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

[BenjaminPey]

Who said the GM aren't happy?

I'm a perfectly happy GM.

 

[Parmandur]

Right. BUt if you have a 33% chance of a TPK in every fight, that's gonna be a short campaign!

Right, that is why I would prefer the longer Adventure Day (again, less than 3 minutes of narrative combat).

Right. That's what I m trying to get at. At attrition model the characters can get beat and barely survive a third encounter and that point they might decide to abandon the mission and retreat instead of taking on the fourth encounter. So they can fail the mission without dying. Or they might risk the next encounter whilst on low resources, but that's a choice. So the attrition serves purpose, and you simply do not have this in fully encounter-based design.

Right.

Right. But I do not think that is desirable to most people and I don't think WotC could sell a game designed like that.

I wouldn't expect them to do so, no.

 

[Staffan]

How many enemies, do you suppose, know what LTH even is? Can they make the necessary Arcana check to know that the opaque thing that arrows and spears bounce off of contains enemies? It's easy to assume enemies are prepared for the player's shenanigans, but in reality, the monsters should know as much about the PC's as the PC's know about the monsters- and since 5e lacks a dedicated monster knowledge system, that runs into it's own problems.

You have DM's who don't think players should know about Trolls until they fight them, so why do monsters get a pass to go "oho, a 3rd level Arcane Ritual! Go get those emergency Dispel Magic scrolls!".

"Hey guys, the guards are dead and there's a 20-foot dome of force in the storage room that wasn't there this morning. I tried throwing a rock at it but it just bounced off."
"Eh, don't worry. It's probably perfectly natural and nothing to worry about."

 

[tetrasodium]

L

"Hey guys, the guards are dead and there's a 20-foot dome of force in the storage room that wasn't there this morning. I tried throwing a rock at it but it just bounced off."
"Eh, don't worry. It's probably perfectly natural and nothing to worry about."

I'm going to say that you're example rings pretty hollow. I've seen more than one group where the wizard refuses to choose LTH only for a monk/warlock/fighter to go out searching for a source to buy§ the scroll for LTH from -and- gave the wizard coin to scribe it. I've also been that wizard at least once in a non AL game. The first time I saw it, the wizard in question was a player at my AL table and simply said something like"fiiiiinnnnne I do that, does anyone want me to grab them something from little Caesars next door? I'm getting a hotnready and will be back. I'll just sit in the dome till I'm back but don't stop whatever this is on my account"

§ "buy" is pretty broad and can include players choosing it from the AL list at various levels rather than a magic item suitable for their class from the list

You are vastly overestimating the monsters that are even -capable- if doing liters anything whatsoever after finding LTH & even further overestimating the number capable of doing anything meaningful in 1hr

When it's so powerful for over a decade that players who can't even use the scroll will buy/choose it for a resistant wizard rather than a magic item they could use on their own PC it's busted AF to game breaking degrees

 

[CreamCloud0]

if every adventurer 'just knows' about how fire stops troll regen because it's 'common knowledge' i don't see why every intelligent enemy wouldn't also 'just know' about tiny hut and how using dispell magic will get rid of it.

 

[Zardnaar]

if every adventurer 'just knows' about how fire stops troll regen because it's 'common knowledge' i don't see why every intelligent enemy wouldn't also 'just know' about tiny hut and how using dispell magic will get rid of it.

Its having the spellcaster available on short notice to do it.

I've had Sharran's use dispel magic. PCs long rested in the dungeon before they cleared it out.

So they got woken up with globes darkness dropped around them and got wailed on. Sharrans had devil sight.

 

[Micah Sweet]

if every adventurer 'just knows' about how fire stops troll regen because it's 'common knowledge' i don't see why every intelligent enemy wouldn't also 'just know' about tiny hut and how using dispell magic will get rid of it.

IMO neither side should have that information unless they learn it in-setting.

 

[Zardnaar]

IMO neither side should have that information unless they learn it in-setting.

Trolls likely common enough from folk tales. Alon side red dragons breathing fire.

Vampires IRL Silver and garlic...

 

[tetrasodium]

if every adventurer 'just knows' about how fire stops troll regen because it's 'common knowledge' i don't see why every intelligent enemy wouldn't also 'just know' about tiny hut and how using dispell magic will get rid of it.

If you were to make a hypothetical list of monsters capable of dispelling leonunds invincible bunker, what percentage of the monster manual would you guess could do that?

Without cross referencing I'd guess that it is a single digit percentage & would not be surprised if that percentage was zero point something percent.

Its having the spellcaster available on short notice to do it.

I've had Sharran's use dispel magic. PCs long rested in the dungeon before they cleared it out.

So they got woken up with globes darkness dropped around them and got wailed on. Sharrans had devil sight.

The trouble with creative work arounds like that is that 5e LTH is so powerful that the opportunity cost is incredibly low to make spell selections and other build choices that nullifying the creative bit so it remains guaranteed.

The gm can only do that so many times before the reaction shifts from "ok fair I guess" or similar over to players questioning the adversarial gming .

I don't think it's coincidence that the 3.5 tiny hut collapsed under the gusts of a tropical storm. Most of us here in Florida don't even get a day off for a wind with a name like tropical storm and cat1 things.

Edit: sustained wind speeds used to categorize hurricanes is talking about ongoing wind speeds expected for hours. The gusts are beyond that

 

[Micah Sweet]

Trolls likely common enough from folk tales. Alon side red dragons breathing fire.

Vampires IRL Silver and garlic...

You can always come up with a reason if you want there to be one. I'd rather not unless it's obvious, usually.

And a lot of stuff we know in the modern world is because of modern tech and globalization.