Player Balance in D&D 5th Edition

Inspirobot thinks you need double-check your surroundings.

Recently we finished a published 5th Edition campaign at 11th level or something.  Almost immediately after, we started an OSR game that has used a streamlined version of Swords & Wizardry but will be transitioning into a B/X Essentials game. The feel of the two games were markedly different, and we obviously had a preference.

While we were playing 5th Edition I had been stating flatly that throughout the published work, all the encounters were weighted heavily TOWARDS the pc group.  Everything favored the player party greatly.

It's worse than just the events and encounters in the module, however.  In play, it's easy to see that 5th Edition's basic rules give FAR too much to the players in terms of advantages.  A lot of you are NOT going to get what I am talking about, but it's sort of a shock coming from older iterations of the rules.  It's really more like a thousand tiny things rather than one giant problem, so it's hard to describe.

So many times during play, we had to double check rules to make sure we COULD legally perform some exploit.  I say 'exploit' because that's essentially what it is, compared to older editions.  There are very little restrictions on any kind of action given to the players, and 5th Edition has a lot of 'free' powers and abilities. 

Wizard types that can always do X damage?  Every round, without fail?  Interesting.  Oh, Rogues get Sneak Attack pretty much every round.  OK. Excuse me, Mr. Halfling Wizard but that spell does THAT (whatever that is) and is that low of a level??  I see.  And you can pretty much do it indefinitely, as far as this encounter goes?  Alright.

It's actually hard to articulate how many times we ran across something that just felt wrong.  I suppose I should have written them all down from the start, but honestly I didn't think there would be just THAT MANY overweighted advantages given to the PC's from the outset.  Rests, spells, and even an overwhelming amount of help and support in the published scenarios pretty much made it impossible to lose except to an excessive bout of stupidity.  We've had groups commit mass suicide before, and honestly this was a situation I feared may play out again simply because everything was so boring and there was nothing the players could not accomplish.

All of this, of course, RAW.  With official scenarios, run RAW.  Now, RAW usually means 'bloody', but the players barely felt their scratches before they were healed to full hp through one convention or another.  Even DEATH SAVES are best two out of three, with quite a good chance of making them.

Player balance is so wildly out of whack in 5e it will be interesting to fully devise adventures for the ruleset, but it's on the DM as well.  I could have chosen to change a lot about the encounters, but I ran the game exactly as it was presented in the adventures to get an idea of the design philosophy of the new game.  What I got was they now wanted D&D to be a JRPG sort of deal.  You play it for a long time, you don't really ever lose or die and it's all about the story.  Fine.  OK.

I don't know.  I want more tactical combat, or at least combat with repercussions.  Combat was an all-or-nothing sort of deal.  Either the group would be wiped out completely or they would destroy the enemies.  No middle ground, no resource marshaling.  There were very little encounters where they were challenged.  Perhaps if all the bonus help given in certain encounters were, oh, say, completely eliminated from the module, there would have been some losses.  Maybe even enough to make the situations and encounters more real.  There was never any real feeling of risk.

The story is just improv theater without the challenge of actually getting there through strategic planning, roleplaying, tactics, ingenuity and sheer luck.  As a DM presenting the game, it makes me feel a little like new players may see me as a prima-donna of sorts, talking and going on all the time in several different character voices to push along a contrived plot.  It's not the Dave Show - I'm just the referee.  I'd rather that players enjoy the game first before they get too much of my overcooked ham.

I will eventually run another 5th Edition campaign, but it will be much different.  I won't alter basic rules, but I will be creating my own scenarios.  I think this is the main issue - design philosophy differences.  I think you can get over it, but you have to IGNORE CR's as a DM and wing it like we used to back in my day - before we had things like Challenge Ratings and infinite cantrips that do 1d10 damage.  CR's don't work in 5e if you actually want a challenge - which is the only side my ham will go with.

Swords & Wizardry

GameDoc has set up a Swords & Wizardry game set in the Grand Duchy!  It's time for some Old School Renaissance?!  Count us in, but be warned.  Wizards with INT 9 are not just allowed, but perfectly feasible.

*Updated 1/30/2018*

A party of adventurers find themselves on a caravan in the northern part of Karameikos.  All of them drawn for different reasons to the area, they are all traveling to the Keep on the merciless Borderlands.  The way is treacherous, and they all know the dangers of this wild area.

Georg Weakstone and his elven companion Kay are caravan guards working for passage to the Keep.  Joining them are Zomzatom of Specularum and his apprentice, wizards traveling with the caravan for their own inscrutable reasons.  Lastly, the lawful cleric Cleo walks the route to the Keep...presumably to bring wisdom to the foolish.


Current

• Cleo (Cleric)
• Skjal Beut (Halfling Fighter)
• Forchen Winstar (Halfling Cleric)
• Zomzatom (Wizard)

Disbanded

• Georg Weakstone (Fighter)
• Kay (Elven Wizard)

Session Log I

One day during the long caravan north, something finally happened.  Danger reared it's ugly head but one day's journey from the Keep, lending credence to the stories about monsters near the Borderlands.  A makeshift blockade had been made by fallen trees, obviously cut.  Yet our adventurers are wary, and are ready for a goblin attack.

