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

[Nebulous]

1) There is no sports in life and death combat. Combat is war. If you're not prepared for war, stay at home.
2) Valid enemy... That is the reason why I wait for a PC to raise back up at full fighting capacity. This is what I call a "take no chances from here" by the part of the enemies. You down an enemy only to see the downed enemy get back up with a vengeance? I know that I would not give him/her a second chance at my life. I would decapitate, mutilate, do anything to make sure that I would stay safe. The same logic should apply to the players opponents.

Players don't worry about enemies standing back up. They hit zero hit points and they're dead forever. PCs, on the other hand, can easily be revived to full fighting capacity within seconds. Fifth edition goes way out it's way to ensure its heroes don't die. The rules support "not dying" in about every way imaginable, and I don't personally like it as DM because without the threat of death there's no drama. Sure, it can be houseruled away (and I do to some extent) but they still don't like attacking a downed foe. I think it is necessary to do so in the context of the rules the game has established to ensure tension.

 

[fearsomepirate]

1) There is no sports in life and death combat. Combat is war. If you're not prepared for war, stay at home.
2) Valid enemy... That is the reason why I wait for a PC to raise back up at full fighting capacity. This is what I call a "take no chances from here" by the part of the enemies. You down an enemy only to see the downed enemy get back up with a vengeance? I know that I would not give him/her a second chance at my life. I would decapitate, mutilate, do anything to make sure that I would stay safe. The same logic should apply to the players opponents.

Your way isn't very sportsmanlike.

 

[Helldritch]

There is a way. But my players are not sure that they like it.
If you fall, you have to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened when you get back up. The diffuculty is equal to 10 + half the damage that brought you down. So a character will fight with disadvantage for the rest of the fight. In addition, I added the following rule.
Whenever you are frigthened, enemies saves against your spells with advantage. So casters and martial characters alike hates to fall down.

 

[Helldritch]

I am currently trying the above with one of my groups. They do their utmost as to not fall. They feel it is even worse than getting killed... Either the rule is perfect, or it is a bit too extreme. I don't know yet.

 

[Nebulous]

I am currently trying the above with one of my groups. They do their utmost as to not fall. They feel it is even worse than getting killed... Either the rule is perfect, or it is a bit too extreme. I don't know yet.

I would say that is extreme. I just have them gain a level of Exhaustion if they stand back up. That's not so bad unless unless they get dropped and raised multiple times.

 

[Helldritch]

The frightened condition ends at the end of the combat. Exhaustion need a rest to remove. And after two or three whack a mole, you're at the same point as I. But my condition, as I said, ends at the end of combat. Not yours.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't have a whack-a-mole problem.

 

[Helldritch]

I don't have a whack-a-mole problem.

Me neither. Not anymore.

 

[Oofta]

Why would the players be pissed off by monsters, especially intelligent ones, going for the downed PC? My players expect nothing less from the monsters. We eliminated the whack a mole syndrome a few years ago when I made the enemies react to the whack a mole. Now the players are avoiding to fall at all cost by using tactics such as dodge, disengage and other shenanigans to which they have access (such as misty step). I usually allow one recovery before the enemies react with attacking the downed PC.

Yeah, as long as you're up front about it I don't see an issue. We had a new person join (playing a cleric) last session and he wasn't going to heal someone that was down.

I just let him know what the consequence would be - that the PC would be dead when the next monster went. If it makes sense, the bad guys double tap.

Depends on player preference though ... I try to cater to what they will enjoy.

 

[Oofta]

Players don't worry about enemies standing back up. They hit zero hit points and they're dead forever. PCs, on the other hand, can easily be revived to full fighting capacity within seconds. Fifth edition goes way out it's way to ensure its heroes don't die. The rules support "not dying" in about every way imaginable, and I don't personally like it as DM because without the threat of death there's no drama. Sure, it can be houseruled away (and I do to some extent) but they still don't like attacking a downed foe. I think it is necessary to do so in the context of the rules the game has established to ensure tension.

In my game if there is a cleric on team monster they can. It's always up to the DM whether or not monsters dies at 0, the rules just suggest that you do that for convenience.