Black Flag Tales of the Valiant is out (in PDF)! What do people think?

[Southpaw Soldier]

I think (could be wrong) Doom is going to be the monster equivalent to Inspiration/Luck.

Doom lets monsters get Advantage on attack, impose Disadvantage on PC Save, or refresh/regen an ability, like a Breath Weapon.

DM gets a budget of Doom points per encounter, based on party level and desired difficulty, or even "just because" for narrative reasons.

 

[Weiley31]

I disagree. If the DM has to put forth extra effort to balance things it means the initial product is either "Too easy" or "Too hard". 5E as written is "too easy". This is also shown in the CR system, where any real fight starts at (lol) Deadly.

That doesn't alleviate the GM's responsibility to set the parameters of play, including difficulty.

I've never felt 5E was too easy or that the game even really had to be balanced at all.

I've seen 5E swing either way to be quite honest.

 

[Shardstone]

I've seen 5E swing either way to be quite honest.

Your post is great because it really encompasses the wildly differently experiences people have with 5E. One who thinks the game is easy, one who thinks the GM should balance to keep it from being easy, and one who doesn't really care for balance much anymore anyway. This means, IMO, that you are right; all of these things are true and ultimately the decider of the game's vibe and experience is each individual table, and really, each individual player. Generalizations are useless and 5E truly is a "What you make of it" game.

 

[Reynard]

one who thinks the GM should balance to keep it from being easy

That is not what I said. I said that the difficulty of the game is up to the GM, and if there is a problem with the difficulty (too easy or too hard) it is the GM's fault.

 

[Shardstone]

That is not what I said. I said that the difficulty of the game is up to the GM, and if there is a problem with the difficulty (too easy or too hard) it is the GM's fault.

Too late now, my edit button is broken.

 

[Zehnseiter]

I mean I’d rather fudge a roll behind the DM screen then just have a player just officially fudge their own rolls.

I have enough to do as GM and I am lazy. So yes I am all for the players doing the work......

 

[dave2008]

Regarding your issues with Legendary Resistance and the Hardy trait, how would you prefer to handle the issue of PCs knocking out big monsters before they have a chance to do their cool stuff (either by condition lock-down or massive damage)?

There are lots of ways to handle it and I have tried many. I think LevelUp as one of the simplest yet effect solutions.

As a legendary action:

Elite Recovery. The dragon ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

or a trait:

Elite Recovery. At the end of each of its turns while bloodied, the pit fiend ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

 

[Chaltab]

There are lots of ways to handle it and I have tried many. I think LevelUp as one of the simplest yet effect solutions.

As a legendary action:

Elite Recovery. The dragon ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

or a trait:

Elite Recovery. At the end of each of its turns while bloodied, the pit fiend ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

Those are fine and all, but they don't cover all scenarios. If your player Polymorphs a creature it no longer has Elite Recovery to fall back on, for instance. I kind of like how BG3 handled it: instead of choosing to succeed, the Legendary Resistance adds 10 to the save result.

 

[James Gasik]

I've seen 5e sessions be cakewalks, and I've seen them be absolutely brutal. There's a lot of factors involved, including, but not limited to:

Group makeup. All Fighters? All Clerics? One of these games is not going to be like the other.

Teamwork or lack thereof. Built your character to be an island, neither needing or wanting assistance, nor caring about your teammates? You're going to end up losing allies, which means suddenly you best be able to solo encounters!

Optimization: playing a Monk with a 14 Dex because it suits the character? Congratulations, you'll probably have it rough, but you'll get by. Playing a Gloomstalker Ranger multiclass with optimized stats? Things may go a lot more smoothly for you, depending on your tactics.

Encounter Guidelines: CR is far from an exact science. Two creatures of the same CR can be worlds apart in the way they actually challenge a party. And a mob of low CR creatures can be far more dangerous than one big, jumped up Legendary beast! I once made mincemeat of a group of level 3 characters with giant rats, lol (3/10, do not recommend. A group of critters with Pack Tactics is a miserable experience on both sides of the table).

Player Experience: this ties into teamwork a little, but knowing to focus fire, when to use abilities and when not, and being able to quickly identify large threats can be the difference between a walk in the park and a Kobayashi Maru.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

There are lots of ways to handle it and I have tried many. I think LevelUp as one of the simplest yet effect solutions.

As a legendary action:

Elite Recovery. The dragon ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

or a trait:

Elite Recovery. At the end of each of its turns while bloodied, the pit fiend ends one negative effect currently affecting it. It can do so as long as it has at least 1 hit point, even while unconscious or incapacitated .

4e strikes again!