D&D 5E "The so-called '5-Minute Workday' is Something I've Seen Regularly Playing 5E D&D" (a poll)

[tetrasodium]

I'll have to look at some of the AL adventures, but don't most of them have built in time pressure?

Stuff like, you have to do this in x days or bad things happen. Or the villain will assault the village in Y days?

Not to mention, most of the ones I remember are linear enough that rest times are built in (face the big encounter - get a rest) and if you try to rest outside that framework there's generally a reason why you can't (eg the adventure won't let you). Now that might draw different complaints from players, but it doesn't really promote the 5 minute workday.

Do AL games not usually have time pressure?

Some yes, most no. ToA is really the only one that did. The hardcover adventures are "AL adventures" & tbh they seem to be explicitly written for AL's style of pick from a list at these levels magic item/treasure distribution after ToA without actually mentioning it to the gm why there is so little gold/treasure/magic items.

The few that do have some form of time pressure don't actually matter though even if if blowing the time pressure results in blowing the HC

Spoiler: I kid you not

this is the entire section word for word

LEVELING UP
You gain a level at the end of each adventure, at your discretion. If you’d like to continue playing at your current
level, you can decline to gain a level. You still keep any rewards earned. You gain hit points listed as the fixed value for your class
(plus any modifiers) when you level up.

Whenever you could gain a level (even if you decline), you may rebuild any aspect of your character. Once you achieve 5th level, you may choose a magic item as presented in “Starting Play at 5th Level” above.

They don't need to successfully complete one of the adventures in a HC or even do it in a way that could be considered a check in the "W" column because the GM can't change the next adventure to account for the fact that the princess was murdered while the band of heroes were sleeping off a fight with that far below easy zombie encounter they had at the door that involved two fireballs three action surges& so on.

Spoiler: GM handties

THE RULES OF THE GAME
Adventurers League play uses fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. You can issue rulings to your table when the rules of the game are ambiguous or vague, but you must otherwise adhere to the rules as they are provided in the core rulebooks and can’t change them or make up your own; “house-rules” aren’t permitted for use. You must always use the most current incarnation of a rule.
Further, the options and variant rules listed below from the Dungeon Master’s Guide and chapter 2 of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything are available for your use; others aren’t permitted without campaign documentation. In all cases, you should let your group know if you’re going to use one or more of these rules if their use would be applicable to the adventure or when the situation arises.
• Variant: Playing on a Grid (DMG)
• Variant: Skills with Different Abilities (DMG)
• Simultaneous Effects (XGE)
• Falling (XGE)
• Sleep (XGE)
• Adamantine Weapons (XGE)
• Tying Knots (XGE)
• Tool Proficiencies (XGE)
• Spellcasting (XGE)
While they aren’t official rules that must be followed, the Sage Advice column, tweets from the D&D Team on Twitter, or even discussions with other DMs on your favorite social media platform can provide good insight on how others adjudicated a particular issue. The rules as written in the rulebooks always take precedence; exceptions are noted in official D&D Adventurers League resources, such as the FAQ.

notably lacking from that list are all of the "just use gritty rests & xyz optional rule" rules that tend to get thrown around in these kind of 5mwd discussions.

You can download the ALPG here & ALDMG here to see why AL is twisted in ways that encourage players to abuse the excessive safety of 5e to exploit level 5mwd with a feeling of entitlement as they do it. Given how many players enter d&d through AL it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they keep that feeling of entitlement.

 

[Mort]

Some yes, most no. ToA is really the only one that did. The hardcover adventures are "AL adventures" & tbh they seem to be explicitly written for AL's style of pick from a list at these levels magic item/treasure distribution after ToA without actually mentioning it to the gm why there is so little gold/treasure/magic items.

The few that do have some form of time pressure don't actually matter though even if if blowing the time pressure results in blowing the HC

Spoiler: I kid you not

this is the entire section word for word

They don't need to successfully complete one of the adventures in a HC or even do it in a way that could be considered a check in the "W" column because the GM can't change the next adventure to account for the fact that the princess was murdered while the band of heroes were sleeping off a fight with that far below easy zombie encounter they had at the door that involved two fireballs three action surges& so on.

Spoiler: GM handties

notably lacking from that list are all of the "just use gritty rests & xyz optional rule" rules that tend to get thrown around in these kind of 5mwd discussions.

You can download the ALPG here & ALDMG here to see why AL is twisted in ways that encourage players to abuse the excessive safety of 5e to exploit level 5mwd with a feeling of entitlement as they do it. Given how many players enter d&d through AL it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they keep that feeling of entitlement.