The ambuscade falls flat, though for a moment the goblins get the better of some foolish caravan guards.  As Georg and Ser Bertram fight off the goblin thrust, another group approaches from the opposite direction - led by a hobgoblin warrior.  Zomzatom charms the hapless hobgoblin and accuses the goblin henchfolk of trying to steal his milk money.  The group cleans up the goblins on the other side as Zomzatom convinces the hobgoblin he and his men should raid the road near Specularum if he really wants more than milk money.

During the night, a terror hit the camp during Kay's watch.  A basilisk wandered into camp and caused much havoc, killing one caravan guard and nearly killing Kay herself.  Cleo interceded and the power of her goddess revived Kay in time for an escape while Georg and Ser Bertram manage to slay the beast.

The next day, the group arrives in town.  After a quick assessment on the situation and some drinks in the tavern, a profitable venture presents itself.  It seems goblin attacks are increasing, and patrols required to deal with them are sparse.  Zomzatom points out that cleaning goblins off the road is treating the symptom rather than the sickness.  Soon after, plans are made to speak with who ever has the authority to hire adventurers.

Session Log II

Forchen Winstar and his companion Skjal Beut travel along the trail to the keep, looking for adventure.  A day's journey from the keep it finds them.  Bandits accost their caravan, and nearly kill Skjal after threatening to take the halflings into slavery.  A fight breaks out and the halflings fight for their lives, killing many of their attackers.

Once they are at the keep, they meet Zomzatom and Cleo over drinks in the inn.  The next morning, the halflings join the duo over breakfast, and they are told about the opportunity for coin if they have the courage to fight goblins in the dark.  Charging into a goblin's nest, knee deep in goblin vomit and slop. 

The party makes their way to the constabulary.  After Zomzatom again points out how wrong they are doing it and negotiates a draconian bounty for ears, the party is left with a few clear directives.  Kill all the savage humanoids, kill everyone else if you have to.  Except the lizardmen, who are neutral.  Ears is the name, and gold is the game.  Just as well.  Lizardmen don't have ears.

The party is approached by a prospective client, who has lost a courier.  Apparently, he was to journey to the nearby swamp and entreat with the lizardmen, whom are neutral.  The client (sort of) incriminates a cleric in the keep's temple to have something to do with it, so the party visits the temple.

Apparently, the cleric had connections with the lizardfolk.  The courier was expected to return in the morning, but did not.  Nearest lead:  talk to the lizardfolk, who are (allegedly) neutral.

The party then made plans to check with the rangers for leads on probable bandit camps and goblin warrens.  They intended to wait near the gates for a patrol to return.  In the meantime, they explore the keep and get to know the inhabitants.


What will become of our intrepid adventurers as they begin to explore this keep and the borderlands?

Find out soon...

X-Wing: Cloak of the Sith Round 2 Commences!

Cloak of the Sith Challonge!

Our longest running campaign has been the first X-Wing 1.0 campaign launched on this site, mostly because we do all kinds of stuff and have too many things going on at once but hey.  The final stage has begun, at last!

You learn pretty quick they are ALL definitely hiding contraband.

By far the biggest winners of the campaign so far are the Deathwind Cartels, a.k.a. Scum & Villainy faction.  So much so, in fact, that the last round of games won't actually change that fact - the Cartel has seriously secured victory throughout the Deathwind Corridor.  All that remains is a few last sorties on both Alliance and Imperial assets as the two withdraw from the theater.

Cornered and alone, the crack Imperial pilots have state-of-the-art fighters...but they are still all alone.

Coming in solid at second, the Rebels could conceivably lose their ranking in the last round if the Imperial blockade is successful at every turn.  Further, the pirates must be dissuaded from destroying any more Alliance assets - assets needed to combat the hated Empire. The Imperials are thus the real threat the rebellion faces moving into Round 2, which is a MUCH shorter timeline to completion.

Getting caught all alone in the drifts of Deathwind Corridor will spell doom for anyone, however.

The lowest of scores so far, the Imperial team has struggled in the Cloak of the Sith.  Though Imperial forces clean up on the ground (where they land) their fleet has been hit hard by the guerilla tactics of both the Rebellion and the pirates.  Yet, there is still a chance to defeat the rebel scum before the area is abandoned to lawlessness and cutthroats.  It will be dicey, but in order to truly advance the Imperials will have to be utterly ruthless.

As Round 2 begins, Alliance and Imperial forces are in full retreat from the Cloak of the Sith.
Pirates are all over, coming out in droves as the larger fleets begin to bleed.  The cartels control the Deathwind Corridor and the Cloak of the Sith...but will the Imperials put an end to the Alliance fleet before it can rally for it's next mission?

Just a few sorties remain!