Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deset Gled" data-source="post: 610146" data-attributes="member: 7808">I currently use the system of maxing out hit points for both characters and for monsters on the occasions that I have DMed with my main group.  For the most part, it has worked for me very well, but part of that is also greatly due to the way that I DM.  A few details are as follows:1. I like to see fights that go on for a long time (in terms of rounds.  I push my players to make combat happen at a quick pace). I am generally unhappy with the way some battles can get at higher levels, where enemies drop in one or two rounds.  Maximizing hit points is a great way to lengthen encounters.  It is important, of course, for you players to both understand this, and to enjoy it.2. It's hard to just take most enemies from the MM as written.  Personally, I prefer to use creatures and NPCs that are advanced by character class rather than just taking monsters our of the manual, which has generally had good results.  I have a habit of altering just about any numbers of enemies as I feel apropriate for specific encounters.  It would probably make players who have the MM memorized angry, as some creatures have become a lot different than the way they are portrayed there.3. I hand out heal potions quite liberally to characters.  Still, it is very common for my characters to be walking around with low HP for parts of a dungeon crawl until I feel like letting some show up, or for them to limp back home after barely surviving a final battle.  This goes along with the fact that I like for players to believe that combat is dangerous.4. I often give spellcasters items that have the ability to store spells.  A number are custom made, and are probably given out at a rate that would be much to high powered for a normal compaign (but are necessary in mine).  Also, the casters in my campaign still count on doing a certain amount of pure fighting (though mostly at range).  To compensate for a bit of their weakness in this field, I give them weapons that would probably be considered overpowered for characters of their level in most campaigns.  Most of these weapons have spell triggers, so they cannot be used by others in the group, and are custom creations to help fit the character concept of the player.6. The differences in HP for different classes is made a lot bigger.  The PCs learned this quickly, and have battles accordingly.  Fighters and barbarians need to be ready to get in the way of a lot of enemies to absorb damage so that the spellcasters don't drop dead.  On the other hand, they also know that the enemy spellcasters can normally be killed a lot quicker (assuming they can reach them).  It is important (again) for your players to not only understand this fact, but also for them to enjoy it.In conclusion, implementing this concept is possible, but will change gameplay on a noticable level.  I have done a lot of customization to my world as a result of it, but am very happy with the results.Edit: spelling, etc.</blockquote>

Verification