You're talking about players that approach AL play in horribly bad faith.

I tend to play AL at places like Gen Con (Did about 16 hours last year) and have never once ran into this!

And While I'm sure these players exist, basing any opinions on such bad faith play seems misplaced IMO. These would be the type to pervert just about any gameplay.

 

[jgsugden]

I don't think the question is going to give you the answer you're seeking. I see the 15 minute work day a lot, but it isn't the primary experience in any of the games in which I DM or play. It happens during travel situations, and sometimes when there are city events in isolation, but setting those aside, the majority of the gaming takes place with encounter design that follows the guidance of the DMG - which puts me in a very small minority of players. Few people see the guidance in the DMG play out as it features an average of 6 to 8 encounters per long rest and:

Levels 1 and 2: No long rest before you level.
Level 3: 1 Mid level Long Rest.
Levels 4 to 10: 2 Mid level Long Rests.
Levels 11 to 20: 1 Mid Level Long Rest.

(This is based upon the guidance in the DMG when you assemble it all together.

If I said I never see it I'd be lying, but saying I sometimes see it or always see it is also misrepresenting the situation...

 

[Shardstone]

I don't think the question is going to give you the answer you're seeking. I see the 15 minute work day a lot, but it isn't the primary experience in any of the games in which I DM or play. It happens during travel situations, and sometimes when there are city events in isolation, but setting those aside, the majority of the gaming takes place with encounter design that follows the guidance of the DMG - which puts me in a very small minority of players. Few people see the guidance in the DMG play out as it features an average of 6 to 8 encounters per long rest and:

Levels 1 and 2: No long rest before you level.
Level 3: 1 Mid level Long Rest.
Levels 4 to 10: 2 Mid level Long Rests.
Levels 11 to 20: 1 Mid Level Long Rest.

(This is based upon the guidance in the DMG when you assemble it all together.

If I said I never see it I'd be lying, but saying I sometimes see it or always see it is also misrepresenting the situation...

That's just so weird to me. Like, within the span of 24 hours I level up and unlock all these abilities, and then 24 hours later I have a subclass??

 

[Blue]

Define: "Regularly".

As in some tables regularly did it. Some tables did not. A lot was on the makeup of the players, and how the DM ran. For some tables we'd see it fairly frequently in certain cases and rarely in others.

This is such a table specific question that it feels misleading to have such a boolean poll. Well, boolean plus an exception that covers a very narrow group of cases.

 

[el-remmen]

Define: "Regularly".

No, you do.

 

[Blue]

No, you do.

Ok, then I have seen it regularly (at some tables), so I voted true.

But you realize that also asking everyone to make judgement calls on the definitions makes the poll even less useful.

 

[DEFCON 1]

That's just so weird to me. Like, within the span of 24 hours I level up and unlock all these abilities, and then 24 hours later I have a subclass??

That's not that odd if you take it from a narrative perspective.

From a narrative perspective, there might very well be a lot of abilities you "know" or are "aware of" or "practicing"... but which you've never actually used in a "real fight". If you're a 1st level roguish character, the fact that you haven't been able to disengage from a fight immediately after making a stab with your dagger... is that because you don't even know that Cunning Action even exists as a thing and won't know it until you reach 2nd level (at which time the ability just pops into your head)... or is it you conceptually understand how to do it and you have the idea of the Cunning Action in the back of your mind, you just haven't figured out the proper way and time to do it yet? And it's not until perhaps your third fight (after you spent your first two fights levelling up to 2nd level) that all of a sudden the proper time to use it shows up and thus you the idea of how to stab and then disengage immediately kicks in because the narrative of the situation now allows for it?

The way I've always seen it... just because you don't mechanically have an ability yet doesn't mean the character is completely unaware of what they could or will be capable of. It's just a matter of time in the world for the PC to "figure out" how to do it, which just happens to correspond to the time out-of-game when the character has levelled to the point where the mechanic now can be used.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It's the same reason why it's never bothered me that some subclasses don't get their first mechanical ability until 3rd level. Because from my perspective, my Monk was always a Drunken Master from the beginning, even though the first mechanical ability wouldn't arrive until a few battles in. I didn't need that mechanic to be a Drunken Master... the narrative of the character was always there.

 

[el-remmen]

But you realize that also asking everyone to make judgement calls on the definitions makes the poll even less useful.

I guess that'd depend on what I'm trying to find out. . .