D&D 5E D&D 5e Basic Set: Things that make you go "what?!"

[Stalker0]

Also...Manacles are extrememly flimsy. Its a DC 20 strength check to break...meaning Joe Average will break his manacles after two minutes of trying.

 

[Mercule]

This is something I've realized in 10+ years of gaming (damn I've gotten old!)

Dude, I'm at 30 or 31 years (BECMI was still BE or BX). Don't even start.

 

[jadrax]

On the other...5 vials of poison costs as much as raising someone from the dead!

Pretty sure poisons are always insanely expensive in D&D, it's long standing tradition, or old charter or something.

 

[doctorhook]

Also, *wave* Hey, folks. Been a while.

I'd been wondering where you were!

 

[Henry]

This is something I've realized in 10+ years of gaming (damn I've gotten old!)

If the dice had gone the other way, the player might have died, the party might have died...the campaign might have ended as an unremarkable exercise.

But the fact that it didn't....makes it a tale that your group will probably tell from years to come.


Over time, I've had both experiences. I have had characters just go down due to the bad rolls, forever forgotten. And at the time it sucks. But ultimately, it is worth it!

It is worth having those risky moments, it is worth having characters die in obscurity, so that there are times when scenes and characters become immortal in a gaming groups mind.

This comes back to WizarDru's "Soul of D&D" quote, which I love, and apparently so does [MENTION=5868]Olgar Shiverstone[/MENTION]:

"The Soul of D&D? It's rolling a natural 20 when you're down to 3 hit points and the cleric's on the floor and you're staring that sunnavabitch bugbear right in his bloodshot eye and holding the line just long enough to let the wizard unleash a fireball at the guards who are on their way, because they're all that stands between you, the Foozle and Glory." - WizarDru

 

[Henry]

Ol' Tree-Stump is gonna get rocked by anything that asks for a Dex Save, armour or not.

And it makes sense that he'd rather be in armour than not if he's crap at getting out of the way...

SURE, it would be a little better smulation-wise if his handicap was somehow reflected in his AC, but it works mechanically for the game this way. He's still terrible at getting out of the way of stuff, but usually his armour saves him. It's not ideal, but it's not really worth worrying about either. (IMO, 'natch)

What he said.

 

[Sadrik]

Temporary HP are a thing in the rules and on the character sheet but spells do not use them.

It is workable, just a terminology issue. Though it might be confusing to new players when the Temporary HP rules come in to play and how it interacts with your HP max increasing.

 

[Boarstorm]

Also...Manacles are extrememly flimsy. Its a DC 20 strength check to break...meaning Joe Average will break his manacles after two minutes of trying.

Average Joe's DM probably shouldn't be letting him re-try every round, and "Taking 20" doesn't seem to be a thing (or maybe I just overlooked it?).

 

[Particle_Man]

On the other...5 vials of poison costs as much as raising someone from the dead!

I imagine that in most places buying poison is illegal, and therefore the price gets marked up because you are buying from the criminal underworld that can set the price high.

 

[Particle_Man]

Also...Manacles are extrememly flimsy. Its a DC 20 strength check to break...meaning Joe Average will break his manacles after two minutes of trying.

Average Joe's DM probably shouldn't be letting him re-try every round, and "Taking 20" doesn't seem to be a thing (or maybe I just overlooked it?).

Agreed. The DM can set a penalty of some kind for ability check failure and "you cannot try again until you have a long rest" might be appropriate. "You cannot try again ever" would be harsher, but for DMs that think "well if you couldn't get out of it, then it must be too tough for you".

I guess a similar issue might arise with locks?