Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[+] Ways to fix the caster / non-caster gap
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9155515" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>Well it comes down to what you define as too easy. I mean, you have video games these days that nearly play themselves if you can't handle a difficult section. 5e isn't quite at that point- I have seen with my own eyes that 5e can be very challenging, and that published non-WotC adventures can be as well (I'll plug The Scarlet Citadel by Kobold Press here, it has some very rough challenges).</p><p></p><p>Heck, even older WotC adventures can be tough, when I ran some of the "updated" adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, we lost a few characters because there are some really challenging encounters. But in general, the sweet spot of difficulty varies between player to player, let alone group to group. If WotC feels that lowballing difficulty makes them more money, then that's what they'll do.</p><p></p><p>There are players who just want to have fun and not put a lot of effort into their gaming- for them, high difficulty and necessary optimization will turn them off of a game in fairly short order.</p><p></p><p>There are players who have a concept in mind and will want it to be the best it can be.</p><p></p><p>There are players who will optimize an advantage until it's beaten to death with a rock.</p><p></p><p>And there are people who make characters in a manner they feel is logical for that character, not simply wanting to take the best options.</p><p></p><p>One game has to suit all of these kinds of players and the ones in between. How do you make published adventures with that in mind? Sure, you could just present the bare bones of the adventure and let the DM figure it out, but not all DM's want to put in that kind of work- and maybe they simply can't. So what can you do within these constraints without just saying "this is a basic adventure" "this is an expert adventure" "this is an advanced adventure", putting in three times the effort for the same money (as not every group will be interested in all three).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9155515, member: 6877472"] Well it comes down to what you define as too easy. I mean, you have video games these days that nearly play themselves if you can't handle a difficult section. 5e isn't quite at that point- I have seen with my own eyes that 5e can be very challenging, and that published non-WotC adventures can be as well (I'll plug The Scarlet Citadel by Kobold Press here, it has some very rough challenges). Heck, even older WotC adventures can be tough, when I ran some of the "updated" adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, we lost a few characters because there are some really challenging encounters. But in general, the sweet spot of difficulty varies between player to player, let alone group to group. If WotC feels that lowballing difficulty makes them more money, then that's what they'll do. There are players who just want to have fun and not put a lot of effort into their gaming- for them, high difficulty and necessary optimization will turn them off of a game in fairly short order. There are players who have a concept in mind and will want it to be the best it can be. There are players who will optimize an advantage until it's beaten to death with a rock. And there are people who make characters in a manner they feel is logical for that character, not simply wanting to take the best options. One game has to suit all of these kinds of players and the ones in between. How do you make published adventures with that in mind? Sure, you could just present the bare bones of the adventure and let the DM figure it out, but not all DM's want to put in that kind of work- and maybe they simply can't. So what can you do within these constraints without just saying "this is a basic adventure" "this is an expert adventure" "this is an advanced adventure", putting in three times the effort for the same money (as not every group will be interested in all three). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
[+] Ways to fix the caster / non-caster gap
Top