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can you do a mega-dungeon in 5th Edition?
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<blockquote data-quote="JmanTheDM" data-source="post: 7230980" data-attributes="member: 6791902"><p>Old thread dredged up from the past! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>so, I've been running a mega-dungeon in 5e for over a year now, and yes it can be done, but I've had to modify 5e somewhat to make this work. here are my experiences in no particular order. I've been running Rappan Athuk for a group of 5 players. everyone started at 1st, and they are now all 5th or 6th levels.</p><p></p><p>1) Encounters are too easy in RA. simply converting them over (Where I can), makes for battles that are too easy. 4 skeletons in 1st edition against a party of 4 is decidedly LESS difficult for exactly the same encounter in 5th edition. I've generally doubled most encounteres. I try and avoid Solo encounters, and I am now heavily adding class levels to named monsters to allow them a chance when fighting a PC. the specter is no longer simply a specter, (because the powers are so nerfed in 5th as compared to 1st), now it's a specter that is also a level 5 sorcerer for example.</p><p></p><p>2) insta death traps remain exactly how it is outside of combat. you put your hand in the mouth, you die, no save, if the text says insta death. however, in combat, if the creature has insta-death type powers (level drain, poison etc), I run that as 5th edition rules as written. there are a couple edge cases where this is off, but in general, this has worked for us.</p><p></p><p>3) old school required certain resource management and time management - which no longer exists (thanks good berry). so what would have been interesting encounters where resource management, getting lost, etc. would have mattered no longer dont. PC's are simply too powerful and equipped with methods to overcome these. I've had to move on.</p><p></p><p>4) old school magic resistance (eg. 60% change to resist magic) doesn't exist. this has made things much easier for PC's because advantage on saves while awesome, isn't good enough.</p><p></p><p>5) Long/Short rests haven't turned out to be as bad as I initially thought. it's important to keep good time. It's important to ensure that 1 long rest every 24 hours. its' important to roll random encounters during long rests. I've also house ruled the need to don/doff armour for long rests to take effect. this has made resting a bit more painful and requires a bit more strategic thinking</p><p></p><p>6) if I can't drain food resources, I've resorted to medicine kits. to use a hit die, to stabilize a dead PC, and to heal after rests all require the use of healing kits. they have 10 uses. once done, can't heal except by slow natural means. PC's now own LOTS of medicine kits.</p><p></p><p>7) Progress is slower than older editions. more choice means more sitting around debating the options. Having run RA using both S&W and 5th edition I would say our exploration is roughly 50% to 75% what it was in S&W. Fights also take longer because of how I've had to bulk encounters up.</p><p></p><p>the experience has been generally more positive than I first thought. it's has taken a few house rules and adjustments to make it *feel* more like an old school dungeon crawl, but the players seem to be really enjoying it and there is significant emergent play and "fear of dying" that is happening every game session!</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p><p></p><p>J.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JmanTheDM, post: 7230980, member: 6791902"] Old thread dredged up from the past! :) so, I've been running a mega-dungeon in 5e for over a year now, and yes it can be done, but I've had to modify 5e somewhat to make this work. here are my experiences in no particular order. I've been running Rappan Athuk for a group of 5 players. everyone started at 1st, and they are now all 5th or 6th levels. 1) Encounters are too easy in RA. simply converting them over (Where I can), makes for battles that are too easy. 4 skeletons in 1st edition against a party of 4 is decidedly LESS difficult for exactly the same encounter in 5th edition. I've generally doubled most encounteres. I try and avoid Solo encounters, and I am now heavily adding class levels to named monsters to allow them a chance when fighting a PC. the specter is no longer simply a specter, (because the powers are so nerfed in 5th as compared to 1st), now it's a specter that is also a level 5 sorcerer for example. 2) insta death traps remain exactly how it is outside of combat. you put your hand in the mouth, you die, no save, if the text says insta death. however, in combat, if the creature has insta-death type powers (level drain, poison etc), I run that as 5th edition rules as written. there are a couple edge cases where this is off, but in general, this has worked for us. 3) old school required certain resource management and time management - which no longer exists (thanks good berry). so what would have been interesting encounters where resource management, getting lost, etc. would have mattered no longer dont. PC's are simply too powerful and equipped with methods to overcome these. I've had to move on. 4) old school magic resistance (eg. 60% change to resist magic) doesn't exist. this has made things much easier for PC's because advantage on saves while awesome, isn't good enough. 5) Long/Short rests haven't turned out to be as bad as I initially thought. it's important to keep good time. It's important to ensure that 1 long rest every 24 hours. its' important to roll random encounters during long rests. I've also house ruled the need to don/doff armour for long rests to take effect. this has made resting a bit more painful and requires a bit more strategic thinking 6) if I can't drain food resources, I've resorted to medicine kits. to use a hit die, to stabilize a dead PC, and to heal after rests all require the use of healing kits. they have 10 uses. once done, can't heal except by slow natural means. PC's now own LOTS of medicine kits. 7) Progress is slower than older editions. more choice means more sitting around debating the options. Having run RA using both S&W and 5th edition I would say our exploration is roughly 50% to 75% what it was in S&W. Fights also take longer because of how I've had to bulk encounters up. the experience has been generally more positive than I first thought. it's has taken a few house rules and adjustments to make it *feel* more like an old school dungeon crawl, but the players seem to be really enjoying it and there is significant emergent play and "fear of dying" that is happening every game session! Cheers! J. [/QUOTE]
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