D&D 5E Save or Suck Spells and Players

[Psikerlord#]

The sorcerer will quickly run out of 3rd and 4th level spells, especially if you run the recommended 6-8 encounters/day. The GM never runs out of monsters. Just shrug it off, and look forward to the next battle!

 

[evilbob]

Personally, we've never even come close to 6-8 encounters in a day - 3 is probably the max - so that advice may or may not help depending on how much you love having combat all the time. This does mean casters will get a bit stronger but it doesn't have to ruin the game.

Look into monsters like demons that have natural advantage vs. all spells.

Also, you may need to increase the number of monsters per encounter (but not necessarily the challenge rating). If they are swarmed by tons of smaller things, the sorc's spells aren't going to solve all the problems - and unless hypnotic pattern affects every creature, others can do 1 HP of damage to wake them up, etc. It's still a powerful spell but it's not game-ending.

Also: target the sorc. Get beefy mobs up in the sorc's face and hold their actions until he/she casts.

Like others have said, winning overwhelmingly every now and again doesn't hurt anything but if it's starting to dominate the game then it's probably a tactical issue, not a player issue.

(House ruling polymorph to a Con save also doesn't sound like a terrible thing, but I'd say it's probably a bit late for that in your game.)

 

[Psikerlord#]

Personally, we've never even come close to 6-8 encounters in a day - 3 is probably the max - so that advice may or may not help depending on how much you love having combat all the time. This does mean casters will get a bit stronger but it doesn't have to ruin the game.

Look into monsters like demons that have natural advantage vs. all spells.

Also, you may need to increase the number of monsters per encounter (but not necessarily the challenge rating). If they are swarmed by tons of smaller things, the sorc's spells aren't going to solve all the problems - and unless hypnotic pattern affects every creature, others can do 1 HP of damage to wake them up, etc. It's still a powerful spell but it's not game-ending.

Also: target the sorc. Get beefy mobs up in the sorc's face and hold their actions until he/she casts.

Like others have said, winning overwhelmingly every now and again doesn't hurt anything but if it's starting to dominate the game then it's probably a tactical issue, not a player issue.

(House ruling polymorph to a Con save also doesn't sound like a terrible thing, but I'd say it's probably a bit late for that in your game.)

I agree the 6-8 encounters thing is awkward to pull off and stuffs up a lot of the balance of 5e.

As you suggest, if you as GM expect a lot of save or die, and you're running say 3 fights/day on average - use two manticores in a battle instead of one. Course this can make things rather swingy - if the save or die doesn't work, that fight just got a lot harder!!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Save or die is not too bad. In any serious battle there is a chance to deal with it. Most SOD spells need concentration. And they bear the risk of just wasting a turn. As a DM I lately used hold person a lot. Only in a single battle a It really payed off and only because I ruled DEX is 0 if you are paralyzed so I did actually deal damage.
Single monsters don't work too well except for draining resources.

 

[evilbob]

use two manticores in a battle instead of one. Course this can make things rather swingy - if the save or die doesn't work, that fight just got a lot harder!!

Right - which is why I think lots of little creatures are better. It doesn't up the CR so much that a string of bad luck simply dooms them.