D&D 5E (2024) Does your table use concentration with Ready a Spell?

[Tigris]

The player left, per the OP, because the DM refused to implement a house rule midgame.

This is what OPs side of the story says. But the players side may look different. this could as well have just been the last drop (after that annoying fight) needed to not wanting to play anymore.

It is rarely a single action which leads one to a reaction.

The player CHOSE to have this character, weird option interactions and all.

As such, it's their responsibility to have the character be effective or not - and not by throwing down with the DM by demanding a house rule.

Well its the GMs job to highlight players with their options chosen and make the game feel good for them. If you bring by accident a fight which makes one players character feel miserable then using this not really well dewigned rule to double down on this experience was the GMs choice.

That's even weirder to me then, as a Champion Fighter should not be a one trick pony stuck on True Strike. So many other ways to be effective, unless it is a really funky build.

Well champion is in general quite limited in what they can do. Especially if its strength build which is "normal". So trying to have a better main stat to allow to participate more out of combat is not that strange. And normally GMs want not min maxed characrers which are a bit more broad and "more interesting" so punighing a player for that just disvourages experimenting and trying non min maxed builds.

Or perhaps being a bit more creative. The whole reason enemies like this exist is to have meaningful, flavorful, unique combats.

How about this as an easy example - he could hide and with Tactical Mind he has a pretty good chance of succeeding even with an 8 Dexterity.

So the player, after being screwed by the GM through encounter design and enforcing this rule, should use a limited ressource (tactical mind) to use an action, which the GM easily can completly screw to make it do absolutely nothing? What should hiding even achieve? Fighter is the character which should be normally the one which wants to be attacked over the allies.


Also dont forget: Encounter variety is a tool to make encounters more fun, not a goal by itself.

 

[Mort]

This is what OPs side of the story says. But the players side may look different. this could as well have just been the last drop (after that annoying fight) needed to not wanting to play anymore.

It is rarely a single action which leads one to a reaction.

Sure, not all tables are a fit for all players. If the player chose to quite, clearly the table wasn't a good fit.

Well its the GMs job to highlight players with their options chosen and make the game feel good for them. If you bring by accident a fight which makes one players character feel miserable then using this not really well dewigned rule to double down on this experience was the GMs choice.

Granted, we only have one side to this story - but quitting because the GM refused to, midgame, change the rules to suit, seems extreme. It's quite possible this was a last straw situation, hopefully the player found a better fit elsewhere.

Well champion is in general quite limited in what they can do. Especially if its strength build which is "normal". So trying to have a better main stat to allow to participate more out of combat is not that strange. And normally GMs want not min maxed characrers which are a bit more broad and "more interesting" so punighing a player for that just disvourages experimenting and trying non min maxed builds.




So the player, after being screwed by the GM through encounter design and enforcing this rule, should use a limited ressource (tactical mind) to use an action, which the GM easily can completly screw to make it do absolutely nothing? What should hiding even achieve? Fighter is the character which should be normally the one which wants to be attacked over the allies.


Also dont forget: Encounter variety is a tool to make encounters more fun, not a goal by itself.

Part of the fun, for me, is sometimes throwing (as a DM) or encountering (as a player) situations where the standard schtick doesn't work as well.

It would be really weird, for me, if a DM only designed encounters that played to the parties strengths.

 

[Reynard]

Well its the GMs job to highlight players with their options chosen and make the game feel good for them.

Is it?

I think it is the player's job to play the character they want the way they want. How much the GM is expected to play to the specific PCs is something that varies between groups. Some GMs focus on verisimilitude, others just run the module as written, and some curate every encounter for the PCs.

 

[SkidAce]

Is it "screwing over the player" if you send flying creatures and their character has no ranged options?

I think not, unless you are doing it constantly and deliberately with malicious glee. (which is bad)

 

[Plaguescarred]

Such Fighter who wish to keep concentrating on Hex is better to Ready to attack with a Melee or Thrown weapon instead.

