D&D 5E Changes from the playtest: Combat

[Olgar Shiverstone]

To be clear, only Psikerlord# is complaining about this, Olgar, and his chosen point of complaint is pretty hilariously off, which is what we are showing.

Ah, fair enough.

I don't see that the specific mechanic is particularly broken; or at least not any more than the entire system which unbalances at high levels. It may not be entirely fair to judge high level play by the basic rules, though.

 

[Agamon]

I'm kinda glad Coup de Grace is removed, if only because it's the most mispronounced term in D&D evar (got tired of saying "koo-day-grahs, you fools, not coop-day-grah")

 

[DonAdam]

Action surge isn't overpowered.

But 8 attacks with a 2d6 great sword rerolling 1's and 2's will be incredibly annoying.

Here's hoping they have a deadly strike option in the DMG for those of us that dislike multi-attacks.

 

[Agamon]

Action surge isn't overpowered.

But 8 attacks with a 2d6 great sword rerolling 1's and 2's will be incredibly annoying.

Yeah iterative attacks in 3e shoots steam out my ears, and this is shades of that. But high level D&D has never worked for me before, in any edition, so if it somehow did this time around, I would would have been genuinely surprised. So no biggie.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm kinda glad Coup de Grace is removed, if only because it's the most mispronounced term in D&D evar (got tired of saying "koo-day-grahs, you fools, not coop-day-grah")

Everyone knows its Koop-Dee-Gray-See

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah iterative attacks in 3e shoots steam out my ears, and this is shades of that. But high level D&D has never worked for me before, in any edition, so if it somehow did this time around, I would would have been genuinely surprised. So no biggie.

While annoying, you have a few mitigating factors.

1.) All attacks are at the same attack bonus. No remembering which attack bonus goes with which attack.

2.) No confirming critical hits.

Its a lot easier to make 8 attacks at +10 (for 2d6+5, reroll 1/2) than it is to make +22/+18/+13/+8 for 2d6+12.

 

[Agamon]

While annoying, you have a few mitigating factors.

1.) All attacks are at the same attack bonus. No remembering which attack bonus goes with which attack.

2.) No confirming critical hits.

Its a lot easier to make 8 attacks at +10 (for 2d6+5, reroll 1/2) than it is to make +22/+18/+13/+8 for 2d6+12.

This is true. Less buff spells helps, too. I'm not writing it off, untried. Just keeping a wary eye and making sure any campaign I run that reaches into the higher levels can be ended in a session, if necessary. Quick combat is a must for me.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Can't wait for the DMG module where PCs actually die. Anyway, this is one of the places where the rules have been lacking for me since the beginning, and I have no problem houseruling (I enjoy it a lot, in fact).

 

[Agamon]

Can't wait for the DMG module where PCs actually die.

I've killed 2 PCs in 4 sessions in my playtest game, using suggested encounter building techniques. And now it looks like most of the monsters are far scarier in the release. So, yeah, I don't think I'll be using that module.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

I've killed 2 PCs in 4 sessions in my playtest game, using suggested encounter building techniques. And now it looks like most of the monsters are far scarier in the release. So, yeah, I don't think I'll be using that module.

We have three deaths in the last six months. As a DM that used to run 2E without the optional "hovering at death's door" rule, you can imagine that I'm used to more than that, but having no rule to automatically kill a downed opponent is just weird. In my games, anyone that falls to 0 and suffers a direct attack will die instantly, and I won't even call it a houserule...