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Helping melee combat to be more competitive to ranged.
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<blockquote data-quote="Caliban" data-source="post: 6982140" data-attributes="member: 284"><p>I think perhaps the main reason that ranged combat doesn't dominate in most 5e games is simply because neither the players nor the DM's want it too. Most players (I think - I could be wrong) don't approach it solely as a tactical number crunching game, and most DM's don't run the bad guys as squads of special forces rangers and snipers. </p><p></p><p>A lot of players just don't think about it that way. They think "I want to play the badass barbarian who wades into melee" or "I'm the wizard who confounds the enemy with his magic" (Ok, maybe it's only my wizards who actually use the word "confound"). </p><p></p><p>They build a melee fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin, or rogue because they want to be in melee, not because they've run the numbers and it's tactically more advantageous. It's simply more fun for them. If they play an archer they do it because they feel like playing a ranged character (or because they've read a thread like this one and now their melee character seems inadequate). </p><p></p><p>For most DM's the combats occur as small set pieces and the encounter range is whatever feels appropriate to the DM at the moment. Because this is an RPG game, not a tactical combat simulator with both sides entering the map at opposite ends with the opportunity to hide or initiate ranged combat.</p><p></p><p>If all or most of your players are tactically minded number crunchers and the DM is the same, then yeah. The game is going to tend to revolve around the one or two combat styles or strategies that are most effective. Because for them, being as effective as possible is most of their fun. And since 5e has fewer moving parts than 3e and 4e, it's easier to identify the most effective combat strategies given the current game mechanics. </p><p></p><p>It's just not going to matter for most groups, because the guy who likes playing barbarians is still going to be a barbarian, no matter what. That's the reason he plays the game. The guy who likes playing archers was going to do that anyway. If the archer is out-performing the rest of the group, maybe the DM adds a few extra monsters to each encounter just to harass the archer or to make sure the barbarian (or whatever) gets his kill. </p><p></p><p>Or maybe the DM comes here and reads this discussion and then makes the archer cry as they nerf his OP ass into the ground.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Caliban, post: 6982140, member: 284"] I think perhaps the main reason that ranged combat doesn't dominate in most 5e games is simply because neither the players nor the DM's want it too. Most players (I think - I could be wrong) don't approach it solely as a tactical number crunching game, and most DM's don't run the bad guys as squads of special forces rangers and snipers. A lot of players just don't think about it that way. They think "I want to play the badass barbarian who wades into melee" or "I'm the wizard who confounds the enemy with his magic" (Ok, maybe it's only my wizards who actually use the word "confound"). They build a melee fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin, or rogue because they want to be in melee, not because they've run the numbers and it's tactically more advantageous. It's simply more fun for them. If they play an archer they do it because they feel like playing a ranged character (or because they've read a thread like this one and now their melee character seems inadequate). For most DM's the combats occur as small set pieces and the encounter range is whatever feels appropriate to the DM at the moment. Because this is an RPG game, not a tactical combat simulator with both sides entering the map at opposite ends with the opportunity to hide or initiate ranged combat. If all or most of your players are tactically minded number crunchers and the DM is the same, then yeah. The game is going to tend to revolve around the one or two combat styles or strategies that are most effective. Because for them, being as effective as possible is most of their fun. And since 5e has fewer moving parts than 3e and 4e, it's easier to identify the most effective combat strategies given the current game mechanics. It's just not going to matter for most groups, because the guy who likes playing barbarians is still going to be a barbarian, no matter what. That's the reason he plays the game. The guy who likes playing archers was going to do that anyway. If the archer is out-performing the rest of the group, maybe the DM adds a few extra monsters to each encounter just to harass the archer or to make sure the barbarian (or whatever) gets his kill. Or maybe the DM comes here and reads this discussion and then makes the archer cry as they nerf his OP ass into the ground. [/QUOTE]
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Helping melee combat to be more competitive to ranged.
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