Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8061940" data-attributes="member: 87792">There is one place where the lack of NPC complexity has come to really annoy me because it's an utter fail at posing dilemmas and has a knock-on to provoking movement that is simple to fix. That is that most humanoid NPCs have almost exactly the same attack stats at ranged combat and in melee combat. This is thanks to the well-meaning but ill-considered rules allowing anyone using Dex for attack to use it with both ranged and finesse weapons, and allowing anyone using STR for attack to use it with both melee and throwing weapons.The impact of this is that if you manage to trap the archers in melee all that happens is they stop shooting you with their bows with Dex + Prof doing 1d8+Dex damage and draw their shortswords with Dex + Prof that do 1d6+Dex damage. W00t! And you're only slightly better off forcing the burly warriors to use javelins rather than greataxes. Essentially there's no point getting into the back row or even gluing the enemy melee's feet to the floor, and this destroys the point of tactics.The rule itself is based on a sensible one allowing PCs to do that. With PC classes it is a good rule, partly because it opens up archetypes (such as the swashbuckling rogue) and partly because of class features like the Barbarian's rage or the fighter/ranger's fighting style or the monk's flurry that encourage most characters to specialise in melee or ranged combat. But most NPCs, not having complexity or these class features, inherently shut down tactics. I would therefore make the ability of Finesse weapons to use Dex for damage into a widely shared class feature and do the same for thrown weapons to use Str for accuracy. The Finesse propery only inherently gives Dex for accuracy and the Thrown Str for damage.The casters have the same problem. Ranged spells in melee get disadvantage - but this doesn't affect saving throws inflicted. It's a simple rule that works against firebolts but not against fireballs or disintegrates. Where it works it's nice and elegant but all it does in practice is devalue certain types of spell in favour of yet more fireballs. Again this is a fail at posing dilemmas and provoking movement alike in exactly the same way. And again the fix is simple. Where the point of origin is not either the caster or inherently adjacent to the caster the target gets advantage on saving throws. (For extra sauce this could be written in such a way that a ground zero fireball centered on the caster does not give advantage on saving throws).</blockquote>

Verification