D&D 5E Is D&D 90% Combat?

In response to Cubicle 7’s announcement that their next Doctor Who role playing game would be powered by D&D 5E, there was a vehement (and in some places toxic) backlash on social media. While that backlash has several dimensions, one element of it is a claim that D&D is mainly about combat.

Head of D&D Ray Winninger disagreed (with snark!), tweeting "Woke up this morning to Twitter assuring me that [D&D] is "ninety percent combat." I must be playing (and designing) it wrong." WotC's Dan Dillon also said "So guess we're gonna recall all those Wild Beyond the Witchlight books and rework them into combat slogs, yeah? Since we did it wrong."

So, is D&D 90% combat?



And in other news, attacking C7 designers for making games is not OK.

D&D 5E - Doctors & Daleks - Cubicle 7 Brings Doctor Who to D&D 5E

Cubicle 7 -- makers of the official Doctor Who roleplaying game -- has announced that the Doctor will officially be coming to 5E soon under the name Doctors and Daleks. There are no dates or details yet, over than that the Doctors and Daleks Player's Guide will launch 'soon'. A NEW COMPANION...

www.enworld.org

 

[payn]

Good point...I wonder how they will do XP rewards in the doctor who game

Good question. I think the typical kill things and level is very anathema to Dr. Who which is likely the driver of the outcry. The cyberpunk game reduced it to 10 levels instead of 20. Though, was still very closely aligned with how D&D is run in 5E. I actually really like RPGs that don't use level at all, but I know its a very compelling game loop for many RPGers.

 

[FrogReaver]

One pro for Dr Who using the D&D 5e system is there's little to interfere with them creating additional subsystems on top of the skills system.

Depending on what other subsystems they overlay on the core 5e systems they could have class abilities referencing those subsytems much more than D&D's class features referencing combat traits.

A 5e game stripped of most of the combat focus in character classes would be one heck of a game IMO.

 

[FrogReaver]

To answer the question in the OP, IMO, D&D is all about combat. It's about avoiding combat, talking your way out of it, deciding when to initiate it, deciding how to win it once it's broken out, etc. Nearly everything in D&D revolves around combat in some sense. That doesn't mean you are fighting or in combat all the time, or even most the time. It's just the backdrop upon which everything else in the game revolves.

 

[Jaeger]

...In response to Cubicle 7’s announcement that their next Doctor Who role playing game would be powered by D&D 5E, there was a vehement (and in some places toxic) backlash on social media. While that backlash has several dimensions, one element of it is a claim that D&D is mainly about about combat.

IMHO focusing on the whole 90% combat comment thing is redirecting the discussion from the real underlying frustrations behind the backlash...

When it comes to marketable RPG IP:

Does everything, Everything, really have to be converted to 5e D&D !?*

In my opinion, the backlash seen here is basically a "Is Nothing Sacred?" plea.

A D&D5e: "All Your RPG's Are Us." Type of thing that some seem to be finding a bit tiresome.


* In case your wondering, the answer is: Yes. IP Licenses are expensive and these RPG companies are going to do everything they can to maximize their ROI. Because people like their D&D with different setting veneers.

Why is the assumption that a OGL game has to stick strictly to 5E's gameplay loop?

Because every name IP adapted to D&D 5e rules has made sure they are Fully Compatible with the 5e rules set.

Classes, Levels, and Hit Point Bloat.

Every. Single. One.

Hit Point Bloat alone enforces a certain amount of D&D tier power creep.

It will be just another setting Veneer over the core 5e rules set.

Yes, it will have "special rules" for Dr. Whoish stuff, but fundamentally it will be D&D/5e Modern with time travel in an Old police phone booth.

On the bright side, it's likely the closest we'll get to an actual Spelljammer campaign book. So there is that...

 

[Scott Christian]

So, is D&D 90% combat?

I would say it depends on what level the PCs are.

1st level probably rolls around 25-50% for most of the stuff I have seen.

10th level? 50-75%.

20th level? 80-90%

I mean, a tenth level combat, on average takes over an hour if the DC is comparable. A four-hour session can have two or three encounters. The five or six 20th level fights I have been a part of take a couple hours.

 

[EzraV]

It depends on the level. D&D always starts out with a focus on roleplay because combats resolve quicky at levels 1-5 since neither the characters nor the monsters have a lot of HPs. By level 7 and above, however, combat expands as HPs balloon and combat begins to push everything else to the side. At level 7, it's difficult to have a battle that won't require most of a gaming session to resolve, at which point a GM has to decide whether to have sessions without combat or just focus on combat.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Do I think that 5E is a good system for Doctor Who? Not at all. Am I going to judge Cubicle 7 for doing it? Nah, I'm just not going to buy the system.
But I'm definitely on the side of "D&D is primarily a combat engine". For me, if the primary and frequently only method of mechanical advancement is being able to kill things more efficiently, then your system is about combat. Games run in the system may not be combat focused, but that's done by deliberately ignoring what the game is encouraging you to do.
I buy game systems for the mechanical engagement they provide. Freeform roleplay I can do without purchasing a game system.

 

[Minigiant]

The rules are 90% but that only because no one wants to not down the foulness of what's said in actual play.

 

[R_Chance]

OK. The rules of D&D might be combat heavy. The reason for that is simple. Combat is one of the most consequential bits to PC survival. You can spend several sessions without combat and have it all culminate in a duel. Tooling around town, socializing and preparing for a wedding (invitations, catering, etc.) might not kill you. But the best man having to fight a duel to allow the wedding to go forward and prevent one of the participants from being legally kidnapped can kill him. The whole thing was fun and pretty RP heavy. Until the challenge was issued during the ceremony. Talk of the town for weeks afterwards

There are some things (combat and magic spring to mind) that are going to eat up space in the rules. Unless you are cutting the books up and weighing the rules content it doesn't have that much to do with game play at the table. That, as so many have said, depends on the table.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I wouldn't say 90%, but 5e is weak in non-combat possibilities. The skill system is limited, and the vast torrent of utility spells and abilities make investigative scenarios too easy.

I'm dropping 5e as a fantasy system, and using just in (no magic, no psi) modern+ settings.