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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 6976025" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I don't agree, I'm sorry. Your criticism has merit, I said, so I don't think I am painting your criticism as unreasonable. I also find that some of the higher level monsters in the MM need a bit of tweaking in order to be as effective as I like them. It's the solution you request. You mentioned a "complete overhaul" of the system, as it pertains to monsters and high level play. I do think that is unreasonable. You may as well invite Jeremy Crawford to your house to fix your game. It's an entitled view and it's one that you think anyone who might share your criticism also agrees with. I don't think that's the case. You absolutely have the tools needed. Your own judgment being the most important. To use your own example of Juiblex....you already know that you have to "add a way to counter trivial tactics or the CR should be dropped". So do that. You've recognized the problem and how it needs to be addressed in a general way....so now decide the specific solution. In this case, I would assume that dropping his CR is not desirable because he's meant to be a huge threat. So then add an ability that removes his seeming vulnerability to the repelling blast or any other spam tactic that your players use. Maybe Juiblex is so elastic that he cannot be forcibly moved? Seems reasonable. This, in my opinion, is the far more reasonable approach. Legendary actions and resistance, spellcasting ability, daily powers, resistances, improved skills.....all of these are ways you can adjust a monster slightly in order to achieve the effect you want. These are almost all existing game mechanics that you are already familiar with. These are the tools available to you. It's one thing to say "My criticism of 5E is that high level monster design feels incomplete" and quite another to say "I feel that high level monsters are lacking, and I expect the designers to address my concern in an official capacity through errata or an updated Monster Manual." For plenty of players who don't play in the same hyper-optimized way that you and your players choose to play the game, the monsters and rules work as is, with little or no modification. Expecting the design to cater to you rather than to more average baseline is a pretty entitled way to view the game. You are far more capable of tweaking the system to match your expectations than a new player or DM is to do the same. I can understand the desire to have some assistance for new DMs to learn the ropes. I think it far less likely for new DMs to have to deal with this, as I think it is something that comes with some level of system mastery on the part of the players. There certainly will be examples of a new DM running a game for more experienced players, but I think that is far less often the case...typically the DM is of equal or greater experience as the players. As I said, I can understand the desire of this. It's odd in that the source of this criticism is usually not someone that seems in need of it; mostly it is coming from folks who have plenty of experience as a DM. My take on it would be that it would be a great idea for someone to sell on the DMs Guild. I don't think that it makes sense for WotC to produce such a product. I don't know if it would have enough appeal for them. I honestly think that this is the kind of thing that is best learned through experience, and to a lesser extent, through discussion on boards like these, or with other players and DMs. I mean, most of the time, the answer isn't as complex as we make it....if the party always sneaks up on everything, then raise the perception score of the important monsters to give them a chance to notice the PCs. Don't rely on passive perception and let them make actual checks. Simple.</blockquote>

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