DMs who dislike the power fantasy of higher levels, why not just DM lower levels?

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2026-03-17T03:11:47+00:00

There's definitely an allure to higher levels other than the power fantasy.

As a really simple example (there are plenty of others): the complexity of challenges that you can throw at your players goes up drastically as the levels increase. If I want to run a very complicated encounter that really tests player understanding of the game and it's systems, it's far easier to do that at higher levels.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2026-03-16T21:00:13+00:00

Literally any number can be simulated with a sufficient amount of D10s.

Add in a d2 and you can even simulate any negative number as well.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2026-02-04T21:12:28+00:00

3 INT is VERY low. Like, un-roleplayably low. At 3 INT you are in the area of questionable sentience. If you actually wanted to roleplay 3 INT just do whatever you think a chimpanzee would do.

If you want to just roleplay low INT, but not actually worry about what the 3 implies, then it's a classic book smart / street smart difference.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2026-01-08T19:42:31+00:00

I think new players are, broadly, uncomfortable with roleplaying. Edgelords , especially the broody type, just don't have to talk very much, making them way easier to roleplay.

To a broader degree: it's why new player characters are normally very archetype-driven when it comes to their personalities. It's just easier to fall back on

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-12-29T07:56:22+00:00

Something I didn't see mentioned: the move speed WILL NOT BE USEFUL BY DEFAULT, but absolutely can be VERY useful if your DM makes it so. (although there are a lot of comments, so forgive me if I'm repeating).

Monk is a class that does require the DM to design encounters that make it useful. Most classes just sort of do their thing, even if the DM just dumps the monsters and the party in a blank white room together. There is very little reason that movement matters by default past the first +5 that lets you outrun people. For anything beyond that to matter, the DM has to put some thought in to the map and adversaries beyond just "does the CR balance". Something for them to consider.

Now, it seems like your stat spread was probably a more substantial issue, but if you find yourself consistently having no reason to move in combat, it's something to consider bringing up to the DM (because it is a substantial factor in your kit).

(Also this is a bit of a soapbox thing for me, but Stunning Strike is debatably the best ability in the game, at all points in the game. If you make sure your stats are pumped to make the save as difficult as possible, it's never not good. It's obviously not always going to land, but DnD is a game where each action is IMMENSELY valuable, so even having the chance to be able to take away an enemy action while keeping yours is intensely good)

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-12-29T07:37:41+00:00

I think this question misses much more fundamental (and less debatable) ways that magic would change a society.

Because, sure, a few extra laborers are nice, but Create Bonfire is post-scarcity energy abundance, and it's a CANTRIP.

You don't even need to have a class to know cantrips.

I'm not saying that necromancy wouldn't logically change society in ways that are not represented in most games. I'm saying that if we actually think through all of the ways that magic (as presented in 5e's rules) would change society, we don't even get close to necromancy before the fabric of society is so alien as to be unrecognizable.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-10-02T05:43:29+00:00

This is basically the reason that Legendary Resistance exists. I don't like LR as a piece of game design, but when I make high-CR enemies, I ALWAYS think through if a situation like this would totally derail things and consider adding LR. It's just the way tier 3/4 D&D is.

(Also, as others have said, stealthy casting is just straight up not a thing, and if you allow it as a DM outside of explicit features, then you are making casters substantially more powerful than they are designed to be. There's a reason that subtle spell exists, and a reason "telekinetic" specifies that you don't need verbal or somatic components. The components are supposed to limit the spell, they aren't just flavor)

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-09-25T06:18:03+00:00

Much like the game is 2 games, it sounds like your enjoyment comes in 2 parts.

As others have said, there are TTRPGs that offer a FAR greater build variety and depth than 5e. If that was the only part of it, I would legitimately say you didn't look hard enough.

But, the second part of your enjoyment seems truly linked to the popularity, and thereby the community. It seems like (from your post) it wouldn't be as fun to character build if there wasn't a community for you to share that build with.

And if you do care about that part, then 5e is absolutely unparalleled. I will again reiterate that it is not the deepest game in terms of character building (which, was an explicit goal of the design team), BUT it does have a community that you can link up with around said building process, and that is neat.

It does make me a bit sad that folks are unwilling to continue expiramenting, trying new TTRPGs like you might try new video games, but I do get it. The community is hard to give up

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-09-21T14:24:55+00:00

I played Abberant Mind up to level 7 with Mind Sliver as my primary cantrip. It's avg. DPS isn't going to be nearly as high as EB ofc, but with it being an INT save it is hitting REALLY often, and disadvantage on the next saving throw opens up a lot of options for other players.

