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

[Lanefan]

Some "Whaaaa...?" things:

- the oddity in the XP progression charts noted a few posts above this one - sure it's trivially easy to fix but Mearls' rationale posted above doesn't hold any water with me.
- poison only does 1d4 damage??? That's pathetic! Let's hope there's a module at some point with some more variety (and deadliness) for poisons.
- yes this is still the Basic version, but the 0 h.p./dying rules have some holes. For one thing, someone who went to -9 (but is by the rules at 0) should have a much tougher time with those saves to survive than someone who only went to -1 (0) simply because -9 means you're a lot more mangled than -1. And there's still no fix for the age-old problem of being out cold at 0 but rarin' to go at +1; I'm putting a lot of faith in this rumoured WP-VP module to fix this somehow.

Lan-"the big test for me will be how much 5e can be houseruled without shattering"-efan

 

[Thaumaturge]

- poison only does 1d4 damage??? That's pathetic! Let's hope there's a module at some point with some more variety (and deadliness) for poisons.

And gives the poisoned condition (so disadvantage). I expect there will be numerous poisons and venomous attacks with the full game.

For one thing, someone who went to -9 (but is by the rules at 0) should have a much tougher time with those saves to survive than someone who only went to -1 (0) simply because -9 means you're a lot more mangled than -1.

A quick house rule idea: if the blow that takes you to 0 hp is equal to or greater than half your max hp, you auto-fail a death save.

That would give you some granularity and a gritter game, which you seem to want.

Thaumaturge.

 

[evilbob]

What does or does not apply the poisoned condition is confusing. How does it get applied, and when? When does it go away? Is it just for a round? More explanation is probably coming, though.

The age-old problem of "up at +1, down at 0" wasn't really the binary nature of it to me, but rather the fact that you were MUCH more likely to get killed at 1 HP than -1. Making it so that you don't auto-die from damage until it tops your current + max HP is great, in my opinion.

 

[jadrax]

And gives the poisoned condition (so disadvantage)

Having looked at the Giant Spider in the Starter Set, I don't think the poison in the equipment section inflicts the poison condition. If it did, it would say.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Having looked at the Giant Spider in the Starter Set, I don't think the poison in the equipment section inflicts the poison condition. If it did, it would say.

That's weird. I agree. Though at my table that might be different. It does say it is "poison, basic", which implies there is a "poison, poisonous".

Thaumaturge.

 

[Nagol]

What does or does not apply the poisoned condition is confusing. How does it get applied, and when? When does it go away? Is it just for a round? More explanation is probably coming, though.

The age-old problem of "up at +1, down at 0" wasn't really the binary nature of it to me, but rather the fact that you were MUCH more likely to get killed at 1 HP than -1. Making it so that you don't auto-die from damage until it tops your current + max HP is great, in my opinion.

Poison looks like a bit of a mash-up. The condition exists, but nothing in the current rule set invokes it. Poisons that are presented do straight hp damage. Readers are directed to Chapter 9, but the only reference that exists In that chapter is that poison is a damage type.

The downtime rules have a 3-day recuperating action that allows the character to get advantage of a save against a poison affecting him. So it looks like the poisoned condition is expected to last a while.

 

[Knightfall]

Did anyone else notice that WotC updated the Basic Rules pdf a few days ago?

I downloaded the original, but I downloaded a fresh version and immediately noticed two halfling subraces (Lightfoot and Stout), which I hadn't seen in the first download. I've already deleted the old one, so I'm not sure if I simply missed them in the original file.

 

[Nagol]

Did anyone else notice that WotC updated the Basic Rules pdf a few days ago?

I downloaded the original, but I downloaded a fresh version and immediately noticed two halfling subraces (Lightfoot and Stout), which I hadn't seen in the first download. I've already deleted the old one, so I'm not sure if I simply missed them in the original file.

I grabbed the printer-friendly version within 24 hours of it coming out and it has the two Halfling sub-races in it.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Lightfoot and Stout are both in my within-30-seconds-of-availability copy.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Tony Vargas]

@Hadan_Ashcroft People stop playing at 10 - it's a weird divot, but leveling speeds up at 10+ to pull people through those doldrums

People stop playing at 10th because, for 34 years, the 'sweet spot' at which D&D was most playable had ended by then (usually around 3rd to around 6th or 8th, or, indeed 10th) - because by 10th, it'd stopped being much fun. It's the same reason people often skip, beef up or speed through 1st.

Fiddling with exp progression isn't going to help if the game still starts to lose playability outside it's sweet spot (though the quick throughput at apprentice level might do the trick on the low end). If the game doesn't lose playability, OTOH, no such tweak is required.