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D&D 5E Game design allow sub optimal class build. Confirmed by M Mearls

Its pretty hard in 5E to create a rubbish PC. Even total Newbs can rock up to a table and not be outshined by experienced gamers with years of experience building characters.

Compare to 3.5 or Pathfinder where the inverse is true.
 

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Satyrn

First Post
thoughts-of-a-falling-bowl-of-petunias.png
 

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich
This is an outright lie. Deny it all you want, that just doesn't happen and you're only saying it happens in order to bolster your point because the truth would prove you wrong.

Short of heavily weighted dice, what you're saying is so far-fetched and such an empirically unsound anecdote that the validity of your claim can satisfactorily be disregarded out of hand. You can't deny the facts of probability anymore than you can prove a claim to be able to exist by consuming nothing but air.

Calling someone a liar is wildly inappropriate. If you have a counterpoint, you can articulate it without the juvenile name-calling. If you can't do that, you don't have to reply.
 


Mad_Jack

Legend
That's what we need, right there:
As soon as 5E Spelljammer comes out, it should include a spell or class feature to summon a falling bowl of petunias at range.

DM: "Pottery falls. Everyone dies..." ;)

I had a 2nd Edition character who was a "warlock" (bad-luck-themed wizard), whose Magic Missiles were often flavored as random things falling on the target's head out of a clear blue sky...
 

One_Shots

First Post
-Edit by IAB- Do not respond to moderation in the thread. Got an issue? Take it to private messages.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

[MENTION=6701872]AaronOfBarbaria[/MENTION]

Do you tell your players: this is demon x, it has 200hp and is immune to fire and poison, or do you just tell HP and AC? The latter is ok, although I do it differently. It is the former I talked about.
If you have a monster with a twist, I won't tell beforehand. Sometimes I tell PCs based on their investigation or other int skills about some abilities. I do tell them during the fight when they notice something proves obviously effective or ineffective.
 

AaronOfBarbaria

Adventurer
Do you tell your players: this is demon x, it has 200hp and is immune to fire and poison, or do you just tell HP and AC?
When the characters encounter a monster, I describe it to the players or show them a picture or miniature so that they are clear on what their character can see.

I then refer to the monster by its name - because that is easier and clearer than the alternative, though I often use miniatures that don't match to what they represent and will refer to a monster by it's representation on the table instead of its name (i.e. last night the party was facing 8 gargoyles, but I only have 2 gargoyle minis so there were things like succubi on the table, and I would say "the red-winged succubus" when meaning "the gargoyle represented by the red-winged succubus" to save time) - and the players lose nothing by knowing the name of the monster their character faces.

I also don't call out hit point totals at the beginning of combat - but I'm not secretive about how many hit points something has, including that I'll sometimes ask a player to do the math on how many HP are left after a particular source of damage just dealt because my brain is busy thinking of other things and isn't getting the math done quick enough.

Edit to add for clarity: I also mention when the creature's HP reach about 1/2, and when they are nearing zero, so that the players can have the same sense as their characters do how much fight something has left, as mentioned earlier.

As for immunity and resistance, I make it clear to the player before they commit to any spending of limited resources so that the player can make an informed decision whether they feel it is "worth it" or not - with the exception being a creature that there is no possible way for the character to correctly guess at the capabilities of, which is an extremely rare thing.

And the players are otherwise not limited in their access to the game information.
 


Maxperson

Morkus from Orkus
I don't really expect people to play optimised characters just somewhat effective ones and to not undermine the groups enjoyment. When half of them just want to screw around and piss people off you are better off without them. I stopped the campaign mid session, basically booted them out of my house and never invited them back.

In 3e and 5e, sub-optimal = somewhat effective ones.
 

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