D&D 5E It's so hard to die!

[Oofta]

The issue is table time. If you have more players combat already takes longer. More monsters and now it’s even longer.

there are ways to be more efficient at that but it’s just simple math. The more rolls the more time things are going to take to resolve

If I have a lot of monsters, I use mobs. Other times I just add to attack and damage but leave the HP alone. Sometimes I throw in a healthy mix - one or two high level monsters, a bunch of lower level monsters that will flee if the bosses are killed. That, and the goal of encounters is not always "kill everything" and monsters may well flee if they see the tide turning.

 

[Emerikol]

I don’t know of an example where this is false. Phandelver, a podunk village, has a shrine to Avandra with a keeper that supplies healing potions. Any PC or NPC proficient in Herbalism tools can create more.

Every settlement larger than a village is littered with multiple temples and shrines, and while not all priests are clerics, people expect their gods to provide healing as well as spiritual counsel.

While unintelligent monsters may not have access to healing magic, monstrous humanoids all have shamen with access to healing magic and the more militaristic goblinoids likely have dedicated healers and quartermasters.

Well I don't play 5e so maybe there is a disconnect on that issue but I didn't see most people getting healed by a cleric even once in their lifetimes in most D&D settings I've played in the past. I admit I got off the WOTC train in 4e. What does a healing potion cost? More than what most laborers make in a decade and most artisans/craftsman make in year? Who is buying these potions? Adventurers and the very rich/nobility. Most people in my world are not that.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Well I don't play 5e so maybe there is a disconnect on that issue but I didn't see most people getting healed by a cleric even once in their lifetimes in most D&D settings I've played in the past. I admit I got off the WOTC train in 4e. What does a healing potion cost? More than what most laborers make in a decade and most artisans/craftsman make in year? Who is buying these potions? Adventurers and the very rich/nobility. Most people in my world are not that.

The people whom your party is fighting are precisely the people who would have access to this though.

 

[abirdcall]

Well I don't play 5e so maybe there is a disconnect on that issue but I didn't see most people getting healed by a cleric even once in their lifetimes in most D&D settings I've played in the past. I admit I got off the WOTC train in 4e. What does a healing potion cost? More than what most laborers make in a decade and most artisans/craftsman make in year? Who is buying these potions? Adventurers and the very rich/nobility. Most people in my world are not that.

In 5e a modest lifestyle costs 1gp per day. That means you don't live in the slums and you don't go hungry.

A Potion of Healing costs 50gp.

So a potion costs almost 2 months of basic living expenses. A comfortable lifestyle is 2gp per day which is what people would probably be aspiring to so that amounts to 1 month of expenses.

Not a decade or a year's worth of income.

It's true that most people aren't buying the potions but they're also not that far out of reach.

 

[NotAYakk]

In 5e a modest lifestyle costs 1gp per day. That means you don't live in the slums and you don't go hungry.

A Potion of Healing costs 50gp.

So a potion costs almost 2 months of basic living expenses. A comfortable lifestyle is 2gp per day which is what people would probably be aspiring to so that amounts to 1 month of expenses.

Not a decade or a year's worth of income.

It's true that most people aren't buying the potions but they're also not that far out of reach.

Another way of looking at it is that US median household income per person is about 28k per year. You can buy a cheap car for 10k, or 130 days of your per-capita median income. A potion of healing costs 50 person-days of modest lifestyle support.

As the share of "disposable" income -- here, I mean income spent on not-food and not-shelter -- is likely to be lower than a modern US society (which is crazy rich), this means a potion of healing is more expensive than a new car.

So a "middle-class" person in a D&D society might buy a potion of healing as a capital purchase they can make every decade or so at 50 gp per pop. On the other hand, a automatic defibulator is cheaper than that to most US citizens, and few people have one in their home.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Another way of looking at it is that US median household income per person is about 28k per year. You can buy a cheap car for 10k, or 130 days of your per-capita median income. A potion of healing costs 50 person-days of modest lifestyle support.

As the share of "disposable" income -- here, I mean income spent on not-food and not-shelter -- is likely to be lower than a modern US society (which is crazy rich), this means a potion of healing is more expensive than a new car.

So a "middle-class" person in a D&D society might buy a potion of healing as a capital purchase they can make every decade or so at 50 gp per pop. On the other hand, a automatic defibulator is cheaper than that to most US citizens, and few people have one in their home.

The thing is - a basic healing potion is technically affordable for most people, and will bring someone from "dying" to "totally fine." I assume every farm has one o the mantle for emergencies (lots of sharp tools around...), and prays they don't need to use it again for a couple of years.

But, back to the original point: how common such things are depends a lot on how the dm views the setting, and is not set by the rules.

 

[Stalker0]

As the share of "disposable" income -- here, I mean income spent on not-food and not-shelter -- is likely to be lower than a modern US society (which is crazy rich), this means a potion of healing is more expensive than a new car.

So for that low price I can go from on death's door, to completely and fully healed in 6 seconds. Way cheaper than going to a US hospital

 

[abirdcall]

Another way of looking at it is that US median household income per person is about 28k per year. You can buy a cheap car for 10k, or 130 days of your per-capita median income. A potion of healing costs 50 person-days of modest lifestyle support.

As the share of "disposable" income -- here, I mean income spent on not-food and not-shelter -- is likely to be lower than a modern US society (which is crazy rich), this means a potion of healing is more expensive than a new car.

So a "middle-class" person in a D&D society might buy a potion of healing as a capital purchase they can make every decade or so at 50 gp per pop. On the other hand, a automatic defibulator is cheaper than that to most US citizens, and few people have one in their home.

I think we're going off the rails when we start trying to compare things to dollars.

The median Canadian income is $46k USD/year. So there are differences from country to country. I don't think $28k/yr is 'crazy rich' but then I live in a different country so experiences vary.

Also, if there were potions of healing the Canadian government would supply them to me without cost, so there's that too.

Speaking of community health support, many priests and apothecaries in communities would support the injured whether they could pay full price or not. That's just how functioning communities work.

 

[NotAYakk]

I think we're going off the rails when we start trying to compare things to dollars.

The median Canadian income is $46k USD/year. So there are differences from country to country. I don't think $28k/yr is 'crazy rich' but then I live in a different country so experiences vary.

Also, if there were potions of healing the Canadian government would supply them to me without cost, so there's that too.

Speaking of community health support, many priests and apothecaries in communities would support the injured whether they could pay full price or not. That's just how functioning communities work.

The USA is one of the richest countries on the entire planet, and we live in the richest era of human history.

Calling it "crazy rich" is pretty reasonable. If D&D looks at all, I mean at all, like the middle ages, which is the default, yes the USA is crazy rich.

(And that was the median house hold income divided by the average household size, not the median household income. There are going to be countries whose median household income is higher than the USA, but all of them will either be small or they'll be "first world" industrial countries. All of which are "crazy rich".)

 

[CleverNickName]

The USA is one of the richest countries on the entire planet, and we live in the richest era of human history.

Calling it "crazy rich" is pretty reasonable. If D&D looks at all, I mean at all, like the middle ages, which is the default, yes the USA is crazy rich.

That's a good point. Comparing the D&D goldpiece to $USD isn't as easy as comparing apples to apples. It's more like comparing apples to rent.