All Questions
30
questions
8
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Is there any monster with statblock changes during an encounter?
So I've been DMing D&D 5e for quite some time. My table enjoys long, challenging encounters. However many monsters end up repeating the same actions after a few rounds. I usually circumvent this ...
- 83
1
vote
3
answers
706
views
The GOD SLAP - Balancing for 5th edition
Question about balancing for 5th edition combat.
I have this idea for a new attack. I call it the God Slap, a technique unique to monks that must be learned from studying at the feet of a master. The ...
- 863
9
votes
5
answers
3k
views
How to calibrate combat encounters for high level play?
The DMG contains recommendations for the XP values of encounters that are supposed to help you create engaging but survivable combat encounters (page 82).
They work pretty well for low- and mid-level ...
- 129k
11
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Will it break the game if healing in combat heals the max instead of rolling?
In the next week I will start a new campaign where I will be the DM. The players will be totally new to the DnD World. I want to let them to freely choose the class and race which they want to play, ...
- 1,351
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Are oozes overpowered for their levels due to the Engulf ability?
Background
Early in my campaign, there was a combat encounter where three level 2 PCs fought a single gelatinous cube. The cube was the standard level 3, and there were no special outside ...
- 1,091
20
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Would it be balanced to introduce an "Aim Action" that uses the same mechanics as True Strike?
There are few things in D&D 5E on which the consensus is as overwhelming as on the fact that True Strike is an extremely poor cantrip. As discussed in many places, the main problem is the action ...
- 4,967
0
votes
1
answer
754
views
Drop an Item Action [closed]
Interacting with one item is free. Interacting with two items is not. This leads to the odd case that if I have an apple in one hand and a flagon in the other I can drop either but not both.
...
- 145
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How do you balance an NPC ally with regards to the DMG combat balancing?
My players want an NPC to fight alongside them. They don't like it when he is "cut out" of the fight and they don't want it to feel like he isn't being helpful at all since he's proven to be ...
- 243
58
votes
3
answers
7k
views
Do 10 second turns/60 second rounds make spellcasters horrible?
My DM insists on the combat being 10 seconds per turn and the round time to be the sum of all turn times (so a minute for 6 participants, for example). I am aware that this is not how turn/round time ...
- 473
20
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Is the earth elemental's Earth Glide trait as potentially game-breaking as I think it is?
I'm DMing a campaign themed around monsters based on the elements, so making use of the Elementals naturally came to mind.
Taking a look at the Earth Elemental, it strikes me that there is some very ...
- 209
6
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is 20d6 sonic damage every turn overpowered compared to other 5th- to 7th-level character abilities?
The question is born from:
Does taking the form of a Muse using Fey Form gain you the Sound Strike attack?.
Is 20d6 sonic damage every turn overpowered compared to other 5th- to 7th character-level ...
- 2,427
3
votes
3
answers
662
views
How do I design balanced encounters when one PC vastly out-performs the rest of the party?
I'm having some serious balancing issues with my current campaign. Mostly due to the Barbarian. My entire party consists of the Barbarian, a Bard, and a Druid, all recently turned lvl 6. So one ...
- 115
7
votes
2
answers
566
views
How to mechanically handle damage-over-time Stunts (or similar attack-modifying effects)?
There are many character concepts whose attacks don't hit all at once, but rather have a form of delayed gratification - they seem weak or even negligible when they hit, but then they keep hurting and ...
4
votes
2
answers
6k
views
How might this undead player character type unbalance combat?
In a recent session, a player character in my game died. Due to events involved in the player's backstory and their attachment to the character, I offered to have the character rise from death as ...
- 261
3
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How to balance combat with a couple of min/maxed characters in the party?
I have a party of 4 freshly minted level 7s for an upcoming game. 3 of the players have been playing for a while and one person is a relative newcomer to the group.
The problem I'm having is that 2 ...
- 39
13
votes
1
answer
272
views
Is the combat system in Fireborn unbalanced in favor of defenders?
