D&D 5E Is 5e the Least-Challenging Edition of D&D?

[Garthanos]

Going to the blacksmith and saying "Well, I need a sword, a cold iron sword for fey, a red steel sword for aberrations, an iron wood sword for rust monsters, a true ice sword for fire elementals, a silver sword for demons, a..." when they all do the exact same thing, it just matters what they hurt more... That is complexity for the sake of bookkeeping, not interesting decisions to be made in your loadout.

Which is why I like custom McGuffins not built in ones.... The Vampire is only vulnerable to a cross his lover owned during their life together is an example.

 

[Weiley31]

Honestly? I kind of like this to a degree.

Sure, it would be nice to have a wider range of weapons, but not for stuff like overcoming resistances. I'd much prefer to choose to wield a sword because I get +1d6 lightning damage as compared to the axe where I can gain temp hp when I strike with it, that is an interesting decision.

Going to the blacksmith and saying "Well, I need a sword, a cold iron sword for fey, a red steel sword for aberrations, an iron wood sword for rust monsters, a true ice sword for fire elementals, a silver sword for demons, a..." when they all do the exact same thing, it just matters what they hurt more... That is complexity for the sake of bookkeeping, not interesting decisions to be made in your loadout.

I think they went a little too far, we definetly need more interesting magical items (especially for Druids, Monks, Barbarians, Clerics and Rangers) but I like cutting back on that endless list of "special materials"

I actually like and STILL implement the materials like that, but only as advantage/extra damage towards their respective specialized monster type.

 

[Weiley31]

Also wait, Red Steel for Aberrations? That's a new one for me. Where is the material Red Steel from?

 

[Garthanos]

Any blade coated in this Werewolves families blood can defeat it ... then add a twist hitting it with such causes it to make a save or take human form a true defeat.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Also wait, Red Steel for Aberrations? That's a new one for me. Where is the material Red Steel from?

I honestly don't remember. I did some research into various materials a few weeks ago, trying to create some interesting mechanics, and I think I saw it then.

 

[Weiley31]

I honestly don't remember. I did some research into various materials a few weeks ago, trying to create some interesting mechanics, and I think I saw it then.

All I keep on getting is a campaign setting.

 

[tetrasodium]

Do these parties never do any research or ask any questions about whatever adventure they're contemplating? About what they might be up against? About the history of the place, and who-what might have lived there? About what might be useful and-or required in order to have a better chance of a) surviving and b) success?

If no, they deserve whatever they get.

Or even ask "well.. gee mister mayor we really want to work for you, but it seems like five guys in platemail are an odd choice to clear out the rustmonster nest in your iron mine..."

Heck even "we can take care of your cursed artifact... but your gonna need to put down a bunch up front so we can buy some ghost touch armor * & some potions. Luckily as the king I bet you've been planning this for a while & have some guys who can just make it if they didn't already your majesty"
Yes hose wraiths will put the fear of god in certain builds, but those same builds are going to shrug off the skeleton archers & whatnot putting the feat of god in other builds.

* Yes you could find/buy/make ghost touch armor, but as a +3 enhancement bonus you probably didn't have +3 ghost touch platemail & +3 ghost touch (tower)shield for an ac of nat20 or not my problem so then some stuff pretty far south of things like lich mu

Honestly? I kind of like this to a degree.

Sure, it would be nice to have a wider range of weapons, but not for stuff like overcoming resistances. I'd much prefer to choose to wield a sword because I get +1d6 lightning damage as compared to the axe where I can gain temp hp when I strike with it, that is an interesting decision.

Going to the blacksmith and saying "Well, I need a sword, a cold iron sword for fey, a red steel sword for aberrations, an iron wood sword for rust monsters, a true ice sword for fire elementals, a silver sword for demons, a..." when they all do the exact same thing, it just matters what they hurt more... That is complexity for the sake of bookkeeping, not interesting decisions to be made in your loadout.

