Things your table should do, but doesn't do- The Fun v. Efficiency Thread

[Immortal Sun]

It doesn't have to be a formal rule, it can just be an understanding. And it's not just about pets; for example, I know some table do a lot with scrying/divination, while other tables think that adds too much overhead time.

I'm more curious about what things people know about that they don't do that might be a good idea to do, because the tradeoff in real-life time or hassle isn't worth it.

I just think my table isn't made up of those sorts of people, so we don't scry, we don't 10ft pole, we're very laid back. In return, whiever one of us is DMing (we rotate) tend to "play along" in that the bad-guys aren't constantly scrying us, and we don't have to worry every black square is actually a black pudding.

 

[Oofta]

My DM said that I could not be a warforged druid transformer.

I feel your pain. I wanted the upgraded version that focused on throwing weapons. His name was going to be Treb. Treb U Shay.

 

[Li Shenron]

At my table, we have a general agreement of "NO PETS." That means that the party doesn't have hirelings, there are no DM NPCs (never!), we don't use necromancers, or Beastmasters, or have wizards that specialize in summoning, and so on.

Yes, things might be easier with pets, and I certainly understand why some tables enjoy playing with them, but our table has decided that "no pets" makes for a faster, funner,** experience for us.

I am not sure if I'd say that "pets" are a way to make the game easier. I mean, obviously they do, but it's a bit like saying that having 8 players instead of 4 makes the game easier, assuming of course the DM isn't increasing the adventure difficulty for that (which she could do also for pets)...

What strategy, tactics, playstyle, etc. do you deliberately eschew not because it's a bad choice, but because ... you just can't even?

Well I could say that in general I am deliberately not optimized and not paranoid about checking everything, both attitudes which I find very boring, but I can't think of anything specific. My point is, I might pick up a 10ft pole and carefully test each tile in a location if the DM has telegraphed through storytelling that we're going into a place where traps will likely be under lots of tiles randomly, but I won't make this my default for every location.

Then something perhaps related (tho not what I think you're asking here), as a DM I generally grant a single chance at a task, and not to every character, so the tactic of "let's have everyone in the party try this skill check to maximize the chances" is not applicable. Similarly, I do not grant the players the option of choosing when to use passive checks.

*Hatred of Paladins > Gnomes > Pets > Rapiers > Charisma

Shouldn't there be "katana" somewhere along the line too?

 

[200orcs]

Our decision is to play with RAW rules. But then again I am the DM.

I always went for RAI, until a long time DM, not on my table, wanted to join my games and asked for a RAW game so he can learn the rules.

I thought it would be dumb, but I obliged and realized all the RAI rules where just adding extra complexity without much benefit.

I do ignore one thing. You can use bonus action before standard so things like the Shielder feat get better.

My fear was that people would abuse the hell out of RAW and make Coffee locks or something, but it hasn't happened.

 

[Imaculata]

I run a pirate campaign, where I usually tackle interactions by the npc crew off-screen. During combat, I don't want to roll for the hundreds of pirates taking part in the battle. So I tell my players, everyone joins in on the fight, but for the sake of clarity, I will only focus on you (the players), your cohorts, and enemies that are fighting you. Just use your imagination, and imagine a massive fight going on around you that is not currently represented by miniatures. It's not that all those other enemies are suddenly not there, but that they are currently engaged in a fight with your npc crew, and there for not relevant in regards to resolving player-combat.

 

[Dausuul]

Pole-Arm Master + Sentinel feat combo. Uggh. Yeah, I know it's awesome. If you want to slow the game to a crawl.

I'm curious - how does this slow the game to a crawl for you? I played a character with this combo and didn't find that combat was slowed down any.

Of course, our opponents were slowed down plenty, but killing them went just as quick as ever.

 

[Blue]

Nothing really. Plenty of abuses we stop, but there's nothing we give up in terms of efficiency of play.

About the only thing we do is keep the number of players to a reasonable amount. And even that in one game we're up to 9 which is too much.

And as a side note, often a pet can both (a) add to fun and (b) are not necessarily "more powerful". You should try them to see what you are missing, perhaps with a ranger who gives their beast companion a strong personality.

 

[cmad1977]

I don’t look up rules during play.

Also: I round up for the good guys and down for the bad guys.

 

[mortwatcher]

encumbrance - unless you are going over the top with it, like carrying 5 full plate sets, we don't bother
food - again, unless the point of the journey is to starve you on the way, we don't bother
summoning - it's fine if you summon one creature, don't summon 8 small ones and if you MUST, have 8 dice ready so you can do your round quick
since we usually play with at least 1 new player, the combats take longer as you do have to re-explain things, but that is fine

 

[Oofta]

I'm curious - how does this slow the game to a crawl for you? I played a character with this combo and didn't find that combat was slowed down any.

Of course, our opponents were slowed down plenty, but killing them went just as quick as ever.

It may be a pet peeve more than anything, and the following is a semi-rant so don't take anything personally. Different people play for different reasons.

It makes it really difficult to balance encounters. Let's say I have a BBEG. Thematically, I want this particular BBEG to be a tank (I like to mix things up). Well, if he can always be stopped before he can do any damage for round after round ... it's no challenge. It's a boring nothing burger of a fight.

So round 1: BBEG charges in, fighter stops him before the BBEG can attack. BBEG looks sad and does nothing. Figther (and everyone else) attacks and walks away. Round 2: see round 1. Rinse and repeat until BBEG is dead. Yawn.

Some people like having an "I win" button. Heck occasionally the PCs stomp the heck out of a fight that I thought would be tough. That's all fine.

But when the same tactic works against every tank, that just means that as a DM I'm going change tactics and adjust encounters. I'll add HP, more monsters, special abilities, give all BBEGs reach or effective ranged attacks and so on. Basically it's removed an iconic opponent and fight from my repertoire. In addition I'm just working around something the fighter made an investment in devaluing that investment.

On the other hand when for some reason the tactic doesn't work (the fighter can't hit or is not positioned to stop the tank) what should have been a medium difficulty fight starts looking like a near TPK.

Oh, another one I forgot: Heat Metal. No save for decent damage for the level of the spell and auto-disadvantage on any BBEG that happens to wear metal armor while the bard runs away and hides? Also boring.