D&D 5E Name a technique or design choice that your group enjoys, but that is generally unpopular.

[Fauchard1520]

The World Isn't Fair. Kinda falls in line with the above (maybe your Eldritch blast won't win the day) and I run my worlds gritty with the idea that a diverse group with diverse skills willing to think outside the box have better chances of conquering things that don't seem fair.

A couple of different sources have shaped my thinking on this point. The first is "gygaxian naturalism."

Gygaxian "Naturalism"

I refer, from time to time, to a concept called "Gygaxian Naturalism." I realize that I've never actually explained what I mean by this phra...

grognardia.blogspot.com

The other comes from the Alexandrian's take on the CR system. I'm looking at the CR 10 roper example specifically:

Revisiting Encounter Design

One of the first reviews I ever received for a book I had written was for the mini-adventure The Dragon's Wish, which was published by Fantasy Flight Games during the early D20 boom. The reviewer hate

thealexandrian.net

 

[toucanbuzz]

The idea that monsters might not be "fair" (basically no matter what you face, you can beat it to a pulp), led me to find an old Gygax letter quote from 1975:

Frankly, the reason I enjoy playing in Dave Arneson's campaign is that I do not know his treatments of monsters and suchlike, so I must keep thinking and reasoning in order to "survive".

 

[HammerMan]

Save-or-die is a fact of life (and-or death!).

I'm not sure if that is unpopular... but boy could it start some arguments on these boards.

 

[Weiley31]

Cutscenes.......................................................in D&D.


Yes, I'm aware people don't like it. It shall still happen when I DM so

 

[CleverNickName]

We use the rules for encumbrance, we track our ammunition and spell components, and we roll 4d6 for our stats.

 

[payn]

Cutscenes.......................................................in D&D.


Yes, I'm aware people don't like it. It shall still happen when I DM so

I dont use them myself, but a friend does when he GMs. Dont mind it.

 

[Laurefindel]

Cutscenes.......................................................in D&D.


Yes, I'm aware people don't like it. It shall still happen when I DM so

Hehehe, me too. I have post-credit scenes too…

 

[ECMO3]

If you've dwelt long in the gaming forums strewn across the web, you've no doubt heard phrases like these: “There’s no wrong way to game,” or, “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.” That can get a bit reductive, but I do think it's a generally useful reminder. Every group is unique, and what works at one table won’t necessarily work at another. For my money, that’s a healthy thing to keep in mind.

When you move beyond your familiar home table, whether it’s at a gaming con, with a new group, or in a forum, it’s important to put your own preconceptions on hold. Before you offer up advice to your fellow gamers, remember that every one of them comes paired with a unique set of preferences. That means that checking your own personal version of “the right way to game” at the door is Step 1 in talking shop with your fellow dungeon delvers.

So in the spirit of cultural exchange, what do you say we compare our differences? Name a technique or design choice that your group enjoys, but that is generally unpopular. Do you love no-holds-barred PVP? Perhaps you think an adversarial GM can be a fun challenge. Maybe you enjoy alignment-mismatched parties, tracking encumbrance, or implementing crit fails. Let's hear all about your best loved (but least popular) elements!

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

Rolling abilities

 

[Joshy]

Commonly use:
Starting stats can go up to 18
35 point buy
33 point buy for races with feats
Races grant no stats
Can draw a number of item equal to what you can hold.
Items that need multiple hands to hand take that many to draw.
Some spell fixes, like True Strike.
Some feat fixes, Like anything that does -5 to hit +10 to damage.

Sometimes use:
3d6 in place of d20's the average is the same and the results are more consistent, 1,2,3 critical fail, 16,17,18 critical.
Wizards can create spells (Usual change damage types)
Wizards cast ritual spells faster if the are prepared as wizard spells.
All non casters get the Superior Technique Fighting Style at level 1.
Monks get a Ki bonus equal to their Wisdom modifier .
Monk Unarmored Defense: AC: 10+Dex/Wis+Proficiency.
Barbarian Unarmored Defense: AC: 10+Con/Dex+Proficiency.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If you've dwelt long in the gaming forums strewn across the web, you've no doubt heard phrases like these: “There’s no wrong way to game,” or, “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.” That can get a bit reductive, but I do think it's a generally useful reminder. Every group is unique, and what works at one table won’t necessarily work at another. For my money, that’s a healthy thing to keep in mind.

When you move beyond your familiar home table, whether it’s at a gaming con, with a new group, or in a forum, it’s important to put your own preconceptions on hold. Before you offer up advice to your fellow gamers, remember that every one of them comes paired with a unique set of preferences. That means that checking your own personal version of “the right way to game” at the door is Step 1 in talking shop with your fellow dungeon delvers.

So in the spirit of cultural exchange, what do you say we compare our differences? Name a technique or design choice that your group enjoys, but that is generally unpopular. Do you love no-holds-barred PVP? Perhaps you think an adversarial GM can be a fun challenge. Maybe you enjoy alignment-mismatched parties, tracking encumbrance, or implementing crit fails. Let's hear all about your best loved (but least popular) elements!

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

The DMPC.
Most of our campaigns have one, and they are beloved characters that are part of the team. We have never had a DMPC hog the spotlight, or be the “main character” or any of that stuff.

PC run organizations, businesses, expanded crafting rules that allow for profit, “follower and stronghold” type stuff, etc, are controversial in the wider community. For our games, they’re just part of a normal campaign. We don’t tend to adventure for coin, so much as to do something, which contributes to our happiness with these elements. D&D, Star Wars, even The One Ring (one PC started a knighthood, another became a famous craftsman and got wealthy from making exceptional weapons that combined elven and dwarven techniques with human and hobbit ingenuity), we are going to dig our fingers into the soil and plant some seeds.

D&D with “flashbacks” and other player facing “meta control” mechanics.
We use a lot of stuff like this to make different types of adventures feel different, but the easiest examples are heists and infiltrations, where we have a group pool of story tokens that can be chased in to established how you planned for this, how this was actually the plan, or how you gave yourselves a tool to get out of this sort of situation.

D&D with complex resolution.
Another controversial one that we see as just how the game is built to work. What it means is that you don’t resolve a whole infiltration with a single stealth check. You use different skills, and make a check for each “moving part” of the infiltration. This also means that when a check goes bad, that’s just a small part of the scene. “You failed to move down the hallway quietly. Okay, what do you do about it? You have moments to decide, less time than it takes to say this out loud.” And then you keep moving.