Humor, jokes, memes about TTRPGs
This is one of the reasons I'm really not happy with DND. I just don't want to play a resource management game. I want to do cool stuff.
There are lots of games that aren't built around resource management and attrition, but unfortunately DND is so popular it sucks all the air out of the room.
I do feel that slowly, edition by edition, D&D is moving closer to it's recourse management being tied to it's round based action economy which I actually enjoy.
As a player, it's already pretty easy to play this way, before counting subclasses, the rogue has literally no abilities that are limited by anything but once per turn, and if you pick some fun narrative spells as warlock and rely on invocations and eldritch blast, you can be totally effective without any resource management. Both of these exclude hitpoints of course but that is a pretty reasonable resource for a combat focussed fantasy game.
My understanding is that OneDnd was moving more towards per-long-rest instead of anything else. I haven't been following it for a few months though.
I would vastly prefer if powers were based on something more granular than long rest.
You can play fighter or warlock. Dnd limits extreme power with spell slots and charges. Otherwise they'd have to nerf the upper power level. Can't have people casting fire storm every few minutes. It'd ruin balance AND ensure you had to cast that every time to deal with increased threats.
Yes, but someone is probably going to play a long rest class and force the entire game to center around that cadence. And the long rest cadence kind of sucks for me.
There are other ways to do game balance.
Most classes are long rest classes. Any caster besides warlock is.
How do you do long rests that makes it annoying? Usually it's:
Party: We would like to take a long rest.
DM: Sounds good, you are now rested.
If you let players take too many long rests in DND 5e it fucks over short-rest and no-rest classes. Long rest people get more Fun Stuff than everyone else. Feels bad.
Edit: also it does weird things to the story pacing. Any time sensitivity gets weird if the players are going a five minute adventuring day
For my group I have them make sure to secure the area as their rest may get interrupted if they don't
But I also roll on a relevant encounter table when they do and add a modifier based on the groups checks for it being secure (usually a survival check, so usually it's the ranger doing the rolling for that)
Short rests are a lot easier though
Random encounters aren't the most interesting thing to do at the table for most people. Design choices that funnel the play time into them then seems like a poor idea.
If you're playing the game just for the combat itself then it's probably fine. But if you're playing for any sort of story then fighting a random pack of spiders probably pays off less than fighting plot relevant stuff.
That's my secret really, the players never see my random encounter tables. They roll the dice but they don't see the table.
They include a lot of stuff relevant to what's going on more than "random spiders"
A good example is when they were trying to locate an old run down keep that a local band of bandits were using as a hideout. The random encounter table included such things as: group of bandits on their way back after a raid (successful, not, injured, not, etc), group of recent hostages on their way to freedom (escaped, released, escorted, etc), a caravan being raided nearby by the bandits in question (or others), rival bandits on the same mission, etc. A couple entries are (of course) night passes peacefully and usually there's 1 or 2 creature encounters (that can usually be avoided), and hell even a "sounds in the distance (insert kind of sound based on perception check(this may lead back to the earlier table))". And even some stuff that may lead to new adventures.
It's more work than just "creatures roll initiative" but IMO is way more rewarding, and my players seem to enjoy it a lot.
Random encounter tables is a vague term but unfortunately I think may be the correct one in this case.
Most abilities should be either "per round/turn" or "per encounter".
Abilities that are too powerful for that should either not exist or require significant preparation (enough for the opposition to have a chance to discover and interrupt it).
Abilities that fall in the second category should automatically come with a less powerful variant in the first category.
Maybe as a middle ground some player abilities could use the "roll for recharge" mechanic from powerful monster abilities.
I kinda disagree with all of this. Big abilities that come with in-universe complications are the bread and butter of RPGs. E.G. Connection: Mafia: You know a guy in the mafia you can ask for help, but he might want a favor later...
Or think of things like Wish, etc.
It kinda sounds like you want a wargame with a bit of story connecting the battles. Which is fine, but then just play a wargame I guess?
I think we don't actually disagree and I was just not precise enough in my original post.
What I described above applies to abilities that are relevant in combat and any other type of encounter that the respective system mechanically treats as a conflict similar to combat. That absolutely does not mean other abilities should not exist, just that they should not be practically usable during an ongoing combat-like short term conflict.
Also: Abilities that are useful in short term combat-like conflicts and abilities that are not should not compete for mechanical resources of any kind, that is never fun.
I like the idea of having a few OP abilities, but having them require non-trivial preparation within an encounter. E.g. "charging" for several turns without moving or taking damage.
That sounds nice in theory, but actually charging stuff for several rounds while the encounter is already ongoing practically just means one player is doing nothing for most of the encounter. Not ideal.
I was thinking more along the lines of preparation before the actual encounter even starts, e.g. setting up an ambush or the magical equivalent of building a trebuchet during a siege.
Yeah, I hate that DnD is such a resource management game too. (More so that is is the ONLY game my group will consider playing.)
I tend to horde any limited resource. TTRPG or video game.
Is this group of mooks big enough to justify using power/spell/item X? Is there a bigger group around the corner? Is this just a lieutenant or the BBEG? Oh, this guy is monologueing, he must be the BBEG. But does his fight have multiple phases? OR is he just a puppet and the real BBEG is waiting for us to blow all our abilities.
Doesn’t matter how narratively I’m engaged in the plot. I’ve got a tactically aware mind and these thoughts are always there.
If you like large power scales and epic stories I very much recommend Earthdawn.
