D&D 5E Spellcasters and Balance in 5e: A Poll

[Vaalingrade]

Casters don’t do interesting stuff at will either. Cantrips just aren’t that interesting.

More interesting than 'I swing sharp stick for ninth time'.

Also, prestidigitation is a cantrip. The best spell in the game can be cast at will.

 

[FrogReaver]

More interesting than 'I swing sharp stick for ninth time'.

Also, prestidigitation is a cantrip. The best spell in the game can be cast at will.

I don’t find them any more interesting than picking which weapon you are going to swing in combat.

IMO cantrips are flavorful, but not interesting.

 

[ECMO3]

Is truly an incomprehebsible design oversight that they didn’t tier the maneuvers from the outset.

* It’s a trivial inference that folks are going to pick the best maneuvers early, inverting the paradigm of “advanced moves” as you level up, therefore leaving you nothing to look forward to.

It’s really mind-boggling that this got past the final internal playtest.

I think the maneuvers are pretty well balanced and there are not any that are "always picked" at my table with the exception fo precision for guys doing sharpshooter or GWM builds. And precision is almost never picked on other builds. The combat maneuvers that you use are very well balanced in my experience. The ones with out of combat uses or party uses are difficult to measure against the others, but the sheer volume of maneuvers you can choose can be used for a very diverse character.

The abilities get substantially more powerful at levels through four separate mechanics:
1. You get more uses a day
2. Your save DC goes up.
3. The amount of damage increases
4. You get more attacks per turn meaning you can use them more maneuvers on a "nova" type turn.

I have seen battlemasters played at high level and there is no comparison between what they can do with maneuvers at low level vs high level.

One really cool use on a strength-GWM build is to pick up sharpshooter after you maxed strength then get quick toss and throw out a dart with a +10+ damage once a round on top of your 3 swings with a great sword.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I don’t find them any more interesting than picking which weapon you are going to swing in combat.

IMO cantrips are flavorful, but not interesting.

You know not all cantrips are damaging, right? Like they actually let the character do things rather than just the one thing.

 

[FrogReaver]

You know not all cantrips are damaging, right? Like they actually let the character do things rather than just the one thing.

Doesn’t make them interesting.

 

[Fanaelialae]

No but it is strongly contrary to the idea that the fighter is demonstrably inferior to the wizard.

If the fighter was really "bad" to play it would not be on top of, nor even equal with the wizard. It would be way below Wizard.

I don't believe that's a reasonable conclusion.

Druids are at the bottom of that list. Does ANYONE genuinely believe that the druid is one of the weakest classes? I would say it is definitely one of the stronger classes in the game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Doesn’t make them interesting.

To you. Very important. To you.

 

[FrogReaver]

To you. Very important. To you.

Who else did you think I was speaking for?

 

[ECMO3]

I don't believe that's a reasonable conclusion.

Druids are at the bottom of that list. Does ANYONE genuinely believe that the druid is one of the weakest classes? I would say it is definitely one of the stronger classes in the game.

It is and it arguably needs to be because no one wants to play it.

The argument presented at the top of this thread, and the reason we need to "help" fighters is because people don't want to play them and choose spellcasters over them. That is demonstrably untrue.

 

[Fanaelialae]

It is and it arguably needs to be because no one wants to play it.

The argument presented at the top of this thread, and the reason we need to "help" fighters is because people don't want to play them and choose spellcasters over them. That is demonstrably untrue.

I just reread the OP and that is not the claim, as far as I can tell.

It alleges that experienced players who enjoying leveraging the rules (a certain playstyle that rhymes with shower tamer) will overwhelmingly choose casters over martials. It does not make this claim of inexperienced players, or of players who do not participate in that approach to the game.

Presumably the survey you showed us was not exclusively directed at experienced players who enjoy leveraging the rules.