Level Up (A5E) What Interests You about "Level Up"?

[Micah Sweet]

I'm pretty sure people did. I was running (briefly) a 2e game back in college and inflicted blindness on a PC. The player immediately tried to have her character commit suicide. No attempt to fix the blindness or even see if it was permanent or not. Just "my character is blind, therefore she's useless, therefore she must die." It really wrecked the entire game.

I honestly can't remember anything else from that game, since it lasted for such a short time so long ago, but that bit always stuck with me.

I would see that as a personal problem for that player, and not something the game designers need to change the system to avoid.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

Exactly. Nerfing the monsters makes them less scary, and tends to just lump them all together as hit point bags that look a little different. Losing a character due to a failed roll does suck, but that used to heighten suspense to crazy good levels in a game, and back in the day at least, nobody cried or had a temper tantrum and huffed off if their character died. They just spent ten minutes rolling up a new character. One of my favorite sayings at the table is: "Never get too attached to your character, and always have the next one ready in the back of your mind."

It happened back then too. I once played with a guy back in 3e that took a hammer to his dice if he rolled a 1. Another in 2e days that our DM had to kick out of our group cause he would literally throw a screaming fit if he died. Just because you didn't experience it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Toxic gamers have been present in every edition.

 

[Faolyn]

I would see that as a personal problem for that player, and not something the game designers need to change the system to avoid.

Oh, no, it's not a game design thing at all. I was just pointing out that people weren't necessarily so easy-come-easy-go back in 2e.

 

[Jmarso]

It happened back then too. I once played with a guy back in 3e that took a hammer to his dice if he rolled a 1. Another in 2e days that our DM had to kick out of our group cause he would literally throw a screaming fit if he died. Just because you didn't experience it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Toxic gamers have been present in every edition.

Well, it's an easy fix. As soon as one of those mental toddlers self-identifies themselves through their actions, you kick 'em the eff out. But again, it make it easier when rolling a new character is a 10 minute process versus a 30-40 minute one.

 

[lichmaster]

Okay, checked out the wight in the monstrous compendium and am not seeing the threat. It's most dangerous attack, level drain, fixes itself after a long rest. That = no threat, nothing to be afraid of in my book.

No. You can have up to 7 levels of strife. You can only recover from strife with a long rest only if

• you ONLY have 1 level of strife, not more
• AND, you're having a long rest in a haven

Sleeping at a campfire will not do
Please, do not assume LU is equal to 5e

 

[W'rkncacnter]

• you ONLY have 1 level of strife, not more
• AND, you're having a long rest in a haven

correction, it's if you have a long rest and:

• you have 1 and only 1 level of strife
• OR (not and) you are in a haven

you also recover a level of strife (and fatigue) when you're raised from the dead, i assume to prevent being instantly doomed upon being raised from death by fatigue

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

That's the same as regular 5E. The threat is that the players may not be able to take a long rest. Also the level of strife is a greater threat than the HP loss in the long run. That doesn't necessarily get cleared on a long rest and can create major issues later on.

You wanna make this a real threat, and make resource management a more significant part of the game again?

Use the alternate rest rules from the DMG - long rests take a week, short rests are eight hours.

That changes things a lot. (I also maintain that the long rest must be done in a "sanctuary" (to borrow a term from AiME) - a safe place where you have access to resources you need and won't be ambushed by enemies. The short rest can be done in the field/dungeon.)

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Sounds like the "haven" rules from A5E are a lot like those from AiME.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sounds like the "haven" rules from A5E are a lot like those from AiME.

I believe they were inspired by them.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

You wanna make this a real threat, and make resource management a more significant part of the game again?

Use the alternate rest rules from the DMG - long rests take a week, short rests are eight hours.

That changes things a lot. (I also maintain that the long rest must be done in a "sanctuary" (to borrow a term from AiME) - a safe place where you have access to resources you need and won't be ambushed by enemies. The short rest can be done in the field/dungeon.)

oh yes. There are a few ways to make rests more meaningful