Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 9027788" data-attributes="member: 52734">At the start of 5E and in my wife's latest game.&nbsp; As an &quot;advanced&quot; player, I don't much like it.&nbsp; There are both concept and ability holes in just a PHB only game.&nbsp; I find the characters to be a bit generic and inflexible.&nbsp; Good for beginning players who are just learning the ropes, though.On the other hand, every book added to the game increases the brain load on the DM far more than the players.&nbsp; The players have a limited palette to build an individual character, but the DM has to be able to track/remember that for all the players at the table.&nbsp; Likewise, the chance for unexpected interactions or combos increases for every option added.&nbsp; Even moreso if uncurated multiclassing is allowed.&nbsp; As a DM, you'll end up with a dozen or so if-then-else build and houserules to keep things somewhat in check.&nbsp; Tip: players having index cards with the text of their abilities/spells are a godsend for speeding things up - just as much for the DM as the players.&nbsp; The less time flipping through a book to find something at the table, the better.Kitchen-sink, almost anything goes book use is best for those games that aren't likely to go past 9th level - there's still plenty of tougher high-level opponents to thwart &quot;I win&quot; buttons and the builds don't tend to get too crazy overall.In the end, I think my overall favorite is PHB + 1 book (such as Xanathar's) to cover most of the options and keep the rules referencing/load down to an acceptable load for both sides of the table.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 9027788, member: 52734"] At the start of 5E and in my wife's latest game. As an "advanced" player, I don't much like it. There are both concept and ability holes in just a PHB only game. I find the characters to be a bit generic and inflexible. Good for beginning players who are just learning the ropes, though. On the other hand, every book added to the game increases the brain load on the DM far more than the players. The players have a limited palette to build an individual character, but the DM has to be able to track/remember that for all the players at the table. Likewise, the chance for unexpected interactions or combos increases for every option added. Even moreso if uncurated multiclassing is allowed. As a DM, you'll end up with a dozen or so if-then-else build and houserules to keep things somewhat in check. Tip: players having index cards with the text of their abilities/spells are a godsend for speeding things up - just as much for the DM as the players. The less time flipping through a book to find something at the table, the better. Kitchen-sink, almost anything goes book use is best for those games that aren't likely to go past 9th level - there's still plenty of tougher high-level opponents to thwart "I win" buttons and the builds don't tend to get too crazy overall. In the end, I think my overall favorite is PHB + 1 book (such as Xanathar's) to cover most of the options and keep the rules referencing/load down to an acceptable load for both sides of the table. [/QUOTE]

Verification