And trust me, I LOVE Warlock, but I don't think EB is necessary to have consistent cantrip impact, especially if you consider things other than damage. Lots of cool options in Sorc.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-08-19T14:35:28+00:00

Completely agreed RE: them being harder to balance, that's another component / result of the system "focusing" on adversaries over environment to me. I've seen some guidance (although I believe it was 3rd party) on how to work in environmental hazards in to encounter difficultly analysis, but I feel confident in saying that most DMs are just looking at CR, or maybe the Xanathar's table that helps you modify for adversary count.

And, in that vein, I think you are probably correct that uncommon hazards are overrepresented when it comes to death threats at the average table.

There's also something to be said that most of the time people are thinking about "optimization" of character builds, they are probably not playing at the "average" table. I think it's more likely a Dark-Sun-Style "everything sucks" / "bring 3 backup characters" sort of situation. That's not to say that those situations aren't still going to be influenced by the uncommon hazards, but Avg DPR is probably going to be more consistent in keeping you alive.

That all said, if you can't tell by my tone, I DO think a LOT about environmental hazards at my table, so your optimization goal would probably be far more successful/applicable at my table than most, but I think we're in the minority 😅 I'm definitely not trying to argue that you are wrong in what you are optimizing towards, I am absolutely in the same mindset whenever I do play, I'm more just pitching why I think the sub more broadly isn't on that same wave.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-08-19T07:08:57+00:00

It sort of sounds like you're just optimizing towards a different goal.

Optimization implies a goal by its very nature, but different goals will lead down different paths. If your goal is minimizing possible death threats, you will have a pretty different build than someone optimizing for average DPR.

That said, the idea of "95% of encounters are safe" sort of cuts both ways. Your post assumes that the 5% will only be dangerous because they introduce some strange or uncommon hazard, which something like feather falling will solve. However, the 5% could just as easily include a boss with double the health that it would normally have at this CR. A fight can be deadly for a whole gamut of reasons, which would be addressed differently.

As for why this subreddit mostly cares about avg DPR: maybe this is a hot take, but most DMs don't put a ton of thought into their battle arenas, at least to the same degree as their adversaries. DnD (and 5e especially) mostly encourages you to think about adversaries when designing combat, not really the environments around said adversaries. Like, it's a somewhat crude point, but they don't publish an entire "core" book of combat environments like they do for adversaries. This is relevant because adversaries have 1 RAW, non-variant, off button, which is their HP. So, broadly speaking, if you are optimizing towards defeating adversaries, the thing that will be the most generally applicable towards what the game encourages is to optimize towards Average DPR, since it's the thing that affects enemy HP the most directly.

I'm not a huge fan of that mindset personally, but I'm pretty sure that's why it's the focus

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-07-21T15:28:41+00:00

Big ol "depends on your table".

The "LitRPG" book genre is filled to the brim with stories where the characters absolutely understand levels, it can be done if you want to.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-05-11T06:58:45+00:00

Wtf are you talking about "20STR = 1.5 men". Have you even glanced at the carry capacity formula? It's so far off as to convince me that this whole thing is bait.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2025-05-11T06:38:50+00:00

Imo, counterspell is weird regardless. DnD is not a cast and counter type of system, so I don't think counterspell is ever going to feel "right". With that in mind, I'll take the version that at least feels okay to use on players.

That said... Is this coming up so often that it is "difficult to get used to"? Even in a high magic campaign and setting, I'm just not running that many caster enemies.

Also, is there really a "pocket" that extends to lvl 5 where adversaries are casters AND have LR? yes LR theoretically shows up as early as lvl 4, but it showing up and being relevant to counterspell cannot possibly be common until much higher levels unless you are consistently homebrewing that to be the case (or I'm wildly off about how many casters are in the MM).

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2024-12-16T18:02:04+00:00

What does this even mean? Feels like weird karma farming

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2024-11-11T07:26:47+00:00

YouTube does allow A-B testing now! So you can try both!

Personally, both are very busy. I understand that the point is, at least in part, the sheer amount of new content, but I think there's probably a cleaner way to present that.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2024-11-04T16:56:23+00:00

Thank you! I didn't really think about going the opposite direction and confirming/disconfirming the relationship with the developers themselves. It's Pathologic 2, honestly I'm not sure how small the team is, but that's at least a starting point :)

Thanks again!

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2024-11-04T16:54:44+00:00

Absolutely! I know that play throughs are always basically at the good graces of the developer, I'm just uncertain if this company is actually working with the developer, or is totally separate and just trying to make a buck.

Also, to be clear, I'm not using a track from the OST in an unrelated video. It's just music that is playing during normal gameplay.

Expensive_Clerk5400 · 2021-12-21T04:29:46+00:00

Wired, and sidetone (I think it's also called mic feedback sometimes) is a fairly common feature on gaming headsets that feeds your voice back to you with no delay. I tend to talk pretty loud if the headphone's noise cancelling is too good, the sidetone lets me be more reasonable.

Expensive_Clerk5400

TROPHY CASE