I'm going to start with saying the D&D 5th Edition is easily my favorite version of Dungeons & Dragons as a whole. It's not my favorite system, but if I'm wanting to play something that literally says D&D on it then this is my go to. That said the system isn't perfect. I could go on and on about small issues like the much needed reformatted Ranger class or woefully under developed down time system, but for the most part those are either nit picks or at least improving from earlier editions.
My biggest problem however lies in levels 1 and 2. By design the game is set up for these levels to be a kind of tutorial for new players and to help learn mechanics bit by bit and THAT part of it I love. What I don't love is that with 5E's current design they are played completely different than the rest of the game. Sure they are designed to pass quickly with character typically gaining a level each session till 3rd level, but that barely a band-aid. The opening levels of the game are supposed to be the "tutorial" for the system, yet they don't represent the rest of the game.
Some might be wondering HOW these levels can be so different even if you've played the game and that's because it's an almost unnoticeable difference as well as one that the mechanics scale out of quickly. That problem is Hit Points. Most 1st level characters in 5th edition can be killed outright from a single cut of a dagger. Not dropped the dying, but just flat dead, taking enough damage to not even get death saving throws. Your Fighters and Barbarians aren't likely to fall to this, but it's also just a dagger instead a single short or long sword hit with a good damage roll will take them flat out. Second level isn't much better with the flimsier classes not taking what those Fighters and Barbarians took at first level and those tougher classes lasting two to three hits and probably getting a chance at death saves. That is as long as the fights are woefully small and players can always see them coming. If you add in surprise rounds, advantage, or the incredible lethality of traps at low levels character have to play to survive.
Look I'm not against deadly games, I actually prefer OSR games with very low health and death is a constant risk. The Problem is that by 3rd to 5th level characters in this game are almost unkillable without unlucky dice rolls or encounters specifically to be no win scenarios. If 5th Edition was a dangerous game through and through I'd be fine with it, but as it stands it really isn't. This is a game that rewards players with lots of power and high action, that is once the numbers round them selves out.
The part I find funny about this is the "hardest" part of the game to survive and not die to what often feel like cheap deaths is also the part designed for new players. Sure a lot of the designers say the game is officially balanced for players to be "heroes" at 3rd level and experienced players are more than welcome to just start at that level, but honestly that's a cheap and lazy solution. It's basically saying to skip the problem and doesn't even knowledge the problem this is for teaching new players. They made the mechanics easy to learn, but also made a totally different tone for that part of the game.
My Solution
So what;s the fix? Well honestly there doesn't NEED to be a fix if you're fine with this or just don't want to have games that start at 1st level, but I like games that start from the beginning and are heroic through and through. That's why I propose this... Just give them more HP. Seriously, it's not much once I break it down and does mean the CR of encounters need tweaked (as if the CR system worked anyways), but hear me out on this. Give 1st level characters extra Hit Points equal to their Constitution Score. I'll admit I stole this from 4th Edition, but that's because despite the overall product missing the mark and how they rolled out books being atrocious the actual math under it had good ideas.
Giving the average player between 8 and 18 extra HP completely removes the discrepancy of one hit deaths from low levels. Your Fighters and Barbarians essentially get about an extra level and a half of health (assuming those classes prioritize Constitution anyways) while your Rogues and Wizards get about two to three extra levels of health. This is a one time bonus and raising the score later doesn't grant extra HP.
The funny thing is this scales pretty well. Sure characters should be considered about 2 levels higher than they are till around level 5, then about 1 level higher till around level 10 if you're using CRs to create encounters, but this also isn't a bad thing. If you use the CR system for encounters you'll already know that the first few levels fights have to be incredibly small or filled with enemies that literally pop (and even then a CR0 threat can flat out kill a lot of 1st level classes with either a maxed damage roll or a single critical hit). By Upping the CR level of the group they can face interesting groups of threats or some of those more interesting big bads that don't come out till at least 5th level. Heck if you really want just give enemies max health from their stats and trust me the fights if handled well will still be a challenge.
Does this inflate combat time? A bit, but honestly only about 1 to 2 rounds (the max health on baddies solution might inflate it by 3-4 if you aren't careful) That said in most of these cases "inflated" just means it wasn't a round of the new players being overwhelmed and killed and like I said this bonus health matters less and less as characters level. Hell the Tough feat give +2 hp per level by the time a character can take it at 4th level that's 8HP or the typical minimum a character's Constitution would be. The difference between 8HP and 24HP is massive, but the same character at 10th level just taking average health would be the difference of 44HP and 60HP. It's still a difference, but at that point a single round with just about anything they would face could wipe that all away.
So that's it. I hope this might have helped some people either looking into 5E for the first time or people looking to shake things up. At the very least if you're already familiar with this game and are starting a new campaign up give it a try. At the vary least your players might love you for letting them start as "bad asses" while still being 1st level.
I'm of two minds on this "issue."
ReplyDeleteGamewise, you're right, it makes no sense that the game is one-hit deadly early on. Though I think a one hit insta-kill would be rare in most early battles. i.e. rolling a crit, then rolling full damage. Reaching 0 though is very possible, and if the whole party hits 0 then death saves don't matter. As you say, these early levels should show what the game is, but the game changes once you become tough.
On the other hand, story-wise being deadly early makes the character that lives more interesting and gives the player a better connection to the character. "I barely survived that kobold encounter, the struggle with this minor monster was epic" vs. "Wow, my green fighter right out of the village was able to waltz through that cave no problem. What did we kill again? *shrug"
I think my own "old-schoolness" comes out on this issue. I prefer the character going through the grinder to come out tough after a few levels. And yes, that means the character might die. I prefer becoming the badass not starting off as the badass.