D&D 5E (Poll) Combat Difficulty

[FormerlyHemlock]

Do you feel that your 5E games are most fun when fights are balanced, or crazy deadly?

 

[thalmin]

As a player, I enjoy combat hard most of the time, with a rare deadly tossed in. But at the apprentice levels, easy to medium are in order to be able to get the feel of the character. I want to feel challenged, but I like to think that if we play smart we should be able to make it out alive. I prefer to feel like I was in a battle for my life, not beating up the little kids at the playground.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I actually prefer less challenge and more slaying vast quantity of weak enemies. Part of that is nostalgia for the old Gold Box computer games (my initial D&D experience) where a lot of battles were like that.

I also think that part of the reason this style isn't more popular is that a lot of D&D players also play MMOs, where they get that experience in spades. Since I don't play MMOs, I want that out of my D&D.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I actually prefer less challenge and more slaying vast quantity of weak enemies.

Do you have a preference as to how many weak enemies? Say you've got 4 11th level characters for simplicity. Would you rather fight 11 hobgoblins (Easy), 16 hobgoblins (Medium), 24 hobgoblins (Hard), or 36+ hobgoblins (Deadly)?

I ask because it's hard to imagine any Gold Box fan going for less than the Medium size (4 hobgoblins per PC). I remember immense fights and (Delayed Blast) Fireballs that would take out a dozen enemies at a time, which means that dozens of enemies is pretty much a prerequisite to the experience. I suspect that my Gold Box nostalgia is one of the reasons why I give my players gigantic deadly fights.

So anyway, weak enemies, check. But how many do you like?

Edit: oh, I see you voted Medium. Hmmm, I guess that disproves my Gold Box conjecture then.

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

I voted hard, but I really prefer a good mix (with most in the hard to deadly categories). While it is nice to be challenged, it is a lot of fun to occasionally have a battle where you are clearly superior to your foes. It is a good way to feel that you are progressing, when something that was hard a level ago, is suddenly much more manageable.

 

[Minigiant]

Nothing beats a nice medium fight at the end of the day when everyone is low on resources.

Like a bunch of lowly goblins but out of fireballs, a lack of HP to just tank their hits, and no easy way to escape..

 

[Celtavian]

I voted all. I think a good DM mixes it up. Players like to feel powerful on occasion walking over fights with an easy or medium fights. Sometimes they want it hard, but not deadly. Sometimes they want to feel like its kill or be killed for all the marbles with no escape but victory.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I voted medium. But, like others, I prefer a mix, easy to hard. I find that any fight can become deadly with the right/wrong dice rolls, so I leave it to them to make such happen.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I voted deadly, because I've found that overall those tend to be the most fun and interesting fights. However, I like to mix it up with all difficulties. Doing nothing but deadly fights can devolve into something that feels like a suicide mission slog after a while.

 

[aramis erak]

The ones I enjoy most are hard to deadly (1x to 2x the deadly threshold).
I do mix them up, tho.