I was hoping someone could help me with understanding the Fireborn combat mechanics, or optionally has a better way to explain and implement it in a less confusing way.
The way the system is ...
- 131
18
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is allowing Shot On The Run with a net to bag and drag a target in one turn overpowered?
So I am running a 9th-level 3.5e campaign for a mix of new and old players. Since not everyone has a handbook, I've been keeping generally to the SRD rule base, since all my players can look them up. ...
- 183
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to design a boss fight for a large group without tons of minions?
My players next session will fight against a dragon opponent. The thing I am concerned is having the players gang up on the boss.
I don't desire to flood in tons of minions, the ideal fight would be ...
- 24.3k
21
votes
9
answers
11k
views
How can I balance encounters with a party consisting of a sorcerer, monk, rogue, and fighter?
Made a rookie mistake of letting my players (who have never played DnD) choose what class to play without discussing with me or each other, and we ended up with no healer. We've already played quite a ...
- 311
16
votes
6
answers
25k
views
Drawing and sheathing weapons as one item interaction
In PHB, page 190, it explains about the free item interaction:
You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you ...
- 79.3k
4
votes
2
answers
17k
views
Does a Ranger with dual daggers and Two-Weapon Fighting make four attacks at full strength plus Hunter's Mark at level 5? [duplicate]
We have a Ranger who has taken Two-Weapon Fighting and wields dual daggers. He is saying that this allows him to attack with both weapons as part of his Attack action. He says that each of those ...
- 145
26
votes
10
answers
5k
views
Does rolling AC to oppose an Attack Roll impact game balance?
I really like the concept of rolling d20 against each other during ability checks like grappling, etc. I want the same thing for normal attacks, so the defender would also roll a d20 + (AC-10).
Would ...
- 393
18
votes
8
answers
8k
views
How do I deal with OP super-soldiers in my Game of Thrones campaign?
I am GM'ing an A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying campaign for a handful of friends, and though my group appears to have fun most of the time, the sessions have become more or less the same: the group ...
- 333
20
votes
6
answers
5k
views
How does having monsters of the same type go at the same time affect balance?
I'm running a group of 6 PC's through HotDQ. All of them are new to 5e and we just started, so the combat is pretty slow, and some of them aren't all that excited about combat to begin with. I'm doing ...
- 16.3k
3
votes
0
answers
1k
views
What is the expected damage per round on each level? [closed]
I'm trying to make a homebrew star wars setting using the 5e rules, in the Dungeon Master's Guide are guidelines for futuristic weapons, but the damage of those weapons looks like the perfect ...
- 5,380
14
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Fair facing house rules for 5e
I am a bit disappointed by the lack of tactical positioning in 5e, as evidenced in questions such as Are melee combatants limited to standing around saying "I attack"?.
I have tried ...
- 12.6k
37
votes
4
answers
7k
views
How do I reward creative combat improvisation without making it overpowered?
I have a level five fighter who enjoys using the terrain as a weapon in a somewhat WWE style. I am at a loss as to how to go about adjusting the damage he does for the less than by-the-book actions.
...
- 1,857
7
votes
6
answers
1k
views
How to prevent a stand-off because the player that moves opens himself up to attack
I am writing a RPG game handbook, and I am using an action point (AP) system for the game mechanics. Each turn, each character has 8 AP to spend in actions however he likes (moving costs e.g. 1AP per ...
- 173
10
votes
3
answers
12k
views
What about "Save-or-Die" spells makes them so powerful? Are they balanced as is, or require tweaking?
On reading guides on classes, most notably caster classes, near every guide recommends that the player take the "Save-or-Die" or "Save-or-Suck" spells. Usually, these end up being status effects. I ...
- 6,979
8
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Adjusting Combat Balance
My Problem
My players all seem to have +5 defenses and attacks over the monsters, in addition to the health and more deadly abilities... and they're in appropriate gear for their level (+2 gear at ...
- 553