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Why does 5E SUCK?
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<blockquote data-quote="DaveDash" data-source="post: 6652240" data-attributes="member: 6786202"><p>That's actually an option I haven't considered, which I might. A "minimum" threshold as such.</p><p></p><p>I don't mind the Wizard breaking down the door when the Fighter can't once in a while, as it causes a bit of comic relief and such, but too often and it starts to strain the suspension of disbelief.</p><p></p><p>It also kind of goes the other way too - I've noticed with flatter DC's combined with expertise, certain things like spotting traps and such with passives become far too easy. I've noticed in Princes of the Apocalypse they actually don't let you spot something that is actually hidden from sight (requires investigation instead), or add 5 to the passive DC if it's well hidden. I like this, but I don't see enough DM's using investigation/passives in this way.</p><p></p><p>This has stuck out as an issue for me when converting 3rd edition content - which I have been doing. Tons of traps in a 3rd Edition module that may be very deadly roadblocks become pretty easy to bypass in 5e for various reasons. For example, when converting <em>City of the Spider Queen</em>, back in 3rd Edition if you didn't have a min/maxed Rogue you will basically die. Obviously this is not a good thing for parties without Rogues, nor parties without min/maxed Rogues.</p><p>5e goes way too far the other way though where you don't even need much to bypass all the traps. Anyone can take a background that gives them proficiency bonus in sleight of hand, or tool proficiency with thieves tools. Even when using DC20 traps which are meant to be "hard", once you start getting up to <em>higher levels</em> (lower levels 5e seems to gel nicely), anyone has a pretty good chance of bypassing traps - +7 to +9 bonus is common, and Rogues/Bards get +14-15. It's worse if you allow the 'aid another' rule and have two characters who are proficient aid each other. Having everything at DC30 to maintain the challenge is an option, but not a great one IMO.</p><p>It can take a lot of the wind out of the exploration pillar of the game and actually increase DM workload, because I have to re-engineer a lot of things with the expectation that they will be found, so instead changing them to be hard to bypass. And the mechanics-lite-fluff-filled 5e DMG is no help here.</p><p></p><p>I think the summary of all this is bounded accuracy works great in combat, but I'm not sold on it yet in out of combat stuff. It leads to weirdness on one hand where Wizards bust through castle doors using a shoulder charge, while the raging Barbarian bounces off it, and on the other hand expertise breaks bounded accuracy. It's all fixable, but I am only just now settling on things I am comfortable with and I have been DMing 5e now for almost a year.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DaveDash, post: 6652240, member: 6786202"] That's actually an option I haven't considered, which I might. A "minimum" threshold as such. I don't mind the Wizard breaking down the door when the Fighter can't once in a while, as it causes a bit of comic relief and such, but too often and it starts to strain the suspension of disbelief. It also kind of goes the other way too - I've noticed with flatter DC's combined with expertise, certain things like spotting traps and such with passives become far too easy. I've noticed in Princes of the Apocalypse they actually don't let you spot something that is actually hidden from sight (requires investigation instead), or add 5 to the passive DC if it's well hidden. I like this, but I don't see enough DM's using investigation/passives in this way. This has stuck out as an issue for me when converting 3rd edition content - which I have been doing. Tons of traps in a 3rd Edition module that may be very deadly roadblocks become pretty easy to bypass in 5e for various reasons. For example, when converting [I]City of the Spider Queen[/I], back in 3rd Edition if you didn't have a min/maxed Rogue you will basically die. Obviously this is not a good thing for parties without Rogues, nor parties without min/maxed Rogues. 5e goes way too far the other way though where you don't even need much to bypass all the traps. Anyone can take a background that gives them proficiency bonus in sleight of hand, or tool proficiency with thieves tools. Even when using DC20 traps which are meant to be "hard", once you start getting up to [I]higher levels[/I] (lower levels 5e seems to gel nicely), anyone has a pretty good chance of bypassing traps - +7 to +9 bonus is common, and Rogues/Bards get +14-15. It's worse if you allow the 'aid another' rule and have two characters who are proficient aid each other. Having everything at DC30 to maintain the challenge is an option, but not a great one IMO. It can take a lot of the wind out of the exploration pillar of the game and actually increase DM workload, because I have to re-engineer a lot of things with the expectation that they will be found, so instead changing them to be hard to bypass. And the mechanics-lite-fluff-filled 5e DMG is no help here. I think the summary of all this is bounded accuracy works great in combat, but I'm not sold on it yet in out of combat stuff. It leads to weirdness on one hand where Wizards bust through castle doors using a shoulder charge, while the raging Barbarian bounces off it, and on the other hand expertise breaks bounded accuracy. It's all fixable, but I am only just now settling on things I am comfortable with and I have been DMing 5e now for almost a year. [/QUOTE]
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