D&D 5E Losing Interest in Character/ Class?

[fearsomepirate]

I have a player who plays a 7th level wizard and a 7th level cleric at the same time. He has spell cards for each character. One stack for attack spells, one stack for defensive spells and one stack for utility spells. He plays faster than the fighter who only has a single and a simpler character. It's a question of personal investment and player ability.

No matter how fast he is, in three sessions, the wizard and the cleric are just not gonna cast that many fourth-level spells. If you're playing at the WotC recommended speed, the party has one or two more sessions to grok how the dynamics have changed before they change again. Three sessions later, fifth level spells come online. My point is that 5e is a game of constantly-shifting PC abilities, not that there aren't players who have practically memorized the spell book.

 

[atanakar]

No matter how fast he is, in three sessions, the wizard and the cleric are just not gonna cast that many fourth-level spells. If you're playing at the WotC recommended speed, the party has one or two more sessions to grok how the dynamics have changed before they change again. Three sessions later, fifth level spells come online. My point is that 5e is a game of constantly-shifting PC abilities, not that there aren't players who have practically memorized the spell book.

And my point is that some players and DM can handle it better than others. Speed of progression is relative to each groups capacity. I once did a 4e level 1 to level 10 in ten sessions. I was a wild ride. Players would dream up combos «between games». It all comes down to personal investment in the game.

Frankly, AD&D progression was far too slow (snails pace) as I remember it - not to forget XP drain monsters which could literals provoque an actual mental break down in some players.

Have a good day. (signing off)

 

[fearsomepirate]

And my point is that some players and DM can handle it better than others. Speed of progression is relative to each groups capacity. I once did a 4e level 1 to level 10 in ten sessions. I was a wild ride. Players would dream up combos «between games». It all comes down to personal investment in the game.

I'm not saying you can't handle it. I'm saying that when you level up rapidly, you spend a lot more of your overall attention on what you're going to do at your next level, because it's always just a couple sessions away. Being personally invested or not doesn't change the underlying dynamic, which is that rapid leveling focuses more attention on leveling up. 5e is not thee best system for Diablo-speed leveling because leveling up isn't often interesting.

Level/XP drain is stupid, I think we're agreed there.

 

[cbwjm]

I think I get what you mean. A Fighter in an older edition may not have had much in the way of say, mechanical specificity, but there was a great deal of freedom in that too. Within the bounds of, "guy who fights things with weapons", you had a lot of scope to go in any direction you want.

Whereas in 5E you have to choose things like subclasses and that can be less than inspiring if they don't really fit what you want to do.

This is why the champion is my favourite fighter subclass, more often than not it seems to fit what I want out of fighter the best.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Level/XP drain is stupid, I think we're agreed there.

LOL, I love Level/XP drain! Put the fear into ya!

 

[cbwjm]

LOL, I love Level/XP drain! Put the fear into ya!

The old 2e and earlier level drain was definitely scary. My most recent experience was in baldur's gate, I was ambushed by vampires and I had once of my companions running around after being knocked down to level 1 trying to avoid hit.

I think I prefer the 3e version of level drain though which grants a 24 hour penalty and a chance to resist losing a level.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The old 2e and earlier level drain was definitely scary. My most recent experience was in baldur's gate, I was ambushed by vampires and I had once of my companions running around after being knocked down to level 1 trying to avoid hit.

I think I prefer the 3e version of level drain though which grants a 24 hour penalty and a chance to resist losing a level.

I know at one point we changed it to a save vs Death Magic to resist the drain and you made a check for each level (so 2 saves if you were hit by a Vampire for example). Still, even at higher levels, scary! The thought of losing over 100,000 XP or more was ... well, you know it was just awful (but awesome, too).

 

[Ratskinner]

LOL, I love Level/XP drain! Put the fear into ya!

That's for sure...melee PCs were bad enough, but trying to figure out just what happened to your spellcaster character was a nightmare.

 

[Davo3]

Character planning IS more interesting during the first few levels, and this is really the only part you can focus on out-of-game. Once your character is level three, your only out-of-game decisions are whether to advance or multiclass - and only multiclassing gives you any options. There are no splits or decisions after level three. If level 10, for example, had choices like specializing in one element for a bonus, or one type of weapon for a bonus, or something like that, there would be a feel of having an active part in further customizing the character other than adding gear and spells. This is why I'm drawn to a 5/5/5/5 Fighter/Rogue/Sorcerer/Warlock.

 

[DND_Reborn]

That is probably why I still have interest in my Cleric/Rogue/Wizard 8/8/8 (FYI, we have homebrew MCing, so this is NOT a 24th-level character, more equal to a 13th) in our main game. But I definitely think there is something to the fast-pace we have for the CoS character in the OP.