D&D 5E Less killing

[Quartz]

The body count in D&D really bums me out, especially when it comes to my players (my kids).

Perhaps you should consider an alternative game system? One that places less emphasis on combat. D&D is the original looter-shooter game.

 

[Ry]

I'm definitely considering other systems, but there's something about how well-supported D&D is that just gives and gives and gives in terms of compatible content.

 

[Nefermandias]

I'm definitely considering other systems, but there's something about how well-supported D&D is that just gives and gives and gives in terms of compatible content.

5e can't even claim to be "well supported" if we compare it with the number of sourcebooks released for the previous editions. Also, more often than not, 5e rules lean heavily on "DM decides" anyway.

 

[Cadence]

5e can't even claim to be "well supported" if we compare it with the number of sourcebooks released for the previous editions. Also, more often than not, 5e rules lean heavily on "DM decides" anyway.

I always think of "well supported" as settings and adventures, not splat books. How does it do in terms of them?

 

[Li Shenron]

• most enemies stopped attacking after half damage, and tried to reach safety instead
• most opponents swoon or cower after 3/4 damage

question: does that just ruin D&D or could it still be fun?

I have always done these for typical intelligent enemies and the game never seemed to be less fun than in tables where everyone fights to the death.

Also, I have often encountered player groups whose general strategy is to minimise combat encounters. This is not always easy to encourage without forcing your hand though.

 

[Nefermandias]

I always think of "well supported" as settings and adventures, not splat books. How does it do in terms of them?

Very few setting books and quiet a few big hardcover modules that are not as useful as the older, smaller and self contained adventures.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Just wanted to say, having recently finished reading through the Wild Beyond the Witchlight, it‘s not as simple as choosing to never fight. There are some situations where luck is involved. If the dice don’t go your way, or you choose to walk into the wrong place (sometimes with no reason to expect going there will lead to combat), combat is likely to ensue.

Now, the number of those situations is small, and a DM could change them if they really wanted to guarantee combat would only come about by choice, but by default that isn’t the case.

What I have noticed (and I have not read the whole thing) is that the party can be rewarded for not killing defeated foes and the DM is instructed to take the party prisoner instead of a TPK.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Why not state that 0 HP isn't death but simply "enemy decides not to fight any more"?

Classic first response nails it here.

This is the solution to the problem, not complicated rules - though I applaud having enemies run away when it would be sensible for them to do so, it's always weird and immersion-breaking when some random opportunistic bandit or predator, or even more cowardly creature fights to the death, especially when "You only have to run faster than your friends" tends to apply well to situations where people flee from adventurers.

But yeah, just narrate HP loss differently and 0 HP as giving up in whatever form. D&D will continue to work fine. Adventure design may need to be a bit different of course - you need to decide where the baddies are going to go.

 

[ART!]

I'm definitely considering other systems, but there's something about how well-supported D&D is that just gives and gives and gives in terms of compatible content.

D&D 5E is definitely the most-supported edition of any rpg game system on DriveThruRPG, and then there's DM's Guild.

 

[S'mon]

My son always loved killing things in D&D/RPGs, from when he first started playing age ca 4. Although he's also keen on befriending monsters, bandits, cultists et al and recruiting them to the ranks of his minions.

I think a disillusion with violent fantasy may tend to come with age. Videogames do their best to desensitise us, I remember when I first started playing Fallout 4 and met the first Raiders, getting quite annoyed: "What do you mean I have to kill these people?!"

I think D&D can definitely be run like a 12-rated Superhero film, without a lot of explicit onscreen death. Make 0 hp unconscious not dead, as suggested upthread. Use enemies who don't necessarily have to be finished off - players may feel they need to kill the unconscious goblins, but Captain America doesn't go around headshotting unconscious Hydra mooks (even though he was doubtless trained to do so in the army, as I was BiTD).