I solved making 5E challenging

[MichaelSomething]

So people are talking about how 5E rules generally stack things in favor of the PCs and against monsters, more so in higher levels. Wouldn't the easiest way to fix it be just reverse it? I mean have players make characters based off the systems in the monster Manuel while the DMs follow the generation sytems in the phb.

Now we're back to PCs crawling up against stricly more powerful foes!

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[ccs]

I've solved it just by:
1) Taking the abilities of the characters actually being played into account.
2) Playing intelligent monsters/foes intelligently.

Believe me, no one in my Fri night game would say they're having a cake walk....

 

[cmad1977]

I've solved it just by:
1) Taking the abilities of the characters actually being played into account.
2) Playing intelligent monsters/foes intelligently.

Believe me, no one in my Fri night game would say they're having a cake walk....

Play bad guys as individuals with goals/motivations and BAM deadly.


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[Caliban]

I create important humanoid enemies the using PHB rules. Works out pretty well.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I've solved it just by:
1) Taking the abilities of the characters actually being played into account.
2) Playing intelligent monsters/foes intelligently.

Believe me, no one in my Fri night game would say they're having a cake walk....

Well there are DMs who aren't good at doing that. How can they learn to do it well?

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[darjr]

Actually this gives me an idea.

Each player starts with a low cr NPC. One with monster stats. When they 'level' they can pick one at a higher dc. Or they gain the abilities of a higher dc NPC.

A character funnel could consist of hand full of 1/4 cr NPC for each player.

 

[Arnwolf666]

Well there are DMs who aren't good at doing that. How can they learn to do it well?

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Practice

 

[Ath'kethin]

Well there are DMs who aren't good at doing that. How can they learn to do it well?

Practice

Exactly. You get better at doing things by doing them.

Would you like a handbook for it? Read. Fiction, nonfiction, whatever. The more you expose yourself to putting words together, the better you get at putting plots and ideas and characters together.

It can be intimidating. But many people with virtually no social skills or oratory ability have been doing it effectively for over there decades now. There's no reason you can't do it too.

 

[Rhenny]

(Not meant to be facetious or snide) Here's another way to solve it:

Make the story interesting. Give players/PCs real choices that affect the story. Don't focus too much on just combat. Make exploration and interaction integral and also potentially risky/tense. Build tension through variety of difficulty with tasks and combat.

Mechanically, if combat is the thing you want to be more difficult, I've just used max hit points for creatures and given some creatures interesting extra abilities. The combats last a little longer, but they definitely feel more epic and dangerous. Here's a thread/table I created to inspire more epic feeling monsters/NPCs - http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?512098-Modify-Your-Monsters

 

[TwoSix]

I create important humanoid enemies the using PHB rules. Works out pretty well.

Hardest fight I've had in D&D was our 12th level party against a 17th level champion fighter with some smart feat picks and a few decent magic items, backed up by a few golems. That guy brutalized us, and if I hadn't trapped him for a few rounds with a wall of stone, we would have lost.