D&D 5E (2024) Effects that kill you at 0 hp

[Maxperson]

how is could that be the failure of player skill - a 0HP death mechanic is nothing that happens in the narrative, its a pure mechanical effect. If you try to telegraph it in the narrative "this monster seems really deadly to you" or something like that, most players will think "oh they probably make tons of damage". I cannot fathom how someone would think it is a players failure to not correctly deduct from the narrative that this monster deactives a full component of game system.

The worst part of the mechanic that we haven't even talked about (correct me if I'm wrong): There is also nothing the players can do about it afterwards, they just have to accept it. I would rather implement something like "because of this masterful necrotic evil spell, you fail your death saving throws at 14 or lower" (like in Tomb of Annihilation) or something like "because of the incredible deadly wound this attack inflicted on you, you only need 2 failed death saving throws to die" because than you have the surprise, but still can react to it.

A mechanic that can't be anticipated, so the players can't make informed decisions to prepare, and that can't be reacted afterwards to diminish the damage, so the players informed decisions afterward are also limited - thats a bad mechanic to me for an TTRPG. Because roleplay is about making informed decisions, even in combat. Sure surprises are exciting, but they must leave the player with a new obstacle, a new problem to overcome, not just with an "oops youre dead". As @James Gasik said correctly IMO, mechanics like these reduce the game to a game of luck.

And OSR games or older D&D editions had a lot more of insta-death traps and abilites - so players knew they existed and anticipated them. 5e normally don't have them, so players have a much harder time to anticipate them.

For the people who like to play the way I am talking about, it is player skill. I'll give an example.

Suppose the party enters a new city and go to the local bar. While at the bar they overhear some locals talking about The Ruins of Doorkey. They decide that it sounds interesting and want to explore them.

The first thing they do is ask around about the ruins. They find an NPC who tells them that the deadly Morkfromork dwells there and nobody returns from the ruins.

Now the party is concerned, so they want to research what a Morkfromork is and can do. So they go to a library and after a time they read a passage that tells of a deadly energy that transfers from a Morkfromork if it should strike solidly with all six claws of its right hand. If that happens, death is instant.

Since only the final hit that takes you to 0 is a solid, damaging hit, they know that they need to avoid dropping to 0 against it.

Perhaps they try to find a sage that knows more to see if there is a way to defend against the attack.

That's player skill in action.

Or they don't do any of that and just go straight to the ruins from the tavern and it's all a surprise. That is a failure of player skill.

 

[jasper]

I've more than once seen 5e players derail the session about monster stat blocks and such for a bit demanding how it was capable of doing things it did then sometimes it later turns into a huge drama storm between the players when they later quit because "monsters are cheating" while trying to spike the campaign itself. One example was a giant of some sort with sentinel added making opportunity attacks from 10 feet away.

Sometimes in 3.x days players got it in their head to argue strict RAW only then it was generally accepted on some level that the GM had wiggle room and leeway when they needed it... But now I think the way AL chains GMs in the ALDMG with what amounts to THOUMUSTHALLRUNMODULEANDRULESABSOLUTEASWRITTEN while failing to provide gms with written options of note encourages many players coming in through AL to carry that expectation through to nonAL games with any deviation being immediate badwrongfun if the deviation is not a tyranny of fun benefit to them.

Dude run the module as written and the monsters are cheating happen back in 1e,

 

[tetrasodium]

Dude run the module as written and the monsters are cheating happen back in 1e,

How exactly would a GM running an adventure they themselves out together do that any more strictly than running what they wrote?

Also read the tail end of the post you quoted "now I think the way AL chains GMs in the ALDMG with what amounts to THOUMUSTHALLRUNMODULEANDRULESABSOLUTEASWRITTEN while failing to provide gms with written options of note encourages many players coming in through AL to carry that expectation through to nonAL games with any deviation being immediate badwrongfun if the deviation is not a tyranny of fun benefit to them". Thanks for proving that point true enough about the curret over the top state of player expectations 5e has encouraged.

 

[jasper]

How exactly would a GM running an adventure they themselves out together do that any more strictly than running what they wrote?

Also read the tail end of the post you quoted "now I think the way AL chains GMs in the ALDMG with what amounts to THOUMUSTHALLRUNMODULEANDRULESABSOLUTEASWRITTEN while failing to provide gms with written options of note encourages many players coming in through AL to carry that expectation through to nonAL games with any deviation being immediate badwrongfun if the deviation is not a tyranny of fun benefit to them". Thanks for proving that point true enough about the curret over the top state of player expectations 5e has encouraged.

No I not going to read the tail end of the post.

 

[Umbran]

No I not going to read the tail end of the post.

Mod Note:
If you aren't going to engage properly, please don't engage at all. Next time you're not going to read, maybe go somewhere else, and do something constructive, instead of threadcrapping, hm? Thanks.