I think they went a little too far, we definetly need more interesting magical items (especially for Druids, Monks, Barbarians, Clerics and Rangers) but I like cutting back on that endless list of "special materials"

There is a difference between everyone needing to carry eight different weapons and everyone ignoring all aspects of a weapon but "does it use the right stat", "is it a desirable die size" & "is it magic". I mentioned ASF, ACP, crit range, crit mod, & so on because they were important dials a GM could use wen creating an interesting laterally improved weapon. Lower crit mod but higher +/magic effect like +1d6 lightning/temp hp... Lower better AC but higher ACP hmmm... that's tempting lets all hem & haw the pros & cons of those lateral shifts. Now in 5e " no blacksmith... I already got +1 dagger, don't need another even if it does electric instead of magic pierce damage, you got it in short sword(d6) or rapier(d8), What about with an effect that makes me better at what I already do." Even damage types like bludgeon/pierce/slash are irrelevant once they become magic in any form. It leads to excessive power inflation.

Back in 3.5 they realized that having "a sword, a cold iron sword for fey, a red steel sword for aberrations, an iron wood sword for rust monsters, a true ice sword for fire elementals, a silver sword for demons, a..." was too many specific niches when they made eberron when they made byeshek (aberrations) & Flametouched iron (sort of a general treated as good aligned) to cover most everything that needs more than the right physical damage type like zombies slash) & skeletons(bludgeoning) or +# weapons. maybe celestials or something need some special type, but if your battling angels you are pretty out there in most settings.... however those were not in FR in 3.5& silver was so so only silver & magic was considered when making the mm & phb.

Although... your fire elemental though doesn't need anything for dr / - ;D

 

[Chaosmancer]

All I keep on getting is a campaign setting.

Shrug

Maybe it is a campaign setting and I mixed it up with another material. I honestly do not remember where it was or what it was. I was just looking for stuff a while back and in the process I dug through a lot of things that repeated

 

[DND_Reborn]

Not with a 6-8 encounter day and all of them being combats of recommended CR by the book. That is deadly or your encounters are extremely easy or your group is absolutely pro and has tailored classes who work most effectively woith each other or your mobs do not act according to their intelligence or other traits.

While this is not my prefered gameplay because it is hack and slay, personally i do tailor the encounters so many of the mare are a real risk. But this requires much involvement in the stats and experience and a also a portion of "instinct" on how a given encounter might play out and will not work by just picking up the three books and using just what is written therein.

Well, we simply disagree.

You have no idea how our players play, what our characters are like, or anything g else. If your experience differs, fine, but I stand by my statement that 5E is the easiest and least deadly D&D (disregarding 4th, which I never played) IME, especially when using the guidelines in the DMG. Others have agreed 5E is the least-challenging in the aspect of survival (especially past tier I), so I am hardly alone in that assessment.

To give you an example, our party of 5 10-12th level characters, had these encounters in our session yesterday:

2 Frost Giants (DIFFICULT)
1 Frost Giant (EASY)
2 Young Adult White Dragons (EASY)
1 Frost Giant (EASY)
1 Cloud Giant, 1 Oni, 4 Ogres (DEADLY)
8 Ogres (MODERATE)
3 Frost Giants (DEADLY)
2 Fire Giants, 4 Ogres (DIFFICULT)

SHORT REST

1 Drow Wizard, 1 Drow Elite Warrior (EASY)
2 Cloud Giants, 2 Winter Wolves (DEADLY)
3 Frost Giants (DEADLY)

LONG REST (end of session)

In summary: 4 EASY, 1 MODERATE, 2 DIFFICULT, 4 DEADLY. If you do any XP tally we earned a bit more than what the calculated 4 moderate + 4 difficult (max of the 6-8 recommended) would give.

While the deadly encounters most certainly had their exciting moments and a couple characters dropped to 0 HP in different fights, we were able to finish the battles and no one died, despite 4 "deadly" encounters before we got a long rest. In other words, the game played pretty much as designed IMO and I would day we had a lot of fun and excitement. Was I ever really concerned when those character went unconscious? Nope, be we had the upper hand at those points and saving them was easy enough. Now, if you play with a hard-ass DM who has monsters target fallen characters (which ours does at times depending on the monster and encounter), THAT makes the game more challenging.

 

[Garthanos]

I honestly don't remember. I did some research into various materials a few weeks ago, trying to create some interesting mechanics, and I think I saw it then.

Atlantis had a metal called Orichalchum that was described as a Red if I recall.