D&D (2024) Wrapping up first 2-20 2024 campaign this week, some of my thoughts

[DragonLancer]

Removing attunement from Ring of Resistance in 2024 resulted in most of our party wearing 10 rings of resistance and being resistant to almost all damage by game's end.

I'm guessing I've missed it and running on older edition knowledge, but are rings not limited to two per character any more?

 

[tetrasodium]

I'm guessing I've missed it and running on older edition knowledge, but are rings not limited to two per character any more?

On page 139 in the Dungeon Master's Guide, it does not state a limit to magic rings when talking about them. So according to the book, as long as they don't require attunement, you can wear, realistically, 10 rings at once as long as they are not duplicate magic items.

Source sounds about right and it's hard to prove a negative so rather than quoting rules text I'll cite the fact that the 5.0 5.1 and 5.24 sheet lacks both a section for recording attunement or anything resembling body slots as evidence of intent.

 

[GarrettKP]

If your party has 500 days and 20,000 GP per person to craft 10 rings of resistance, the DMs not giving y’all enough to do and probably handing out too much gold

 

[Swarmkeeper]

yeah, I was expecting a bump, one of the things that makes me bounce off 2024, ‘vastly’ still is a disappointment however

The characters in this scenario were absolutely loaded with magic items.
My hunch is that the results here are not necessarily representative of how most tables play.
Note the sidebar on page 218 of the DMG:

Are Magic Items Necessary?​

The D&D game assumes that magic items appear sporadically and that they are a boon unless an item bears a curse. Characters and monsters are built to face each other without the help of magic items, which means that having a magic item makes a character more powerful or versatile than a generic character of the same level. As DM, you never have to worry about awarding magic items just so the characters can keep up with the campaign's threats. Magic items are truly prizes—desirable but not necessary.

 

[Reynard]

Vastly more powerful PCs.

I had lvl 6 pcs clear a 2014 lvl 9 dungeon.

Easy mode now very easy. New Sorcerer is a bit bonkers.

yeah, I was expecting a bump, one of the things that makes me bounce off 2024, ‘vastly’ still is a disappointment however

Out of curiosity, what has made 2024 characters that much more powerful? Is it the way abilities and spells and such have been rewritten, or is it something more fundamental like extra feats and ASIs etc?

 

[payn]

Out of curiosity, what has made 2024 characters that much more powerful? Is it the way abilities and spells and such have been rewritten, or is it something more fundamental like extra feats and ASIs etc?

 

[Mort]

We started the campaign in September the week the new PHB came out. We are currently level 18 and will likely finish it this week. This group has played multiple 1-20 adventures before, so we have a lot of experience from 5E for comparison.

We played MDCM Where Evil Lives started at level 2. Our party consists of a Dwarf Champion, Human Light Cleric, Goliath Abjuration Wizard, Human Valor Bard (with Paladin 1/Warlock 2 dip) and me - a Halfling Arcane Trickster/Fey Warlock (with Bard1/Paladin1 dip). Here are some thoughts:

1. The combat takes a lot longer at lower level, but is quicker at high level because enemies fall quickly (too quickly TBH)

I'll have to take a look at the monsters you guys were fighting. But it does seem you guys were LOADED with magic items (10 magic rings each?!?, that means you each probably had amazing other gear too).

2. Combat balance is worse at high level than in 5E. By the end of the campaign most fights were lasting only 1 round. Bosses went down without a turn at all about half the time. This is an MCDM adventure with a bunch of buffed monsters too, it would be worse using 5E or 2024 standard monsters.

Martials have gained in power significantly and casters have retained it gained a bit too. This means encounters need to be more challenging, especially at high levels.

3. We were playing with both crafting and purchasing magic items. A few magic items are problems.

Vicious weapons in particular are Uncommon and should probably be Legendary as they are better than just about any Rare or Very Rare weapon. They are superior to a Very Rare Flame Tongue and will generally do more damage than a Legendary +3 weapon.

Removing attunement from Ring of Resistance in 2024 resulted in most of our party wearing 10 rings of resistance and being resistant to almost all damage by game's end.

Resistance to regular weapon damage seems to be completely gone from the MM. Fire resistance is relatively common, especially at high levels.

But as above, you guys seem completely LOADED with magic items which can skew encounter difficulty greatly.

4. The new Champion is the real deal when it comes to damage.

Glad to hear it.

5. A 1-level Paladin dip is pretty awesome on any caster that is going to use melee weapons and has the Charisma and Strength.

Paladin remains a very strong class.

6. Abjuration Wizard is basically unkillable at high level.

Will have to try this out.

 

[Bomberooski]

Great post! Thank you for sharing it.

Takeaways:

- That is a LOT of magic items!!!

- We’ve had 8 sessions of 2024 D&D playing from level 1 to our current level 5. We may be lucky in that we have 6 PC’s and combat has not drug on at all. Highly recommend making sure your PC’s are ready when their turn comes up. We have 2 guys that usually take way too long with their turns in combat but our GM has really put a focus on moving them along and that’s all it’s taken this campaign to keep our battles pacing well.

- What is a good alternate to making a character feel threatened when it is nearly impossible for them to die (ie the Wizard in your group)?

 

[aco175]

I'm just amazed (and a bit jealous) that you already finished a campaign.

 

[ECMO3]

How can this be and who could possibly have predicted such an outcome?

after a decade of running 5e I've learned that 1&2 are not a problem with the system and should be laid entirely sty the feet of the gm at that table for not building better encounters. He or she needs to use terrain and similar better while adding more monsters through waves and phases. . Also I've been told many times that PCs are extremely susceptible to death so the trouble once again must be that initial failure of the GM or the GM's failure to set some house rules during session zero .

This was a published adventure, and it was one with a reputation for being very difficult, so much so that the DM actually instructed us to make mechanically strong characters. The early levels were tough too.

As far as waves we used the MCDM Minions system which means waves of enemies numbering the dozens at times.

We did havea few house rules, the most impactful being going to 0 hit points adds a level of exhaustion and makes the Healing Word yo-yo pretty costly. This was an impact early game, late though it was rare to approach 0 hps.