaky little goblins running away).

But ultimately, "calling the dungeon down on their heads" is almost getting stale, and I'm interested in ways for them to negotiate or mitigate this that I might be able to actively recommend (useful spells/abilities). So, as you've played 5e, have you noticed this tendency more, as a player or as a DM? If you're a player, what are some ways you're mitigating this possibility? If you're a DM, what are some of the variations you're coming onto?

 

[Illithidbix]

A post that I've got half written but not yet finished is wondering about how much the idea of an Encounter builder has changed the expectations of the game.

Arguably it's actually the biggest change from 1E & 2E AD&D to 3E D&D. I don't recall (or find looking at old DMGs) the concept really existing in 1&2E AD&D, there was a vaguely similar concept of "monster XP to dungeon levels" but it didn't specify numbers and was just a guide for random encounters.

I was surprised to discover D&D Cyclopedia (1991) has a "Balancing Encounters" optional rule involving comparing the Total Party Level vs the Adjusted Hitdice of the monsters, before I this concept was in it's bigger brother.

 

[Rabbitbait]

I'm loving it. It has made a big change in tactics. Instead of charging through room by room and just taking things as they come, they now careful creep through, paranoid about being found, and carefully scoping out everything they can before it all turns pear shaped.

They are scared.

That is a healthy attitude to have.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I've played 1e up until 5e came out. We never stopped worrying about that As far as mitigation goes, the old AD&D rule still applies: Not every monster needs to be fought.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

But ultimately, "calling the dungeon down on their heads" is almost getting stale, and I'm interested in ways for them to negotiate or mitigate this that I might be able to actively recommend (useful spells/abilities). So, as you've played 5e, have you noticed this tendency more, as a player or as a DM? If you're a player, what are some ways you're mitigating this possibility? If you're a DM, what are some of the variations you're coming onto?

As a DM, the primary way I do this is by randomly rolling how many of the monsters in the available area appear each round. E.g. "1d4 umber hulks per round [out of a total of 22 on the ship] emerge onto the deck and join the fight." It's simpler than having to track all the monsters in the whole dungeon, although I will if I need to.

As a player, I suggest setting up a defensive hardpoint using Guards and Wards or Web or similar, and then strafing the enemy repeatedly while always maintaining secure lines of retreat. Ideally you want to show just enough force for the enemy to respond with a reaction force big enough to stomp the force he knows about; then you show your real force and mousetrap his reaction force, hoping that he doesn't have an even bigger reaction force lurking in hiding. Yay for Augury/Divination and Seeming!

 

[famousringo]

Nah, my DMs have always done this sort of thing. We'd spend two hours planning the perfect attack on the Wizards tower and, oops, nevermind, he scryed out what we were up to ages ago and our diversion only served to divide our forces. It's a given that a retreating foe means more trouble down the line.

I'm actually having trouble adjusting to HotDQ because the module is nowhere near as devious as my former DMs were. I keep expecting elaborate traps when the encounters are either straight-up fights or simple ambushes, and it's caused me to make some embarrassing misjudgements.

 

[77IM]

Yes, I've noticed this in my group too. I am DMing Princes of the Apocalypse and many of those dungeons are practically built for it. Frankly, I just roll with it -- waves upon waves of bad-guys is way more tense and interesting than individual encounters, and it gets them through certain areas quickly. I mean, now that we are back to the 15-minute adventuring day, might as well pack as much excitement into those 15 minutes as possible.

 

[Rhenny]

My experiences are like Rabbitbait and Sacrosanct. Like earlier editions players are scared to stir up a hornet's nest so they are generally looking for ways to avoid fighting when possible, or pick when, where and how they enter a combat trying to end it as quickly and decisively as possible. They are also very careful about letting foes escape so they will do whatever it takes to attempt to down fleeing foes. Sometimes they don't stop the foe from fleeing and sometimes it does make things harder latter, but everyone is cool with that and it hasn't gotten old or predictable yet.

As DM I try not to make it predictable so sometimes the foes that flee don't call for reinforcements. They just try to save themselves.

 

[jmoolaman]

Having a keep of monsters swarm the PC's make for long and possibly boring fights. On the flip side though they can all die, and not feel heroic because they were murdered by goblins, or had to run screaming into the night. Pulling a room or two into it is fine, if it feels like the fight is lacking. Other than that I don't want a 2 hour slugfest. Slugfest = Candy crush on my phone now.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I think it's an issue with DM's more than the system (though it can also be partially the adventure design). I remember when I first started roleplaying that one of our DM's was notorious for not having static dungeons. If we ever left and came back, we'd find new defenses built around what was observed from our first sortie. We quickly learnt that we if ever left and came back, we'd need to be prepared for the worst...

Our DM's have always had reinforcements arriving as a possibility, regardless of what we were playing (be it D&D, Traveller, Dark Heresy, Rolemaster, Runequest...). It's not something intrinsic with the system; it's a DM thing.