D&D 5e 3 years later

Hey all,

Listened to a great interview with Mike Mearls (creative lead of D&D at WotC) where he and Mike Shea discuss what they've learned about fifth edition 3 years after its release. Some really good questions. My favourite was "What are players doing wrong" (as in contrary to how the designers intended the game) and Mearls replied that their data shows that DMs are levelling players too slowly. He suggests cranking it up, even trying a game where you level every 4 hours just to get a feel for it!

In another question, Mearls also talks about how published adventures have become more sandboxy over the course the game's release. He talked about how their data showed that that open-ended experience was what defined D&D for many players, and set it apart from video games.

A third question asks about how to do cinematic boss fights rather than just have your BBEG force caged. Thought-provoking discussion around that. Does it matter?

Another gold nugget: Most underused feature of D&D 5e according to Mearls? Using average monster damage instead of rolling.

Lots more good discussion. Totally worth a listen to! Here's the youtube link, although I prefer the podcast version myself.

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about leveling players up quickly. It kind of bothers my on a narrative level that one or two years of adventuring (or often, far less) can turn a beginner into the best in the world at what they do. I do understand the reason for it, but it doesn't make sense to me a lot of the time.

I've often thought of using the average damage, but never really given it a chance. I may do that in my next campaign that I'm planning for my in-person group.

I'll definitely have to give it a watch, though!

I've tried speed levelling characters. It felt hella janky narratively, just like you described. But, when I'm a player, I love gaining a level so much. When months of gaming can end up being just a couple weeks in-game time, it can be frustrating.

I feel like it if there was some fictional underpinnings to explain this rapid growth in power, it would be easier. Something other than mundane training and study - something mystical. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series provides this in-universe, where mortals in that world grow in power commensurate with the grandeur and sacrifice of their deeds, even ascending to godhood. Not surprisingly, the series grew out of a D&D campaign. In Isle of Dread, I was trying to include that a bit, the island's power somehow seeping into the characters. After all, you guys went form level 5 to 6 in ~5 days of in-game time.

I can see average damage being a thing irl. One less thing for you or your players to think about. As you describe the attack, they can be subtracting the number off their sheet at the same time. I also like the idea of using average initiative rolls and players either roll above it or below it, just like a skill check.

There's a podcast version of this video, search up DM's Deep Dive or Mike Shea. His interviews with Robin D. Laws and Matt Mercer were also on point were pretty great.

Interesting discussion. I'm all for leveling faster. I ran a RL game last weekend. It was around the 4 hour mark that we completed one of my milestones where they would level up. Tracking XP has always been such a tedious task for me, so I figure out milestones.