D&D 5E (2024) Mike Mearls explains why your boss monsters die too easily

[James Gasik]

They can, but probably won't since they are below average in intelligence. It's unlikely that they will think of it on their own.

I'm playing in a game with a character like that now because the DM insisted on point buy. The smartest PC in the group has Int 10. It's a sad state of affairs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm playing in a game with a character like that now because the DM insisted on point buy. The smartest PC in the group has Int 10. It's a sad state of affairs.

Who says every spell is available to every caster of every culture? Also, dispel magic is third level. How do we know they even have 5th level-equivalent casters?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm playing in a game with a character like that now because the DM insisted on point buy. The smartest PC in the group has Int 10. It's a sad state of affairs.

Well, given the stats are not random this sad state seems to be by player choice. Hardly the GM’s fault.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

For better or worse, caring about time can be a learned behavior for players.
I had a table that didn't care about time. Then, for probably 10 sessions, time was very important and they got super serious about it. Then, even after that period of time was over, they stayed super serious about time conservation... To the point that they refused to take any downtime, and it was really detracting from that part of the game, so I had to force them to take downtime.
I felt like I had scarred them

This would be exactly the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

You created pressure--but it lasted much longer than you intended it to. It wasn't the players out of the blue insert pressure, unprompted, no reason other than because they feel like applying pressure. You then needed to work with them to make sure they knew that they don't need to be stuck in that mode.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

You're imagining a whole lot that doesn't exist.

There is no "controlling what the players are allowed to know," and there is "so they will believe they're under pressure when they aren't," and there is no "lead them to believe it's pressure."

I don't run my game like that. You're barking up the wrong tree bigtime here. Any pressure they put on themselves is on them, not me.

So the players can discover information about the world without you having to tell them? How do they do this?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, given the stats are not random this sad state seems to be by player choice. Hardly the GM’s fault.

Yeah, my last game with my family they all dumped intelligence. It was quite frustrating as a GM because they wouldn't let me remind them of anything that had happened in previous sessions (beyond what they remembered themselves), because it wouldn't be true to their devil-may-care PCs.

 

[James Gasik]

Well, given the stats are not random this sad state seems to be by player choice. Hardly the GM’s fault.

Really I blame the game for not making Intelligence more important on a character class level, but that's an entirely different debate. I can't blame the Cleric, he needed Str for his melee weapon attacks and to wear his armor, Con for hit points to be in the front line and all important concentration saves, and Wisdom for spellcasting. One of his other stats was going to be low, and he felt that he'd rather have a Charisma bonus for Persuasion checks than an Int bonus for knowledge checks.

 

[Zardnaar]

Really I blame the game for not making Intelligence more important on a character class level, but that's an entirely different debate. I can't blame the Cleric, he needed Str for his melee weapon attacks and to wear his armor, Con for hit points to be in the front line and all important concentration saves, and Wisdom for spellcasting. One of his other stats was going to be low, and he felt that he'd rather have a Charisma bonus for Persuasion checks than an Int bonus for knowledge checks.

That and no bonus skills, languages or much of anything.

Most of our groups clerics dump strength. Pure spellcaster or dex based finesse weapon and shield.
Possibly shillagh as well.

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah, my last game with my family they all dumped intelligence. It was quite frustrating as a GM because they wouldn't let me remind them of anything that had happened in previous sessions (beyond what they remembered themselves), because it wouldn't be true to their devil-may-care PCs.

I hate playing low Int characters, personally, but I made it clear that I absolutely did not want to play a spellcaster if I could get away with it, after coming off a campaign where I played a Wizard to level 10- I needed a break.

 

[tetrasodium]

I'm playing in a game with a character like that now because the DM insisted on point buy. The smartest PC in the group has Int 10. It's a sad state of affairs.

Are you asserting that such monsters npcs & so on always have the spell prepared so they can burn a 3rd level slot to dispel the ritually casted LTH before the players complete their rest?

Yeah, my last game with my family they all dumped intelligence. It was quite frustrating as a GM because they wouldn't let me remind them of anything that had happened in previous sessions (beyond what they remembered themselves), because it wouldn't be true to their devil-may-care PCs.