D&D (2024) Wow, 5.5e characters are STRONG!

[Krachek]

5.5 party will be more solid than 5.0
But still they will have limited ressource, hit points, to hit bonus.
A 5.5 should be able to do some additional encounters but not that much.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I assume that divine spark would be better replaced with cure wounds for more healing at level 3?

Divine Spark is never going to be your main healing option, especially now they've bumped Cure Wounds. But it's there in a pinch, and is an option available when desperately needed.

 

[FrogReaver]

Divine Spark is never going to be your main healing option, especially now they've bumped Cure Wounds. But it's there in a pinch, and is an option available when desperately needed.

The post I was responding to said that for the life cleric the channel divinity preserve life could be used to cast abjuration spells and my understanding is cure wounds and other healing spells are one of those now.

I was confirming that was the case, because if so he can actually output more healing than stated.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Ah, I see. You're right. Sorry.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Tremorsense could be nice for peeking past doors/walls/to other floors of the building, but... it's a really subtle ability that is very prone to GM interpretation.



You know where creatures are, but you don't know what they are.
'hey guys, there's something moving behind this wall'
'what kind?'
'I dunno'
'gee, very useful, dwarf scout'
By rules text, you might not even be able to know if they're small or large, though logically you should feel the difference in tremors/pressure.

You can automatically tell where someone hiding is (yes, even if they're still), but you'd have a disadvantage to attack them regardless (does not count as a form of sight). Dwarves having this ability seems to have more of an impact against player parties ('oh no, they have a dwarf with them, guess stealth is useless') than for player parties.

Its best use (for common player situations) would be as a safety check when stepping into a house/lair, to see if you're safe or if there is anyone around (and where), but again, we run into GM interpretation meaning that you might not know if the three signals from upstairs are people... or mice in the walls.

When other races offer concrete benefits like d12 damage reduction, movement speed increase, better mental saves, avoid being dropped to 0hp, extra spells for casters... tremorsense as the uniquely dwarf-defining feature just doesn't stack up. Getting +1hp/level is okay, but you could just be a human and pick up Tough with your extra feat for twice the effect (and this racial also has the weird effect that dwarves are better for small hitdie classes, like wizards).

Dwarves aren't the worst (now that they get 30ft movement), because Dragonborn and Tieflings also exist in the same design realm of resistance+ribbons (Dragonborn flight solving a common melee problem would be amazing... if it wasn't just once a day), but dwarves are not any stronger than they were in 2014 PHB (where they at least had the option of getting +2str +2con to start with).

I think that it is a fallacy to assume +1 hp is worth most on low hp classes...
I also don't share your assessment of the dwarf overall. Yes, the human is strong woth an extra feat and inspiration. But the dwarves ability is unique and they get a lot of extras that might come in handy once in a while. That adds up. And no. They are not more powerful than a human. I actually think it is more or less balanced.

 

[Shardstone]

The design of 5e really forces the GM to pack those in as much as we all hate them though. Back with vancian prep and meaningful consequences to resource/hp attrition it was easy to justify a couple "trash" or trash adjacent encounters as guards unprepared mooks or whatever and have them impact the real meat and potatoes encounters both to deplete some resources so the bbeg doesn't just melt instantly as well as to potentially give players an opportunity to theorycraft proactive buff/debuffs and plan with consumables if surprised with "oh I think we might need pfe:typedeathward/etc" or whatever. Now that's pretty much covered by healing word and death saves for the later while the former is not even having the surface scratched until the gm really packs in the trash

Please break up your sentences more. I like your thoughts but this makes it hard to engage.

 

[FrogReaver]

I am not sure mathematically there is much difference but I noticed a big difference in playtest classes such as sorcerer and fighter. I loved the warlock with half caster and dislike that pact magic is back. Half caster warlock felt amazing

I’d like to see lacy magic changed to be 1 slot of each level 1-5 on short rest recharge.

 

[Scott Christian]

I whipped up a few premade characters for an event this weekend. Until I did, it hasn't sunk in how much PCs are being buffed. All the changes in the playtest packets have been relatively small, but they really add up.

Races are stronger. Backgrounds are stronger. Classes are stronger. Subclasses are stronger. Spells are stronger. And weapons for martial characters are a lot stronger. (I don't think I fully realized that weapon masteries kind of sort of make any martial character into a battlemaster fighter, except with infinite superiority dice).

You put all that together, and 5.5e characters are strong like Diddy Kong. Perhaps especially at lower levels. Honestly, unless 5.5e monsters get buffed, we'll have to rethink what balanced encounters are.

This is the cycle of all RPGs, tabletop or computer.

Come look at the shiny new stuff. It makes you even stronger. It is true with all new products, games or not. No one has ever sold an aspirin 2.0 that is weaker than the aspirin they made 10 years ago. No one ever sold a 2.0 car that is not faster or more efficient than the one they sold ten years ago (at least not advertised). No one has ever decided to sell and advertise a weaker computer that the one they sold ten years ago.

The point is, if you want player buy in (which forces the DM to buy new books, online materials, etc), then make the new stuff something players really want.

 

[bedir than]

Races can all assign starting ASI's now, right? +2/+1? That with any useful racial features will tend to increase PC power levels as well. Oftentimes in 2014 you had to choose between a good racial feature or a race with ASI's matching your class.

Bringing this back up because it was unaddressed.

There was an untested change that assigns sample backgrounds all ASIs and has those same backgrounds with a single proscribed feat.

I hate that change, but the photos from the 24PHB (not yet final) make it pretty clear

Changes coming to 5e backgrounds further reduce story

There’s no reason to tie all of the Ability Score Improvements at character creation to Backgrounds. That reduces the stories we can tell via the game we love.

fullmoonstorytelling.com

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Bringing this back up because it was unaddressed.

There was an untested change that assigns sample backgrounds all ASIs and has those same backgrounds with a single proscribed feat.

I hate that change, but the photos from the 24PHB (not yet final) make it pretty clear

Changes coming to 5e backgrounds further reduce story

There’s no reason to tie all of the Ability Score Improvements at character creation to Backgrounds. That reduces the stories we can tell via the game we love.

fullmoonstorytelling.com

In the UA's relating to background, it was pretty clear that the offered backgrounds are examples of a background and that one is free to create one's own background with a +2/+1 and a feat. I really do not expect this to change.