D&D General Let's Talk About How to "Fix" D&D

[Aldarc]

5e's "exploration pillar" seems to be "exploration is boring, and we couldn't think of a good system, so uh...let's just get rid of it by 5th level."

I refuse to play a Moon Druid on principle.

I would be more likely to pick up Black Hack, Five Torches Deep, or some other post-5e OSR game if I wanted to do something which 5e was clearly not designed to support.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I did a bit of hex-crawling, but 5e offers zero tools to do so. I ended up using a bunch of stuff I found online. And, of course, you quickly get abilities coming online that make exploring trivial. This is one area that I think need a lot more R&D to come up with something new and engaging.

D&D's always been pretty combat-heavy, and 5e's no different, but in terms of the actual system, the pillars are killin', slayin', and murderin'.

 

[Aldarc]

D&D's always been pretty combat-heavy, and 5e's no different, but in terms of the actual system, the pillars are killin', slayin', and murderin'.

I would say that the pillars of play in 5e are action, move action, bonus action, and reaction.

 

[Don Durito]

TSR D&D had Dungeons turns which determined how long things took in a dungeon. How long it took for torches to burn down, to search for secret doors, etc. It also determined when random encounters took place.

Time is a resource in early D&D. There were specific procedures for dungeon exploration.

 

[Coroc]

do not fix it if it isnt broken.
no, seriously, the toolkit is in your hands, it is called DMG.
a capable DM can fix any issue with the game. E.g. Solo mobs: Make the dish out heavy melee damage if they are melee, give tgem some resistance and immunities, have them start at range, if they are ranged, have them begin the first round. Give them some cc to not have to deal with the whole party each round,
if nothing else helps add some cannon fodder.
with any other issue: Remove the term RAW from your and your players vocabulary. Ok if you play AL then it is bad luck for you.

 

[Reynard]

I did a bit of hex-crawling, but 5e offers zero tools to do so. I ended up using a bunch of stuff I found online. And, of course, you quickly get abilities coming online that make exploring trivial. This is one area that I think need a lot more R&D to come up with something new and engaging.

D&D's always been pretty combat-heavy, and 5e's no different, but in terms of the actual system, the pillars are killin', slayin', and murderin'.

Not every act of travel is an exploration. I really like the TOR/AiME journey rules for covering travel between A and B. It streamlines it and allows for interesting events without turning into a bunch of random encounter rolls.

Hexploration is different. I'm still experimenting with tools,but so far I have kind of combined party based skill challenges with encounter charts and placed content.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

1. Get some d20s with no numbers less than 10
2. Go through the monster manual and reduce all AC to zombie level
3. Vorpal swords all around
4. Max PC HP
5. All rests are 5 minutes
6. Get rid of the DM - they’re the biggest problem for PCs at the table
7. Figure out how to monetize Party success IRL
8... 8... I forget what eight was for

wait... (reads OP) I might be misunderstanding what is meant by “fix”...

 

[R_J_K75]

What has been lost - not so much in wilderness exploration but in dungeon exploration - is the concept of players making a map of where they've been; a map that ends up being a real tangible thing the players at the table can look at and engage with.

Im glad its not considered as necessary as it once was. In the early years of playing it was a given that someone would be mapping, These days, I find it to time consuming and distracting from the game at hand versus its benefits. As the DM I generally work off the premise that the characters are mapping, marking the ground theyve covered and taking pains to ensure they dont get lost. If there are extenuating circumstances, or the situation significantly changes I will call for an ability or skill check to see if they get lost. Or if the story is better served and I want them to get lost, I will just tell them that they have become lost. This works for us and I cant even remeber the last time I had anyone mapping at the table.

 

[Asisreo]

Exploration in 5e amounts to tracking encumbrance, rolling wandering monster/getting lost checks, and making Survival checks to find food. It's boring.

I see. Allow me to change that perspective and then let me provide a couple of houserules and options I use to help my table.

First off, there's a distinction that needs to be made clear. Exploration isn't boring or broken. I daresay you enjoy exploration amongst the other pillars the most. That is, exploration is intertwined with combat and social.

When you say "I move closer to my enemy." You are exploring. You've stated your intended action and the DM described the result. That's the core of exploration. Likewise, "I attack," is an exploration declaration. Spells are even moreso exploration because their various effects can definitely change the environment around you and help you discover more.

But also, exploration is when you open doors. Its asking the DM if you spot any traps or if you can send your familiar to scout. Exploration at its core is there and very often the most exciting part of D&D for the majority of players.


What you want is Survival. Survival is about challenging the players by having nature itself as the antagonist. They must fend for their lives against harsh climates, starvation, thirst, diseases, and poisons. The rules for this are decent at best, but the system wasn't designed for mundane nature to threaten the party, so here's what you could do:

1. They can't just forage. They need to be in a location that has sustainable food. Make sure their environments have as little edible food as possible. Don't let them just say "I forage for food while we make camp." Tell them they couldn't find any food in the immediate area until they're in an area you deem fit for food. Yes, that means edible animals are rare, too.

2. Magical Food is cursed with Magical Diseases. I'm against restricting spell choice in particular so I want to make sure they understand that there's risks to just eating. Now, don't edit the actual spell but put them in environments that rot magical foods. Fantastical Characters require fantastical settings after all.

3. Slow down. The party will always want to rush from where they're uncomfortable to where they're comfortable so make sure that they have to fight before they get to that light across the tunnel. Sometimes literally but put challenges such as (relatively easy) puzzles and hazards between their them and their goal to make sure they aren't just saying "We walk to town...and we're there but let me mark off exhaustion."

In fact, everyday or at least every week in survival campaigns should have a unique challenge for the players that they simply cannot ignore or resolve quickly. Have them deal with issues like an incoming blizzard forecast that will have them make navigation checks at disadvantage and double exhaustion if they don't find shelter or a Tornado that could scatter any of their useful supplies if they can't find anything to pin their belongings safely.

 

[Reynard]

I don't think it is particularly helpful for discussion to redefine terms that we should generally agree on (with some possible fuzzy edges). Calling an attack roll part of "exploration" (just to pick an example) muddies the discussion.