Lanefan
Victoria Rules
OK, back to this - sorry 'bout the delay...
However, those ten zombies aren't (usually) the only thing the party will face in a given day/adventure; and the system has a lot to say about accessing the loss condition over a period of time - a series of combats where each one leaves you with fewer resources.
5e waves at this with its stated intent of a 6-to-8 encounter day; but that's unsustainable in most reasonable settings (and anecdotally from what I read on this forum, it seems many don't run it that way), and the characters still get everything back the next day - there's no ongoing attrition to speak of.
And if the DM tries to add in any lasting attrition the system quietly encourages the players to fight against this.
That said, char-gen has been overly complicated ever since 2e; even 1e was a bit much if one went by RAW.

Agreed on all.You are misunderstanding. Combat is the easiest way to access the loss condition. It is actually about the only way to do it. However, the challenge of the game for experts isn't found in the statblocks. The challenge isn't found in a rule that says you take double damage from every hit.
The challenge of the game, from the player perspective, comes from the Dungeon Master's arrangement of the pieces. A horde of 10 zombies isn't a challenge for a level 5 party. A horde of 10 zombies hidden in a poison cloud might be. A horde of 10 zombies hidden in a poison cloud where a quest item is also hidden, meaning the players need to fight and search at the same time, and the area is a maze of tunnels could be insanely challenging for that party.
But the zombie statblock doesn't tell you to put them in a maze filled with poison gas. It can't tell you that, because they need to be used in many different ways. And the tools to design that encounter are all in the books. It's all there. You just have to piece them together.
However, those ten zombies aren't (usually) the only thing the party will face in a given day/adventure; and the system has a lot to say about accessing the loss condition over a period of time - a series of combats where each one leaves you with fewer resources.
5e waves at this with its stated intent of a 6-to-8 encounter day; but that's unsustainable in most reasonable settings (and anecdotally from what I read on this forum, it seems many don't run it that way), and the characters still get everything back the next day - there's no ongoing attrition to speak of.
And if the DM tries to add in any lasting attrition the system quietly encourages the players to fight against this.
Agreed about having the tools; but examples of how they'd look in use would be helpful too, for a new DM. The Gnoll example I gave might be one such.No. I don't need it to be 40% or 20% or anything like that. If I want them to be equipped with different weapons, then I equip them differently. And the books spell this out. The MM mentions altering monsters on pg 6 as a sidebar, talks about equipment changes on pgs 9 and 11. It is all there. They told you exactly how to modify the enemies. What they didn't do was write a variant for every possible type.
And frankly, thank the gods they didn't, because the MM would have tripled in size. Sure, this is "technically" homebrewing, but it is also just pure modularity of design. You have the tools, put them together how you want. The statblocks are just the base templates.
I kinda disagree there. Making things easier is - in complete isolation - neither easier nor harder than making things more difficult. But you're not doing it in isolation. You've got players, and they are going to react to the changes you make - almost invariably with pleasure if-when you make things easier and with displeasure if-when you do the opposite.I don't care about player pushback. I care about the ease of actually doing the thing. I've just listed a ton of ways to make things more difficult, but it is a lot harder to know how to make it easier. Honestly, like I said, it is additionally very hard to know if you CAN make it easier when you are first starting out.
And I'm more or less fine with this. The game expects a certain degree of buy-in and always has. It's not for everyone.Sure, and ancient people learned to hunt because they starved if they didn't. Doesn't make it BETTER to learn hunting under those conditions.
Just because older editions were more challenging out of the book doesn't mean they were better, or that people enjoyed them more. I've had many people either quit or almost quit DnD on me because of how hard it was for them to make a 5e Character. And you may scoff, because 3.X characters were so much more complicated. But do you know what that really means? That means that those people who might be interested in the hobby as a way to express their creativity would never play. They'd see how hard it was and say "Ah, this game clearly isn't intended for me" and leave.
That said, char-gen has been overly complicated ever since 2e; even 1e was a bit much if one went by RAW.
I may have more experience as a DM (not sure about that) but none of it is with 5e - you'd have more of a sense of how to tweak 5e than I. My approach would probably start with a sledgehammer and end up with something nigh-unrecognizable as anything 5e-based.You are a DM with decades more experience than myself. If I can figure out how to alter the baseline of 5e to be challenging, even as I buff player abilities, then I'm certain you are capable.
My issue is this: that which a new player starts with becomes that which that player quickly becomes accustomed to. Thus starting hard then easing off is likely to produce happier players in the long term (as they're already familiar with the game being difficult) than is the reverse.But for those people who still don't understand even the simplest parts of optimization, I'm glad the baseline game is a bit easier. Let them learn and grow, and then SHOW THEM how to ramp it up when they are ready, rather than complaining that all new players only care about winning and will destroy the game.