During the playtest there was a lot of bitter dispute over the 5E healing rates mostly breaking down on philosophical/edition lines.
However once 5E landed compared to the playtest documents they ramped up the rate of monster damage by a lot. Now things that PCs could beat up at level 1 and 2 can be very deadly. Think Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, Orcs, Gnolls and Bugbears, Hobgoblins etc.
In a game with bounded accuracy what is really the point of rapid healiong for PCs if monster damage just gets ramped up at the other end to compensate and a side effect of that seems to ruin level 1 and 2 as even CR 1/8 critters such as Kobolds one has to be very careful with agianst the PCs. Hill GIants deal an absurd amount of damage compared to what they used to in AD&D.
THe bloating on monster damage seems pointless to me and it seems tied to the rapid healing rate of 5E.
Zardnaar wrote:
4e power was like starting at 2nd level in earlier editions, in my opinion. Of course, Dark Sun famously started us at 3rd level in 2e, and in 4e's Dark Sun, they added an encounter power for all the characters through Themes (though this would get option-power-crept into all other 4e characters).
5e 1st level actually feels like 4e 0th level.
Marandahir wrote:
If the first couple of levels are a prologue to the actual game and aren't considered to be "real levels" in the same sense as the others, then that really should be made explicit in the game, and/or have rules for how to start off at 3rd level somewhere in the PHB/DMG.
They don't really need them. You just start off at 3rd, have/choose your features, roll HP, etc. Gold and item progression isn't really a thing so there's not much on it, but guidelines definitely exist somewhere. Probably the DMG. Never used them.
As a player? I'm good with anything from 1e natural heal rate on up.
As the DM? I can ALWAYS win the HP attrition race vrs the characters. And so far, aside from an increase in damage output from the casters (due to cantrips), the 5e game I'm running has played very much like any other editions lv 1-3. I've dropped several characters to 0 each session where there's been combat except for once. Nobodies died yet, but then I also wasn't going out of my way to finish anyone off. I just let their fate swing back & forth with the death saves & the party cleric.
Zardnaar wrote:
I still wish for a day when all resources (HP, spells, features, etc.) "recharge" on an encounter basis. Then when planning a combat encounter, we would not face the issue of "what if the party arrives here with low resources?" or the dreaded "mh... didn't you already use all your spell slots last fight? No? I was pretty sure you did... well ok, go ahead cast your meteor swarm".
I would combine it with an "injury" system, something like "when you go to 0 hp, roll on the injury table (roll *broken leg*) ok, you're half speed until that's healed (more than a day of recovery, or magial healing required), and you cannot Dash"
Spells would probably be more difficult to do, since everyone would spam his highest level slots first. Maybe set a rule where you can only cast higher level spells after round 3 or 4 of battle.
Am I somehow off-topic? 
If, as GM, you're planning combat encounters to happen (because you decided) at some definite point - well, that's kind of a problem in itself.
Zardnaar wrote:
Well if the question is "What is the point of making healing up between combat easier while also increasing damage of monsters?" then my answer would be, that it creates challenge around every single encounter rather than putting the focus on resource preservation. Every encounter can be potentially deadly, so players will always need to stay fully focused.
Healing rates are more to balance the cleric then monster damage.
In previous editions you had a cleric, which could fully heal the party every night, with some extra between battles.
In 5e, you have roughly the same amount of healing, just without requiring a heal-bot.
In fact, you could reasonably flavor it as having a pacifist life cleric following you around. Something we actually did in previous editions. Had an NPC cleric who only healed.
In-fight healing needs to match monster damage so PCs can generally win. Out-of-fight healing needs to match number of fights per day, which, for whatever reason, the designers figured you needed to do 6-8 fights per day in 5E and not 3-5.
Isn't the point of being able to regularly heal back up is to avoid character having to spend lots of time sitting around doing nothing? Where's the fun in that? Get back out there and explore dangerous places.
I like the fact that low level characters are squishy. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and ability increase at later levels when they face a small horde of monsters that nearly TPKed them at lower levels.
If you don't like what you're seeing, tweak it. Use some of the optional rules or modify the rules.
Noon wrote:
Alex_ wrote:
Rya.Reisender wrote: