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
704
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
751
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
660
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
565
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