D&D General Things That Bug You

[Oofta]

My 5e paladin goes from 19 in plate + shield to 9 in his skivvies. That's "good enough to make the dm's job harder" to "all combat is suicidal."

Meanwhile dex based characters effectively never face this penalty. Because apparently having metal armor is somehow unbearable to sleep in but armor made from leather that's been hardened by boiling or having metal plates sewn riveted between layers of leather (aka studded leather) is perfectly fine. Or even if they don't sleep with armor, their AC drops the tiniest fraction.

Personally? I blame the simplification of calculating bonuses. If the bonus to AC from dex was cut in half it wouldn't be so bad; but as it stands now plate armor gives you a whopping +1 to AC over someone with a high dex and studded leather armor.

Ah well. It's why I don't penalize people for wearing any type of armor in my game and never set up situations where people aren't in armor if they would normally have it.

 

[Oofta]

Make a DEX-based paladin and fight with rapiers or short swords. The Paladin is an extremely strong class, so the fact that you can't build it to have high STR, DEX, CON, and CHA is not really a problem IMO.

Which I've done. But it doesn't solve the issue with the predominance of dex is to make everyone dex based.

 

[billd91]

Personally? I blame the simplification of calculating bonuses. If the bonus to AC from dex was cut in half it wouldn't be so bad; but as it stands now plate armor gives you a whopping +1 to AC over someone with a high dex and studded leather armor.

That's part of it. Another part is the demand that large numbers of players have that unarmored character concepts be viable in combat - and that means giving lighter armored/non-armored characters paths to have good ACs. In many ways, that sort of demand scrambles D&D's rules and makes balancing the stats harder, leading to King Dex.

At least there are ways to make heavier armor pay of with some benefit over lighter armor. The Heavy Armor Master feat offers 3 points of damage reduction from every hit from a non-magical weapon. It's constantly coming up with the dwarf fireplug in the game I'm running. He basically has 3 points of bonus hit points for every hit he takes. If I hit him 10 times a session, that's 30 free hit points he doesn't have to worry about healing.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Which I've done. But it doesn't solve the issue with the predominance of dex is to make everyone dex based.

Yeah, I hate the "DEX as god stat" thing, but it has little to do with unarmored AC and a lot to do with the tradeoffs being tiny in terms of armored AC and weapon damage. The only thing a rapier-using sword-and-board Fighter loses is a point of AC and the effective use of hand axes, while gaining on a lot of other fronts. IMO the rapier shouldn't exist.

 

[loverdrive]

Yeah, I hate the "DEX as god stat" thing, but it has little to do with unarmored AC and a lot to do with the tradeoffs being tiny in terms of armored AC and weapon damage. The only thing a rapier-using sword-and-board Fighter loses is a point of AC and the effective use of hand axes, while gaining on a lot of other fronts. IMO the rapier shouldn't exist.

Nah, rapier is kinda suboptimal choice for a fighter. Hand crossbow, on the other hand....

 

[jmartkdr2]

Yeah, I hate the "DEX as god stat" thing, but it has little to do with unarmored AC and a lot to do with the tradeoffs being tiny in terms of armored AC and weapon damage.

This is closer to my feeling: you can build decent, non-dex-based characters (ie a paladin who dumps dex), but the tradeoffs are pretty big: small benefits for potentially major drawbacks. Like, I don't mind not having ranged options. But being super-weak to night attacks feels more punishing than fun, for some reason. Also a lot of dm's like to impose swimming penalties for heavy armor, but that creates it's own issues.

 

[Oofta]

Nah, rapier is kinda suboptimal choice for a fighter. Hand crossbow, on the other hand....

How so? A two-handed weapon only adds a small bonus to damage while dropping your AC significantly, particularly since +1 shields are uncommon.

Whether GWM adds much is debatable and depends on a lot of factors. On the other hand I don't want to get into yet another white-room analysis of how +1.25 extra damage per attack when you're fighting monsters that have triple digit HP is a game changer while also ignoring the 10-20% increased chance of getting hit.

 

[Minigiant]

It could be - again, to echo Jackdaw, there really isn't anything mechanical behind it -it's all narrative. Ultimately, that's OK with me, but I can see coming up with a group of spells that involve a bit more corruption in their use. Something like a blood magic mechanic that burns another resource like hit points or maybe hit dice to access even while adventuring.

Maybe it's just me but I never expected anything mechanical. The dark twisted horrible part was the research and rituals. Adventuring wizards and clerics don't do those. Things like blood magic, lichdom, and mind warping as mechanic were purposely done.

I never saw it as the very act of being a spellcaster twisted you. That feels like a Warhammer thing. Not a D&D thing. In D&D, you can shoot death magic at an orc and never fear your hand turning to bones. Now inventing that spell might and that was the rub.

The second you finish that arcane laboratory and decide to stay in the tower, you book your ticket to the Horror Express. Lab wizards = Freaks.

 

[loverdrive]

How so? A two-handed weapon only adds a small bonus to damage while dropping your AC significantly, particularly since +1 shields are uncommon.

Whether GWM adds much is debatable and depends on a lot of factors. On the other hand I don't want to get into yet another white-room analysis of how +1.25 extra damage per attack when you're fighting monsters that have triple digit HP is a game changer while also ignoring the 10-20% increased chance of getting hit.

Sharpshooter + Crossbow Expert = 3 attacks per round at Tier 2, ~18 damage each and you can stay away from thick of combat. GWM is good, but it's worse than hand crossbow

If I was going sword-n-board, I'd say Str-builds are better. Yeah, Dex is a useful stat, but being able to shove and grapple effectively is better than +2 iniative.

 

[Oofta]

Yeah, I hate the "DEX as god stat" thing, but it has little to do with unarmored AC and a lot to do with the tradeoffs being tiny in terms of armored AC and weapon damage.

I don't have a problem with dex based characters being effective per se. But when dex based is effectively equal or superior 90% of the time, it's a problem.

I get you can take a feat to get DR. You can have a +1 to AC (with comparable magic). Whether heavy weapons counter the dex based advantages I think is debatable (and of course you lose any AC bonus).

But better saves for the most common saving throw, better initiative, vastly superior ranged attack options, no AC penalty when resting, decent if not good at stealth, just as capable at getting out of grapples? Versus better at climbing that a lot of DMs allow acrobatics for anyway and being better at grappling which most people find pointless? Depending on build a +1 to AC?

Anyway, it bugs me. Raging at the wind doesn't help though.