Some monsters require different tactics to defeat that may not be suitable to all characters depending on their respective strength and weakness.

 

[Silam]

Honestly that's kind of a BS encounter at what I'm guessing is a low level, based on only one Hex cast, so I really wouldn't blame him walking out, especially as that is not a promising sign for the rest of the game if you're starting at low levels with that type of nonsense. Pulling that once the party has more tools in their toolkit? Bit fairer, but at low level? What's he supposed to do? What's his intended answer to the fight?

You painted him into a bad position. He couldn't ready an attack because, why the hell would he, so effectively you made his only choice is to ready what he thought would have been the best option (a non concentration spell) and then screwed him over with the surprise 'oh that's concentration now due to this not as well known part of the rule'. Its not like he could just cast the spell there or then. Genuinely as written it'd be better for him to just not be paying attention and scrolling on his mobile phone.

Shouldn't have even had the fight. Should have had something more appropriate to the party that isn't screwing them over. I absolutely would have dropped as well as its clear its just going to be nonsense encounters.

That seems like an overreaction, IMHO…

If the DM was constantly adversarial and pulling this trick in every single enouncter, ok, fine. That would be frustrating.

Doing it once, or doing a variety of different challenges, where this is one of them, and at other times other characters are affected, I think that’s totally fine. Actually, it’s not just fine, I would say it’s almost mandatory… a game that never stretches players’ creativity and never forces them to choose between two opposing effects… that would be boring. Not worthy of rage quitting, but certainly worthy of boredom quitting …

It’s not true the character is out of options… they could still True Strike without Hex, or fire a non-TS crossbow shot with Hex. Let them do the math and figure out which option they prefer. That’s hardly unfair… just a slightly above average challenge.

The problem is the "participation ribbon philosophy" where every kid must win every contest they enter. No, that’s not how life works. You don’t always win every time. I sincerely hope you have a chance to win some of the time. But no one is entitled to win all of the time.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think that letting the player go is a wise decision.

Clearly a case where an "optimizer" did not get the rules correctly. Or wants to bend the rules so that his build does not fall apart.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Honestly that's kind of a BS encounter at what I'm guessing is a low level, based on only one Hex cast, so I really wouldn't blame him walking out, especially as that is not a promising sign for the rest of the game if you're starting at low levels with that type of nonsense. Pulling that once the party has more tools in their toolkit? Bit fairer, but at low level? What's he supposed to do? What's his intended answer to the fight?

You painted him into a bad position. He couldn't ready an attack because, why the hell would he, so effectively you made his only choice is to ready what he thought would have been the best option (a non concentration spell) and then screwed him over with the surprise 'oh that's concentration now due to this not as well known part of the rule'. Its not like he could just cast the spell there or then. Genuinely as written it'd be better for him to just not be paying attention and scrolling on his mobile phone.

Surprise. You have to play by the rules.

See my post above. Not a good sign if a player does not want to play by the rules when it is just 1d6 damage lost...

Shouldn't have even had the fight. Should have had something more appropriate to the party that isn't screwing them over. I absolutely would have dropped as well as its clear its just going to be nonsense encounters.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Is it "screwing over the player" if you send flying creatures and their character has no ranged options?

I think not, unless you are doing it constantly and deliberately with malicious glee. (which is bad)

Why do the not have any range options... that is the true question.

And even if that is the case, you can hide or use improvised weapons.

Fighter can make great use of a trident. Thrown weapon with topple.

 

[SkidAce]

Why do the not have any range options... that is the true question.

And even if that is the case, you can hide or use improvised weapons.

Fighter can make great use of a trident. Thrown weapon with topple.

I am aware that they could, the question was intended to ask "if they didnt is the DM screwing them over?"

My implication is that on occasion, characters run into scenarios they are not prepared for, and unless you do it overtly and often, you are not "screwing" them.

JMO.