D&D 5E Reducing Power Gaming

[GothmogIV]

This is not to start an argument, but to seek advice: I am not thrilled with how quickly characters become powerful in 5e. I am a dude who started with 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd edition, and I find the powers that characters have very quickly in 5e is a bit...vexing. Similarly, they just get too many powers, in my observation. So what are some ways to take some of that out? Remove bonus actions and reactions? No feats? Limit spell choice (like a ranger could only take spells like Animal Friendship)? I'm open to ideas.

My crew plays on Roll20, so it's not hard to futz with the built in 5e character sheet. I'd love some FRIENDLY, POLITE council. I'm not yucking anyone's yum.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

This is not to start an argument, but to seek advice: I am not thrilled with how quickly characters become powerful in 5e. I am a dude who started with 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd edition, and I find the powers that characters have very quickly in 5e is a bit...vexing. Similarly, they just get too many powers, in my observation. So what are some ways to take some of that out? Remove bonus actions and reactions? No feats? Limit spell choice (like a ranger could only take spells like Animal Friendship)? I'm open to ideas.

My crew plays on Roll20, so it's not hard to futz with the built in 5e character sheet. I'd love some FRIENDLY, POLITE council. I'm not yucking anyone's yum.

Few options:

• only use the sidekick classes.
• use only the basic rules with the 4 main classes (no overlap of features)
• remove archetypes.
• remove ASI altogether. Use more magic items and consumables to compensate.
• mix the above solutions.

I've played with all of those and it makes low-power fantasy much more attainable.

 

[Leatherhead]

The best way to curb powergaming is to nerf your monsters.

Once the players realize that you can kill the monsters without having to fight for their lives all the time, they tend to loosen up a bit on the characters they make.

 

[abirdcall]

The 2 simplest solutions I can think of are:

1. Slow down leveling. A lot. 5e is designed to speed through levels 1-4 and then put on the breaks from 5-10 (then speed up again at 11+).

2. Create new in-between levels (incl. 0.5 and 0.75 if desired) then distribute some of what they would be getting at the whole number levels between them.

And you could do both if you want to really slow things down.

 

[Oofta]

Power level is always going to be relative to what the PCs are facing. So if that is an issue, there are several tweaks you can do. Another possibility is magic items, I'm pretty stingy in my own game. Last thing from a power level is that many of the really cool things people can do are a limited resource. Don't let them take a rest after every fight or every other fight might be a solution.

But overall? Just slowing down progression can help a lot. Ultimately though it may just be that the core assumptions of D&D don't fit what you prefer, which I get. I've learned to just roll with it, but that's me.

So if you can be more specific about what the issue is, there may be different answers.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Honestly the easiest way to recreate the 1e experience is to just play 1e.

 

[Hussar]

Drop full casters out of the game. This will get rid of 90% of your problems.

 

[overgeeked]

This is not to start an argument, but to seek advice: I am not thrilled with how quickly characters become powerful in 5e. I am a dude who started with 1st, then 2nd, then 3rd edition, and I find the powers that characters have very quickly in 5e is a bit...vexing. Similarly, they just get too many powers, in my observation. So what are some ways to take some of that out? Remove bonus actions and reactions? No feats? Limit spell choice (like a ranger could only take spells like Animal Friendship)? I'm open to ideas.

My crew plays on Roll20, so it's not hard to futz with the built in 5e character sheet. I'd love some FRIENDLY, POLITE council. I'm not yucking anyone's yum.

I fought this exact same problem with 5E for the almost decade it was our main game. You have two options, really.

One, play a different game. Most people who play 5E like it because of all the power fantasy it lets them have. Trying to reduce the players' side power will only result in problems. Huge, game-ending problems. Instead play a different game that's closer to your preferred power balance. Most old-school games, OSR, and NSR games do this out of the box.

Two, drastically crank up the opposition. You can quite easily crank up the encounter difficulty and monster power. You can adopt the 2024 DMG's encounter math. Ignore the multiple monster multiplier in the 2014 DMG and use this XP chart for building encounters. Your best best is starting with High (formerly Deadly) and going from there.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Just say "no more class features or spell slots after level 5, only HP and proficiency bonus increases"

 

[James Gasik]

Just say "no more class features or spell slots after level 5, only HP and proficiency bonus increases"

Sounds like E6 without Feats.