D&D 5E How do you feel about PC abilities being nerfed by the DM?

[aco175]

I think I would rather adjust encounters, than take away things from the players. I agree that session 0 is where to talk about things. I feel lucky in that my group tends to just take PHB things and even leave out the big feats that many talk about needing fixing.

 

[Cadence]

I suggested that he buff the monsters instead, but he didn't like that idea.

I think I would rather adjust encounters, than take away things from the players.

Doesn't buffing the monsters / encounters because of one character effectively nerf all of the other characters in terms of dealing with the monsters and encounters? Or is the DM only supposed to buff them when the moon druid is around and not when the party splits up or the like?

 

[aco175]

Doesn't buffing the monsters / encounters because of one character effectively nerf all of the other characters in terms of dealing with the monsters and encounters? Or is the DM only supposed to buff them when the moon druid is around and not when the party splits up or the like?

I would guess that adjusting the CR of the encounter for the group that includes the moon druid- or any other more powerful class. If a average party of PCs can take on a challenge X and then an optimized party can take on Y. The DM needs to know the level of the party and the skill of the players to make the encounters.

 

[Cadence]

I would guess that adjusting the CR of the encounter for the group that includes the moon druid- or any other more powerful class. If a average party of PCs can take on a challenge X and then an optimized party can take on Y. The DM needs to know the level of the party and the skill of the players to make the encounters.

It's not the whole party being optimized though if its just one character that chose the most powerful options, is it? (If the CR is upped by adding an extra creature, does that extra one always go for the more powerful character? If the CR is upped by making them all a bit more powerful, does that beat down on the less powerful characters more?)

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I play lots of HERO where the balance comes from GM and player back and forth rather than from the system itself.
If that happens in D&D and handled with respect, not a demand, I'm cool with it. I build a character for a new Champions Campaign with a GM I had not gamed with before. I had a 30 pt variable power pool, and almost short circuited the game. So I came to him and told him I was retiring the character, because I understand.

 

[aco175]

It's not the whole party being optimized though if its just one character that chose the most powerful options, is it? (If the CR is upped by adding an extra creature, does that extra one always go for the more powerful character? If the CR is upped by making them all a bit more powerful, does that beat down on the less powerful characters more?)

I would think that the 'CR' of the party is now increased, for good or bad, and that comes out in DM encounter design. If there is one PC that is as powerful as two others, then the party can basically count as having one more PC for determining the difficulty of monsters. I may not be fair to the other PCs. DMs may target the one PC more, or even not have magic intended for him. Some of this may be poor sport on the DMs part though.

Likely better to deal with things in session 0 or when things happen if the DM did not know how powerful some choices are.

I wonder if there is some similar things when there is one experienced player and the rest of the table not, maybe some if the one player is older and the rest young. Like a father and the rest middle-schoolers. There may be better tactics and options thought of when you are older and having played before.

 

[bloodtide]

I don't "nerf". My default game world is Hard and Tough, so that covers anything the characters abilities that might be a problem.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Last week, one of my fellow players decided to DM Candlekeep. I rolled up a circle of the moon druid and sent him the character sheet. A couple of days later, he sends me a text claiming that the Moon druid's wild shape to too powerful, and he wanted me to use an alternate table he found on the Internet. I was a little disappointed, but I understood his concern and appreciated that he told me before the game started. I suggested that he buff the monsters instead, but he didn't like that idea.

So, as a DM, do you/would you nerf a players RAW abilities? As a player, would you mind?

I would not do that, no, and while I probably wouldn't be too upset about it as a player, I readily understand why another player might (and I'd call them justified in it). Once they've invested a bunch of time and energy into designing their new favorite character, I figure that's that. If they're OP, they're OP and we play them as such. If other players grow annoyed by that, I'll find a way to counterbalance it by boosting them with magic items and quickly re-tool my encounter tables and monster stats to handle the New-and-Improved Party.

IME, buffing doesn't hurt feelings nearly so much as nerfing.

 

[Cadence]

Last week, one of my fellow players decided to DM Candlekeep. I rolled up a circle of the moon druid and sent him the character sheet.

Based on some of the responses below, I guess two question are:

(1) how much time and effort did you put into rolling up the druid, and how detailed was the background you had for it?

(2) had there been a session 0 before you rolled it up / had the DM asked you to roll it up yet?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Last week, one of my fellow players decided to DM Candlekeep. I rolled up a circle of the moon druid and sent him the character sheet. A couple of days later, he sends me a text claiming that the Moon druid's wild shape to too powerful, and he wanted me to use an alternate table he found on the Internet. I was a little disappointed, but I understood his concern and appreciated that he told me before the game started. I suggested that he buff the monsters instead, but he didn't like that idea.

So, as a DM, do you/would you nerf a players RAW abilities? As a player, would you mind?

I

As a DM, I strongly dislike doing it. For me, houseruling stuff shouldn’t make the game less fun for anyone.

As a player, I would present my general and specific arguments against it, and if the DM won’t budge, I would play a different concept. Better to play my second or third choice than to play a nerfed version of my first choice.

This is especially true when I know that the thing isn’t broken. Like the moon Druid.