D&D 5E Double Monster Damage - Half Monster HP

[FrogReaver]

What are your thoughts about "Double Monster Damage - Half Monster HP"?

How will it impact the game? Would you enjoy playing in such a game?

 

[Ovinomancer]

There would be a lot of knock on effects that would have large implications in encounter design. Off the top of my head:

1. this skews defensive CR valuation greatly. A low CR monster like a hobgoblin that trades high AC for low hp doesn't suffer very much from this change defensively (a shift from 11 to 5 hp means that most hits are one shots, but then, most already were) but their damage output become much greater. For monsters like hobgoblins, which are mobs, this is a net increase in danger level.

2. this skews offensive CR valuation greatly. A single big hit monster, like a giant, become capable of one shotting even higher level characters. Sure, these take a big hit defensively, but now even a mob of hill giants is something for mid-tier III characters to be concerned about.

These impacts need to be understood by both players and DM, the former so they can make informed risk decisions, the latter so they can present the level of risk they want. Overall, I think this add a lot to the swinginess of combat without commiserate gains -- 5e combats are already pretty fast and that would seem to be the major benefit of halving hp.

If, however, you goal is to create a game where combat is inadvisable in the extreme unless you can control the initiative, then this works well. I think that it would highly incentivize the "SWAT team" playstyle of recon and surprise and overwhelming force. It definitely de-incentivizes more reckless or "kick in the door" play.

 

[iserith]

If, however, you goal is to create a game where combat is inadvisable in the extreme unless you can control the initiative, then this works well. I think that it would highly incentivize the "SWAT team" playstyle of recon and surprise and overwhelming force. It definitely de-incentivizes more reckless or "kick in the door" play.

Agreed. As to whether I would enjoy playing in such a game, I'd say "Maybe." It would really depend on much I liked the DM and other players honestly. Because it would highly incentivize the SWAT team style, it means that this will be what we have to do most of the time to be successful. And sometimes I would rather just kick in the door. The standard monster HP and damage allow me to choose what I'm up for without always incentivizing one approach over another. I can go SWAT when I want to conserve resources. If I'm flush with resources, I can kick in the door. (Usually it's kick in the door till low on resources, start panicking, then go SWAT!)

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I'm with them (points above).

However, if the reasoning for your increase/decrease is to "up the deadliness of combat" (?), then why not just double monster damage. That's it. Just double damage. Maybe just double the 'dice damage' but leave any bonuses for whatever as-is. So a monster that does 2d8+4 would do 4d8+4. Or, alternatively, double just the bonus and leave the dice. So 2d8+8, for example. If the dice double...it increases the damage AND the randomness. If just the bonus is doubled...it becomes less 'swingy'.

I guess the real question is: What is the effect on your game that you are going for?

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Prakriti]

I would like it, personally, as long as it actually sped up the game. But as the others point out, it might just encourage slower, more careful gameplay. In which case, it might actually slow things down. A lot depends on the DM's ability to design appropriate dungeons and encounters.

By the way, if the goal is to speed up combat, then here's an alternative that cropped up in another thread: minimum HP. Players and monsters don't roll for HP, they just get 1 HP per hit die (plus Con bonus, as usual). So a goblin doesn't have 7 HP (the average of 2d6), it has 2 HP. A level 8 fighter with 14 Con would have 24, and a hill giant (10d12+40) would have 50.

I'm tempted to try this variant someday, because I find combat starts to drag after level 5 and becomes positively grueling after level 10.

 

[Satyrn]

What are your thoughts about "Double Monster Damage - Half Monster HP"?

How will it impact the game? Would you enjoy playing in such a game?

I'd be delighted if my DM did that occasionally, while also doing the opposite occasionally, and leaving them as is too other times.

So long as his goal was to make the monsters "feel" like he intended or described.

I mean, I'd probably not enjoy if he halved the hp on a creature he descibed as a hulking beast that can withstand a thousand cuts.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

I speculate it'd would boil down to:

''Roll for initiative! You're going before the monsters? GG folks, a win! Going after the monsters?? Ok, somebody is down/dead!''*

*Not that that's a bad thing...

 

[Blue]

Swinginess favors the monsters, because no matter if they are beat there are more, but there's a limited number of PCs.

So I think there would be more PC deaths over the course of time. One bad crit might one shot even front-liners.

I think that characters would tend towards novas and initiative. Novas work fantastically because where before X would of damage would kill off and prevent Y retalitory damage, now it's X damage prevents 4Y. (Since X will kill twice as many, and those twice as many did twice the damage each) Plus you don't need sustained damage to kill many off.

Dex becomes more of a god-stat since initiative becomes more important.

Those capable of putting out a lot of damage (like casters) gain additional ascendancy over those who have resources for the long haul (like fighters) since there is no more long haul, or if there is it's a losing proposition.

Combats are quicker.

To sum up: Faster combats at the cost of more PC deaths over time, DEX becoming more important and casters get a further lead over weapon wielders.

I'll pass, thanks.

 

[MarkB]

Combats will tend to last a lot fewer rounds, and this is in a system where 2-3 rounds is not atypical. You might well not get through even one full initiative cycle before the combat was resolved - which sucks for the player who rolled low initiative.

And it also only takes one full round of the players rolling single-digits on their attacks and the monsters rolling double-digits for the group to collapse beyond recovery.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

What are your thoughts about "Double Monster Damage - Half Monster HP"?

How will it impact the game? Would you enjoy playing in such a game?

I would not enjoy playing in such a game. Combat would be far too volatile, with too much left to random chance for me to be invested in the outcome.

A better solution to long combats and excessive healing resources is to get rid of the whole Hit Die mechanic, so you can run encounters against weaker monsters, and the damage they deal would still be meaningful since it won't automatically be healed during the next short rest.