D&D General Explain Bounded Accuracy to Me (As if I Was Five)

[tetrasodium]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

I have, there are significant benefits to the game's long term health. If players are told "talk to me & work out coming in with a new PC next time you guys come back to town or similar & you can come back with the same level pc but there will be an exp penalty* to the new PC if make me kill you so you can do it & expect to hop in tight away". No that's not penalizing a player who happens to die, there's a clear & generally obvious difference between bob unexpectedly getting ganked through bad luck or whatever vrs bob seeking out a swordbush in order to recklessly belly flop onto it

edit: * Like half. If you look at the exp table on PHB15 each level takes roughly double what the one before it took. That results in generally dropping down to a point somewhere into the previous level with the point being somewhat dependent on where the now dead PC was in their pre-death level

 

[Gorck]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

In my old 3rd edition group, our DM had us do that. It was very terrifying trying not to die again with my new, weak character. But eventually I'd work my way back up to within a level or 2 of the rest of the party.

In my current 5 edition group (where I'm the DM), we've yet to have a character die. I think, if anyone were to die, I'd prefer for them to start out at level one, because they're new players, and therefore haven't played every class multiple times. I'd like them to learn the ropes of their new class, then gain abilities as they level, rather than starting at a higher level with too many options to try to figure out all at once. If they were seasoned veterans, I probably would let them start out at the same level as the rest of the party.

 

[ezo]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

We've done this as well. However, for 5E our current rule is if your PC dies and you are bringing in a new one, your XP is half the remaining party average. In general, at lower levels, this means the replacement PC will be a level or two behind the rest of the party, but close enough to easily contribute effectively.

 

[Charlaquin]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

I haven’t done it yet, but I’d love to try it at some point, but I’m the kind of freak who playes WoW hardcore mode on purpose.

I do think it would require a very particular type of campaign to work well. In a typical D&D campaign with a consistent cast of PCs taking on challenges of gradually increasing difficulty, having to train up a new character from first level would be a huge inconvenience at best, especially if there’s any kind of traditionally-told narrative stringing the adventures together. But, I do think it would be a really fun element to like a West Marches type campaign, where you first find a group of other adventures at or near your level, and then set out into the wilderness and/or the dungeon in search of challenge appropriate to your group’s level. Rather than being the one weakling in a group of much more powerful characters who either have to carry you through stuff that’s too tough for you, or snooze while you grind through stuff that’s too easy for them.

Now I think about it, permadeath could be a fun self-imposed challenge in an organized play context. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a good experience with Adventurer’s League (or it’s predecessor, Living Forgotten Realms).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Okay. Do you have anything actually productive to contribute to the conversation, beyond "Well that's, like, your opinion, man"?

Just that those who value verisimilitude in their gaming need to balance that desire with playability, and I feel a fully unified system takes that balance too far from the simulation stance I and others prefer. Some unification for practical play? Absolutely.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

Hard to do in 5e, which is a shame in my opinion, and one of the reasons I prefer non-unified XP tables for different classes.

 

[billd91]

Do you do this? I never once seem someone do this in person, online, or even bring it up in discussions.

We did this back in the AD&D days, but then, it was more possible to do so because of the way it worked. The design changes in 3e and 4e largely made it impossible. And, thanks to 5e, it has become a more viable option again.

 

[Shardstone]

We've done this as well. However, for 5E our current rule is if your PC dies and you are bringing in a new one, your XP is half the remaining party average. In general, at lower levels, this means the replacement PC will be a level or two behind the rest of the party, but close enough to easily contribute effectively.

View attachment 350585

How did it turn out? Im interested.

 

[tetrasodium]

How did it turn out? Im interested.

IME very little pushback once players get over the "gasp half?" kneejerk by having the exp table flipped to & the roughly doubling scale it increases at each level.

 

[Lanefan]

1. Minions were excellent, though. This seems like too much of a question of taste.

4e monster design in general was a hot mess IMO; in that a monster's stats changed based on what was fighting it rather than being locked in and thus defining what made the monster tick in relation to ALL the rest of the fiction including the PCs.

2. I sure hope people aren't playing with mixed-level parties...

Why not? Does nothing in your game occasionally bestow a level to a lucky PC? Or drain one, if unlucky? Do replacements for dead PCs always come in at the same level as the character they're replacing?

5e is way better able to handle mixed-level parties than either 3e or 4e, and it's the flatter power curve that makes this possible.

And in case henchmen are being used, and now admittedly I don't think 5e actually has rules for henchmen in the first place, you can just decide their to hit bonus arbitrarily.

If 5e doesn't have rules for henches (though I thought it did, somewhere) that would count as a big-time miss.

And even then, you wouldn't decide the henches' to-hit bonus arbitrarily anyway, right? If the hench is a 4th level Fighter then it attacks etc. just like a PC of the same class and level would - or at least one would think so.

4. I'm not sure I agree. I haven't personally played 1E D&D, but isn't that game full of you-must-be-this-tall-to-enter stuff? I think golems are essentially immortal unless stuck with +X weapons, for example.

Which is why a wise DM doesn't throw golems at the PCs until either a) the PCs have some gear that can touch the golems or b) the players have learned to have their PCs run away sometimes.