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

[BenjaminPey]

And the party inside sees the goblins doing this and reaches outside the hut to brush them away, or just, I don't know, steps outside to kill the goblins? Only the caster has to stay inside for the duration, and it doesn't obscure their vision.

But if you fight the goblins before resting, there's no problem, is there?

 

[tetrasodium]

Goblins playing ewok with LTH as an excuse to call down powers monsters find when calling down the insurmountable Divine rage found at the far edge of dm fiat is an absurd idea likely to have so little impact I have wonder if anyone suggesting it has ever made it past the lowest levels of play. That or it was a slip of the finger and they accidentally transposed a couple letters by typing "goblins" in place of something like "polymorphed pit fiends"... That last one happens all the time I'm sure, probably just a case of autocarrot

 

[Zardnaar]

Martials get their real power from magic items, weapons & armor especially. Given. Suitable allotment of those a level 5+ or 11+ martial can easily keep up and eventually exceed pretty much any caster but warlock due to getting multiplicative returns most every round.

They beat warlocks without magic weapons now.

Warlocks now bottom of the heap most levels.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Goblins playing ewok with LTH as an excuse to call down powers monsters find when calling down the insurmountable Divine rage found at the far edge of dm fiat is an absurd idea likely to have so little impact I have wonder if anyone suggesting it has ever made it past the lowest levels of play. That or it was a slip of the finger and they accidentally transposed a couple letters by typing "goblins" in place of something like "polymorphed pit fiends"... That last one happens all the time I'm sure, probably just a case of autocarrot

I once accidentally made an encounter slightly harder than intended when I by mistake added four Orcuses instead of four orcs.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, I am not convinced that it is particularly realistic that most enemies would have a ton of more monsters to summon on short notice. And if they do, then in most realistic scenarios they're enemies that you'd later face anyway. A difference between the power of nearly depleted party and full power one is massive, and it does not seem realistic to me that in most situations the enemies could match that in eight hours.

It's nowhere near most. As long as it happens sometimes, that's enough to keep the players from engaging the 5 MWD.

 

[Minigiant]

It's nowhere near most. As long as it happens sometimes, that's enough to keep the players from engaging the 5 MWD.

The 5MWD is just a consequence of not converting D&D into a different paradigm at higher levels

When D&D says the players become Heroes of the Realm, the enemies most be Villains of the Realm. DMs can just spit out random monsters. If players think enemies have no back up or resources, they will treat enemies like they don't have back up and resources. Mumm-Ra, Rita Repulsa, and Darth Vader have tons of resources, power personnel, and the means and motivation to put pressure on their enemies.

Past level 7 or so, enemy planning is more important than most DMs anticipate. You either need enemies to have motivations that cause players to actively attempt to stop them or give enemies the power resources to forcefully involve themselves with the players.

I think this is one of the reasons why many DMS and many of the newer games do not go to high levels. Half your enemies have to be massive threats or tied to an organization which is.

This is also why after a certain level many "dungeons" are are straight up strongholds or a race to beat small armies to something.