D&D 5E Odd things in the rules that bug you?

[GMforPowergamers]

Fine if your players will accept it. Not so fine if your players, on behalf of their characters, want to a) go into much greater detail and b) squeeze every copper out of it.

my group is weird... we have 2 brothers that own a comic shop, and 3 people that used to run/own a gaming store (2 different gaming store 1 in 90's and one just closed during covid). I and another player have accounting backgrounds. One of the 2 brothers that own the comic store, and one of the guys who used to run the gaming store are history majors.

When we open the game to doing business', we do it right. Trust me when I say during 2 different campaigns (one 3e and one 4e) we opened businesses that used magic for short cuts, and turned profits by knowing what really works.

 

[Bacon Bits]

What about "Barding costs 4x that of humanoid armor"? What if it is barding for a War Dog? I know the stated rules are in regards to Horses, but this blanket statement seems suggest that barding for a plate armor for a Mastiff would cost 6000gp. That just doesnt make sense to me. Not that I want Plate for a dog, its just an example. Thoughts?

While I agree it's a little unrealistic, I don't see why from a game perspective a gnome on a war dog should get a discount on barding, but a human on a war horse has to pay full price. Like you don't get a special discount on full plate as a small character, or for any other equipment. Why would you get a discount on barding? It's not like small characters on medium mounts are less effective in game terms. Indeed, lances are one of the few ways small characters can get Reach without the Heavy penalty.

From a game perspective, if you want a mount with heavy armor and AC 18, it's 6,000gp.

I'm fine with adjusting weight on the basis of realism, but cost is entirely about making things equitable. yes, this probably means that splint barding for 800gp (if 15 Str) or 3000gp for Half-plate at AC 17 is probably better.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If thread's alive again, might as well...

It's not hard to imagine that trade and travel would be the adventure.

Oregon Trail was (and still is) a very popular game.

Similarly, a lot of pirates made money on procuring goods at discounted prices and then selling goods at a port willing to fence products.

A world in which monsters and conflict are common, an entire campaign could be based around being an armed transporter of goods and a merchant caravan. The campaign could be a mix of the Transporter movies and Amazon-Delivery-with-Weapons.

Absolutely.

Even without that, though, if the players want to do it, it's not hard to just let them.

And you can even give adventuring bonuses to advancing an organization, whether that's a trade group, a knightly order, or otherwise. It wouldn't be hard to translate the organization rules from Star Wars Saga Edition to a dnd campaign, for instance.

 

[Argyle King]

Absolutely.

Even without that, though, if the players want to do it, it's not hard to just let them.

And you can even give adventuring bonuses to advancing an organization, whether that's a trade group, a knightly order, or otherwise. It wouldn't be hard to translate the organization rules from Star Wars Saga Edition to a dnd campaign, for instance.

Agree

Also, there are rules for being part of an organization available in 5e form.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

x

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Your enemies all get a free swing against you if you move too far away from them...but not if you take a moment to drink a bottle of liquid in the middle of a fistfight. And not if you take a moment to flawlessly recite a paragraph from a scroll. And not if you take a moment to reload a crossbow. And etc. But watch out if you dare to move too far away.

Not to mention you can run all around me, but the stabbing only starts when you LEAVE the donut of doom.

 

[Aurel Guthrie]

Cats dealing a whole point of damage per attack. I don't think getting scratched by a cat 6 times should kill a lvl 1 wizard. There's probably a lot more examples of things that realistically would do 0.01 damage but gets rounded up to 1.

Actually, I've heard that in D&D hp represents your physical and mental durability, your will and luck, rather than it being a 1:1 representation of your health, vitality, or whatever you want to call it. So perhaps the reason you can die to a cat isn't because they're strong enough to maim you to death. You simply die of shame after being scratched by a cat a half a dozen times.

 

[Lanefan]

Cats dealing a whole point of damage per attack. I don't think getting scratched by a cat 6 times should kill a lvl 1 wizard. There's probably a lot more examples of things that realistically would do 0.01 damage but gets rounded up to 1.

Actually, I've heard that in D&D hp represents your physical and mental durability, your will and luck, rather than it being a 1:1 representation of your health, vitality, or whatever you want to call it. So perhaps the reason you can die to a cat isn't because they're strong enough to maim you to death. You simply die of shame after being scratched by a cat a half a dozen times.

Cat scratches are also a pretty good way of picking up diseases IRL (particularly tetanus), so maybe it just takes time to kill you.

 

[RangerWickett]

Not to mention you can run all around me, but the stabbing only starts when you LEAVE the donut of doom.

On the other hand, if I'm engaged in an intense duel against my archnemesis, I'm allowed to get a free attack against someone who happens to jog past me behind my back, without lowering my guard against my archnemesis stabbing me.

Oh, and if I have taken my action for the turn, and there's a rope I want to cut that's within reach of my sword, just sitting there all immobile, too bad. I simply cannot manage to cut it. But if someone runs past me, I can cut them, because they . . . lowered their guard? Unlike the rope, which was intently defending itself?

 

[Oofta]

Cats dealing a whole point of damage per attack. I don't think getting scratched by a cat 6 times should kill a lvl 1 wizard. There's probably a lot more examples of things that realistically would do 0.01 damage but gets rounded up to 1.

Actually, I've heard that in D&D hp represents your physical and mental durability, your will and luck, rather than it being a 1:1 representation of your health, vitality, or whatever you want to call it. So perhaps the reason you can die to a cat isn't because they're strong enough to maim you to death. You simply die of shame after being scratched by a cat a half a dozen times.

Maybe all the cats in D&D look like this?

Or maybe just because they round up damage to at least 1? Nah. House cats are really bigger than lynxes in D&D land.