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<blockquote data-quote="Monayuris" data-source="post: 7175388" data-attributes="member: 6859536"><p>I've played and DM'd tons of Basic D&D and tons of 5E and like both of them. I have a natural tendency to run my 5E game like Basic and I think I've had as many, if not more deaths in 5E than in Basic (granted I start Basic at 2nd or 3rd level).</p><p></p><p>1. You need to curtail the rest recovery rate of 5E. You don't have to push encounter difficulty too much higher if you introduce more attrition into the game. Its not so much about one-shot killing a character as it is about the grind and attrition of adventuring and being forced to make a decision to risk pushing on or not (I actually like the short term survivability that 5E provides, its the more long term lack of attrition that bothers me). I'd use the slow natural healing option at the very least (long rest does not recover to full hit points) or use the one day short rest and one week long rest variant.</p><p></p><p>2. Creatures with multiattack - declare all of their attacks up front and on the same character instead of targeting their attacks one at a time on different characters. If a multiattack monster drops a character to 0 on the first attack, it could force 2 death save failures on the second. You can go one step further and declare all monster attacks ahead of time. If one PC is up against 4 goblins and you declare all 4 goblins will stick that PC, you'll get more deaths than if you had the other 3 move on to new targets. Just be upfront to your players about monsters acting in this manner, declare the monster actions and stick to the declaration (since this can also work in their favor).</p><p></p><p>3. Add some king of penalty to dropping to zero, to prevent healing word and such from just popping characters back up. I like adding a level of Exhaustion at 0 hp to simulate a lingering injury.</p><p></p><p>4. Check out the DMG maneuvers section. If I remember correctly many of them are Actions *OR* Bonus actions. Try using Overrun as a bonus action to get past the front line melee types who may be protecting the weaker casters. Try putting pressure on the back ranks and force the group out of their optimized standard operating procedures. (I have zombies do this by default to simulate their horde nature). If it is a bonus action, its worth trying even if the success rate isn't very high.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Monayuris, post: 7175388, member: 6859536"] I've played and DM'd tons of Basic D&D and tons of 5E and like both of them. I have a natural tendency to run my 5E game like Basic and I think I've had as many, if not more deaths in 5E than in Basic (granted I start Basic at 2nd or 3rd level). 1. You need to curtail the rest recovery rate of 5E. You don't have to push encounter difficulty too much higher if you introduce more attrition into the game. Its not so much about one-shot killing a character as it is about the grind and attrition of adventuring and being forced to make a decision to risk pushing on or not (I actually like the short term survivability that 5E provides, its the more long term lack of attrition that bothers me). I'd use the slow natural healing option at the very least (long rest does not recover to full hit points) or use the one day short rest and one week long rest variant. 2. Creatures with multiattack - declare all of their attacks up front and on the same character instead of targeting their attacks one at a time on different characters. If a multiattack monster drops a character to 0 on the first attack, it could force 2 death save failures on the second. You can go one step further and declare all monster attacks ahead of time. If one PC is up against 4 goblins and you declare all 4 goblins will stick that PC, you'll get more deaths than if you had the other 3 move on to new targets. Just be upfront to your players about monsters acting in this manner, declare the monster actions and stick to the declaration (since this can also work in their favor). 3. Add some king of penalty to dropping to zero, to prevent healing word and such from just popping characters back up. I like adding a level of Exhaustion at 0 hp to simulate a lingering injury. 4. Check out the DMG maneuvers section. If I remember correctly many of them are Actions *OR* Bonus actions. Try using Overrun as a bonus action to get past the front line melee types who may be protecting the weaker casters. Try putting pressure on the back ranks and force the group out of their optimized standard operating procedures. (I have zombies do this by default to simulate their horde nature). If it is a bonus action, its worth trying even if the success rate isn't very high. [/QUOTE]
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