D&D 5E Too Few Player Options During Combat?

[Mort]

That can be true for you and it can be false for me. I know myself.

As I mentioned in my post above, I love the idea - it just doesn't work well for me in reality. For those it works for - it is great. For me it is a burden.

With the additional info provided, I can really see it.

Sounds great but can get messy really fast.

Party fighting 6 opponents and the wizard cast a mass hold person. You have to determine, not only each opponent made/failed the save but to what degree. Suddenly you are tracking multiple conditions from the casting of one spell.

That can add up fast - that's kind of a bigger version of what burned me out on 3e.

So great mechanic, but probably not for me.

 

[dave2008]

With the additional info provided, I can really see it.

Sounds great but can get messy really fast.

Party fighting 6 opponents and the wizard cast a mass hold person. You have to determine, not only each opponent made/failed the save but to what degree. Suddenly you are tracking multiple conditions from the casting of one spell.

That can add up fast - that's kind of a bigger version of what burned me out on 3e.

So great mechanic, but probably not for me

And I had not even thought about tracking different degrees over multiple targets. Yikes!

Again, I want to clear, I think it is a cool idea and if it works for you - fantastic. I just know as a DM it would lessen my fun to deal with them. However, like a lot of things with PF2 it seems like it would be easier to play, for me, than to DM. If I am just worrying about my character I might be OK. But as I DM, I know I am not good at tracking this on my players and monsters.

 

[Mort]

And I had not even thought about tracking different degrees over multiple targets. Yikes!

Again, I want to clear, I think it is a cool idea and if it works for you - fantastic. I just know as a DM it would lessen my fun to deal with them. However, like a lot of things with PF2 it seems like it would be easier to play, for me, than to DM. If I am just worrying about my character I might be OK. But as I DM, I know I am not good at tracking this on my players and monsters.

That's me exactly!

I'd be fine playing PF2, I'd probably even enjoy it a lot.

But DM it? I Dm'd high level 3e/3.5e and that was just not fun for me - this seems like that, but more so.

 

[Justice and Rule]

With the additional info provided, I can really see it.

Sounds great but can get messy really fast.

Party fighting 6 opponents and the wizard cast a mass hold person. You have to determine, not only each opponent made/failed the save but to what degree. Suddenly you are tracking multiple conditions from the casting of one spell.

That can add up fast - that's kind of a bigger version of what burned me out on 3e.

So great mechanic, but probably not for me.

Paralyze only affects one target unless you boost it to 7th level, so generally speaking that's not a thing. This is one of those "PF2 resembles D&D, but it has a bunch of differences that matter".

But honestly, given that it's a difference of 10, I've found it to be pretty easy to figure out quickly.

And I had not even thought about tracking different degrees over multiple targets. Yikes!

Again, I want to clear, I think it is a cool idea and if it works for you - fantastic. I just know as a DM it would lessen my fun to deal with them. However, like a lot of things with PF2 it seems like it would be easier to play, for me, than to DM. If I am just worrying about my character I might be OK. But as I DM, I know I am not good at tracking this on my players and monsters.

And I would say that if you haven't played the game, try it once before commenting on its difficulty.

 

[dave2008]

And I would say that if you haven't played the game, try it once before commenting on its difficulty.

Listen, I don't even like tracking hit points. I know I'm not going to like this. I may not have played PF2 before, but it is not like I haven't tried mechanics like this before. PF2 did not create the concept.

Now, I am pretty sure I would be fine playing a character in PF2, but I am not interested in being the DM. There is to much going on or can go on that it wouldn't be fun for me. That is OK. I only plan on playing a character if and when I get the chance.

 

[dave2008]

But honestly, given that it's a difference of 10, I've found it to be pretty easy to figure out quickly.

It is not calculating the number that is the issue for me, it is having to know another effect other than succeed or fail.

 

[rmcoen]

I like the idea of PF2 "margin of success/failure", but I agree that it means I have to look up every spell being cast, for the specifics. Even when I think I know it, I could be suffering "edition fatigue", or crossing my data between D&D and PF. After 30 years of D&D, I have major edition fatigue just staying in 5e. So I like the idea, but it is slower.