Sounds like you want to be a thief, a fighter, or a warlock that casts Eldridtch Blast all day.
Someone else said similar in here, but as I said to them: that wouldn't really solve the problem. Someone's probably going to play a long-rest class, and the game will still have to be centered on that cadence.
Though a game of no long rest classes does sound pretty good. Fighter, rogue, warlock... different warlock? Pinning everything to short rests I think would work much better for how people actually want to play.
That aside, there's a whole universe of other ways to balance games than per-rest. DND mostly just has the one and frankly I don't enjoy it.
ELDRITCH BLAST
Guidance would also fit well.
I prefer the Warhammer Fantasy approach: if you can use magic, it's at will as many times as you want it, but it can fail and, more importantly, backfire spectacularly.
Also, that DnD5 made cantrips scale up in power with player level is something I enjoyed at first, but the more I think about it, the less I like it. Especially when you can make a whatever 19 / warlock 1 and throw 4x 1d10 attacks at very long range at will.
Another system that does it well imo is Shadowrun. In 5th edition (never played the others) when you cast a spell you can take mental damage. If you cast the spell on a weak level you are fine but if you go full-out then you can KO yourself pretty quick. Especially if you roll bad on your damage resist roll.
In Shadowrun 5, you can take physical damage if you cast the spell at a powerful enough level.
5e is still balanced because of the opportunity cost. If you grab that 1 level in warlock, you'll never get the level 20 perks of your main class. If you pick up that 1 warlock level when you're around level 5 it means you're postponing your next main class power spike by a whole level. The rewards have to be somewhat worth taking because of what you're losing.
And to be fair, none of the official campaigns even play at level 20. It may sound OP doing that much damage at will but you're missing the context. Your enemies at level 20 are basically going to be literal gods. You're going to be playing a homebrewed campaign. Your DM has many tools available to make your level 20 cantrip balanced, not least of which is just scaling up the enemy HP.
Yeah. I feel like as things keep changing, I'm growing less fond of TTRPG's that are pure battles of attrition. It's nice to have things you can use at will. Or if there is a limited resource, having a way to regain some of that resource on the fly makes for more dynamic game states.
PC Warlock (A): I finish my turn, open the door and take a short rest."
Me (GM): So you what, slump against the wall and take a nap?
PC Warlock (A): "Effectively."
Me (GM): "You can clearly see an armored bandit in the next room, along with three skeleton archers and another set at the far wall."
PC Warlock (A): "Can they reach me on this turn?"
Me (GM): "No?"
PC Warlock (A): "Can they hit me with a ranged attack, this turn?"
Me (GM): "Also no"
PC Warlock (A): "Short rest."
Short rests take an entire hour though.
I will take all the passive abilities please, I already have 5 hot keys assigned and will never remember anymore.
I really dislike "per day" resource management, it really limits the way in which stories are constructed!
Same here, I'm always debating with myself:
"Should I use this? Should I save it for later? I'll save it."
Then I never use it...
Use it the first time it's needed. Always use it. As a DM I often expect people to use their stuff. Besides, having low resources makes for interesting decisions. And the DM will know if you're all out of resources anyways.
Disagree. If the party just uses Fly to get over the cliff instead of coming up with an interesting solution, that's kind of boring. It also makes it harder for non-casters to shine.
Second, I don't really like when the world scales with the party. The DM changing the world because the wizard blew all his slots stupidly feels bad. Why even have the choice of spending resources over a long period if everything is just going to scale with us?
Also it kind of sucks when you do get to the big boss and the wizard is tapped out because he's been real loose with his slots
That's exactly what fly is for. Level 10 parties aren't challenged by simple terrain.
Also it's a game. Your can run yours preplanned or improvised as much as you and your players like.
The biggest mistake I made with the Cleric I play in my current session is that I do have Guiding Bolt, a 1st level spell dealing 4d6 radiant damage with a spell attack, but not Word of Radiance, which deals 1d6 radiant damage against anyone whom I want to cast it on as a cantrip, or Sacred Flame, which does 1d8 radiant against a specific target, also as a cantrip. I'm pretty much going into my upcoming boss fight against a (presumed) vampire going "I want y'all to pin down and/or restrain the fucker, 'cause I get only one shot at this and I want to make it count."
I'm on the complete other side of the meme, give my wizards crossbows and Locate-City bombs, please
In my current 5e game, I have some items that have soft limits on how often you can use them, in that each time you use them you make a con save or gain a level of exhaustion, and the dc increases as you use them more, and the dc resets when you finish a long rest without any exhaustion.
What's a good example of an item like that?
Not an item, but a barbarian's relentless rage
Fun fact: At my table I ruled Primeval Awareness to be a "use per day equal to proficiency modifier" rather than spell slots (there's more to our change but that's the TLDR version)
It was so damn expensive that the ranger at the table never used it before I made the ruling because, "that's way too expensive for so little use," which I agreed with
Currently we're still testing the new version of it but we're liking it so far, it's still open for tinkering before we "add it to the rules board" but it's soon going to be put there at this rate
I once made a sorcerer that used nothing but Prestidigitation along with a super high deception skill to be like the Chris Angel of Faerun because it's a cantrip and I never run out of casts for it like I would with real spells.
"I cast prestidigitation as I shout 'fireball' and turn my wand into a sparkler."
"The kobolds piss themselves and run away."
I thought that before I started playing, but since then I have leaned further towards the first two.
If I can get wish, I will get wish.
Kineticist <3
*Resssource