D&D 5E What are the "True Issues" with 5e?

[Oofta]

This is D&D bud. Those aren't mobsters, they're thieves guilds that have a head thief, lieutenants, thugs, fences...

I often describe the different thieves guilds in town as either being led by the Joker or the Godfather. The former will kill you just because you were there. The latter will still kill you but they'll be polite about it and say that "It's nothing personal, just business."

 

[Vaalingrade]

not sure how the rest relates to anything

People who don't fully understand reality, such as the effects of environment on species should not dictate 'realism' in the context of wholly fantastic settings.

 

[Minigiant]

Well, to be fair, the rules are also written so that non-casters get more special abilities nowadays, so they're not as dependent on gear.

Noncaster were design to not be dependent on gear for Combat.

Nothing was done for noncombat.

5e is designed as a hardcore dungeon crawling back and slash. that says it can do anything without the tools to modify it.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

What about the part where it explicitly says the characters are capable of superheroic feats?

They are—-depending on how you define it.

Going toe to toe with giant monsters again and again with a weapon only is amazing.

Yes ancient humans took down mastadons in groups and people kill bears. But not usually toe to toe alone over and over. And not usually fire breathers with metal scales.

That would be amazing.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'd like to remind people that The Phantom, the Question and Hawkeye are all superheroes.

D&D doesn't know what it's talking about when it says 'super heroic'.

 

[nevin]

They are—-depending on how you define it.

Going toe to toe with giant monsters again and again with a weapon only is amazing.

Yes ancient humans took down mastadons in groups and people kill bears. But not usually toe to toe alone over and over. And not usually fire breathers with metal scales.

That would be amazing.

they think most of those tribes killed Mastodons by using pits or deadfalls and then slowly picking them off with spears and arrows. And anyone that can kill a large bear with a sword is the definition of hero.

 

[Undrave]

Like a lot ot tables play without incumberance, tracking water and food and other resources and then complain that exploration sucks.

The problem with encumbrance is that it’s just adding up numbers until you can’t add up anymore. It’s too mechanical. When you’re packing in real life do you weight everything and try to get an accurate carrying capacity for yourself? Unless you’re afraid of getting a surcharge at the airport I don’t think the precise weight matters. You try to jam everything in your bags then try to lift them and then decide if it’s too much. Encumbrance should feel more instinctive. I'm not sure what they can do but listing the exact weight is not it.

Water, food and torches are way too easy to obviate at level 1. I think people like they idea of worrying about food, water, etc, but they don't actually like to track it manually? Like... ticking down your ration on your character sheet isn't interesting, the rest interesting stuff is deciding what you do when you get close to 0. It's only interesting when you're running out.

A ranger needs arrows, fighters need weapons and armors and so on.

Unless weapons start shattering after 2 fights like in Breath of the Wild, those are just peanuts in term of expenses.

 

[Vaalingrade]

And making the ranger count arrows is one of the worst punishments in the game.

 

[nevin]

The problem with encumbrance is that it’s just adding up numbers until you can’t add up anymore. It’s too mechanical. When you’re packing in real life do you weight everything and try to get an accurate carrying capacity for yourself? Unless you’re afraid of getting a surcharge at the airport I don’t think the precise weight matters. You try to jam everything in your bags then try to lift them and then decide if it’s too much. Encumbrance should feel more instinctive. I'm not sure what they can do but listing the exact weight is not it.

Water, food and torches are way too easy to obviate at level 1. I think people like they idea of worrying about food, water, etc, but they don't actually like to track it manually? Like... ticking down your ration on your character sheet isn't interesting, the rest interesting stuff is deciding what you do when you get close to 0. It's only interesting when you're running out.

Unless weapons start shattering after 2 fights like in Breath of the Wild, those are just peanuts in term of expenses.

dislike of bookkeeping has derailed most attempts to have systems like that. IME most tables don't use spell components, encumberance, or anything like that because it's just a unfun thing to deal with. I'd say bags of holding are the most overused items in DND and i'm guilty of it as well. Some nitpicky rules lawyer start getting into something like encumberance and I'll just throw them in the next treasure because I as DM don't want to deal with it. Nothing fun at all about the resource game. I can play monopoly if I want that.

 

[nevin]

And making the ranger count arrows is one of the worst punishments in the game.

for the ranger or the DM?