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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 ...
SirTechSpec's user avatar
  • 16.3k
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 ...
Henk's user avatar
  • 393
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 ...
Meru Dudzurni's user avatar
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 ...
NathanS's user avatar
  • 79.3k
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 ...
Nameless Nick's user avatar
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 ...
Nobody the Hobgoblin's user avatar
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 ...
Inqy's user avatar
  • 473
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 ...
Mars Plastic's user avatar
  • 4,967
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 ...
Gan's user avatar
  • 209
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 ...
SaltaSoles's user avatar
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 ...
Anonymoose's user avatar
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 ...
PotatoLeeg's user avatar