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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 7510080" data-attributes="member: 19270">Like any system, D&D is only as good and fun as its players and DMs. Sounds like you're not having a good experience with "pickup" DMs in your area. Don't hold that against the game!I played all the old school red/blue box stuff, AD&D, skipped 4E, and did Pathfinder for several years before coming back to D&D. We split a large group, amicably, but the players who wanted D&D complained of the PF rules bloat, need to make "optimized" builds or feel useless, combats that took WAY too long, and insane modifier tracking. Combats were taking hours, and that's not role playing. We wanted laughter and interaction around the table, and instead we were spending all our time rolling dice, watching others roll dice, and counting modifiers instead of interacting.We have a dedicated group, not AL, so my analysis of your Cons may be more tips for AL DMs to make a better game!That's the beauty of the game and how they speed up play so you have more time to enjoy the heart of an RPG: the roleplay. Some DMs may have trouble adjusting to the idea of setting a DC on the fly rather than pausing the game to look up a rule. The game gives guidance (e.g. easy = DC 10), and maybe I'll make climbing the hill a DC 12 because it rained last night (easy with a catch). Rather than write a rule for everything, a lot is left to DM common sense with guidance. Once DMs get used to this, it comes naturally. Also, unless time is of the essence and there's penalty for success, it also recommends you don't waste time on checks that the party will eventually get (sounds a little like "taking a 20," yes?) I'll beg to differ on this one. If you're seeing repetitive characters, that's reflective of unimaginative gamers. DMs and players should rest assured you're going to be all right playing anything you want. Seriously. There isn't a "right" build, though D&D has continued to add subtypes for increased flavor. There's no wrong answer on this one because everyone needs to play a game that suits their interests.  I optimize in video games because I have to or else I'll die a lot. What D&D has done is filter out the junk (e.g. there's 50 fighter feats but you're always going to take Power Attack), which is very attractive to new players who might otherwise be intimidated by joining a  D&D game and feeling pressured to compete with those who know how to make the "superior" character. One of my gamers came to dislike PF for this very reason. We had some gamers who mixed and matched to make superior characters, but in doing so, they minimized the contributions of the gamer who didn't optimize. It's a bad feeling.  Yep, that's in any game. The rules won't help this. A good DM makes or breaks the game, but at the core, the DM shouldn't be looking to shut down player creativity. [sblock] In my most recent episode of Curse of Strahd, a massive roc snatched one of the characters off a bridge, knocked him to 0 hp, and took off with its meal. The players had no real way to pursue. A bad DM probably would have said "you're dead, roll up a new character." But they puzzled it out. One of the players polymorphed into a (slow) giant owl (with good eyes), followed it to a nearby nest, and I had the Roc put its meal down and tend to its scorched wings. The player stealthily moved in, did a heal on the unconscious character, and then feather falled both of them off the cliff where they drifted and bounced to the road below. Personally, had she botched the Stealth roll, I doubt I'd have done anything negative because the plan they worked out in what initially appeared an impossible situation was audacious, and they didn't end up here for bad decisions, just solid attack rolls on my part.[/sblock] Play a rogue instead? Seriously though, play long enough and you'll see the mechanics are fine and intentional. The rogue off-hand only does base die damage, many fight two-handed because they cannot use a shield, and it increases the chance they get sneak attack damage which is the only way they can maintain any usefulness in combat. The Fighter will have access to better AC, better hit points, higher damage weapons, and a LOT of Ability Score Improvement (Feats if allowed). This is poor DMing, not a flaw with the game. A good DM knows you don't force checks when they're not needed. 3rd Edition (and especially 4th) relied WAY too heavily on skill checks and gawd-awful "skill challenges," making the game more like video games. Press button "A" to use this skill, button "B for that skill. If there is no skill assigned to either button, you cannot use it.  If your DM is not into reasonable suggestions (e.g. I'll open that pantry door with an axe, or we've got all day, I'll get this open eventually ("take a 20" basically)), consider a new DM. Again, if your DM is being a jerk, he's not likely to be any better because you have a table that suggests it's DC 13 to open the pantry (he'll come up with a reason that doesn't apply), and if your DM is simply a novice, a table won't help because the game will stop and your DM won't learn to think on his or her own. It's one of the major adjustments when the math was fixed in 5th via bounded accuracy, and my players went through this phase. Play long enough and it makes sense, it works. The DC checks don't go up over time, so your skills don't need to, and bumps in ability scores and proficiency bonuses naturally increase your skills. Again, the game shouldn't be about a ton of fixed skill checks. It should be about having fun building an entertaining, heroic story.  As a DM, I might give a knowledge answer for free if the player's background justifies it. I studied Necromancy for a bit in wizard school and I learned Chill Touch. While I'm not a master in the field, we must've learned about the basic undead. Can't help there. That'd be up to the Gaming Store and its crop of available DMs. If they suck, your game sucks. Also, there is NO charge to play AL. I don't know who's invented that at your store, but it's not a D&D thing. As for the treasure, I don't play AL but they did revise the rules this July 2018.</blockquote>

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