D&D General 5.5 and making the game easier for players and harder for DMs

[Charlaquin]

the case was them imposing disadvantage on the monster when it attacks anyone but the Warlock and the Warlock being invisible to the monster, so it has disadvantage against everyone

Not sure what feature this is, don’t think the video said so, but it is more than invisibility or a misty step

So, the new Fey warlock gets Charisma mod free uses of Misty step per day, and whenever they cast misty step (for free or with a spell slot), they can add their choice of a number of bonus effects, similar to an Eladrin’s fey step feature. One of these bonus effects is called Taunting Step, and it forces creatures within 5 feet of the space the warlock teleported away from to have to make a Wisdom save. On a failure, they have disadvantage on attacks against anyone but the warlock, but only until the start of the warlock’s next turn.

Starting at 6th level, the Fey warlock gains the ability to cast Misty Step as a reaction when they get hit by an attack, and they gain some new options for the bonus effect they can choose from when they cast it. One of these options, called Disappearing Step does make the warlock invisible until the start of their next turn (or until they attack or cast a spell). However, you are only supposed to choose one of these bonus effects each time you cast Misty Step, so the only way both effects could be active at once is if the warlock got hit and cast Misty step with Taunting Step as a reaction, and then also cast Misty Step with Disappearing Step as their action. And the result would be that creatures that were within 5 feet of the warlock when it left its space have disadvantage to attack everyone… for one round. And it would cost two of your Cha mod free Misty Step uses or actual spell slots to pull this off. That’s a pretty long walk for a pretty short drink of water if you ask me.

 

[haakon1]

I think you are right. But then movement rates make no sense anymore.

True. I’m thinking the metric system of 10x 6 second rounds is logical and fits movement well, but too much is happening in a round. Maybe 12-second rounds would work, but I don’t think WotC cares about this.

Free action and bonus actions are not the same. And I guess in baldurs gate you just get more potions than we get in the TTRPG.

Ah, my bad.

Yes, there are tons of potions in BG3. I scrounge and sell every dropped rusty dagger, and buy every healing potion (and some of the rest) that I can find. Lots of magic dealers in BG3.

 

[Horwath]

been playing with Bonus action potions and bonus 1st level feats for years now, and most PCs after every fight look like we just went on 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

 

[billd91]

And I guess in baldurs gate you just get more potions than we get in the TTRPG.

I definitely upped the number of potions I was giving out when I shifted to slugging one down as a bonus action. And not just the healing potions - but all potions. They're fantastic, short-term buffs that I never really have to worry about being a balance problem since they only last an hour.

 

[haakon1]

It's not contempt, its actual fact. Old school games are designed to be skill play focused survival sims.

In my opinion, that’s an opinion.

The guy who wrote Elfish Gene saw it kind of like you. But that wasn’t my experience with AD&D.

 

[haakon1]

If WotC complicate condition tracking etc for DMs it seems stupid from a lack-of-DMs perspective. But I'm confident the WotC marketing folks know what they're doing.

Trying to get people off pen & paper and onto their digital assets, perhaps.

Make the DM’s go digital, and they make the players go digital. Complexity overtaxing DM attention for the win!

 

[Oofta]

In my opinion, that’s an opinion.

The guy who wrote Elfish Gene saw it kind of like you. But that wasn’t my experience with AD&D.

Wasn't my experience in any edition. Just because some people played a certain way does not mean everyone did.

 

[Oofta]

Trying to get people off pen & paper and onto their digital assets, perhaps.

Make the DM’s go digital, and they make the players go digital. Complexity overtaxing DM attention for the win!

Eh. It's only adding a couple of minor things we already have to track for other reasons.

 

[tetrasodium]

Trying to get people off pen & paper and onto their digital assets, perhaps.

Make the DM’s go digital, and they make the players go digital. Complexity overtaxing DM attention for the win!

That would be a GSL->OGL fiasco level mistake eventually written about in textbooks. Thing is the fact that wotc doesn't have a strong position in the VTT market. GM's who are already running their game with a VTT have already invested (sometimes significant) money into their VTT & setup of choice. Those GMs will resent being pressured to change to what is currently vaporware by the system being designed with hostility towards the GM as a primary goal. The GMs who do not currently use a VTT by choice because they prefer something like pen paper minis & chessex mat will for once find themselves in complete 100% agreement with GMs who prefer their VTT of choice.

Both groups of GMs have the benefit of a wide array of upcoming & recently released solid TTRPGs... We all saw what happened the last time wotc created their biggest competitor by strippuing away GM suypport whhile trying to force. change through the hostile GSL.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Wasn't my experience in any edition. Just because some people played a certain way does not mean everyone did.

I don't feel like I play the game (in any measurable way) any differently today than I did in AD&D. Sure, there's little mechanical differences, and I probably spend less time on "shopping scenes" than I once did (preferring to do that sort of thing between sessions) but otherwise, the PCs face a problem, they decide how to solve it, they get into conflicts, and a story eventually results.