this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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The dog on the left is such a strawman lol. Those who would say such a thing are few and far between. I know plenty of DMs and players who think the PCs' combat encounters should be challenging and even lethal.
I mean this meme is built for strawmen that’s what it is
And brother, I brought matches.
The number of times my cleric/sorcerer has had to revivify the rest of his party…
If you ain't dying, you ain't trying.
It is actually bad game design in the sense that there really isn't a decent mechanic to escape monsters.
5.0 orcs, for example, had double the speed of the average PC with their dumbass free move action.
The solution is rolling disengage as a series of skill checks (like World of Darkness would...) but then you have to explain how, exactly, a dude in full plate escapes a dragon.
D&D, especially 5e, is just missing broad sections of game stuff so it can "leave it up to the DM". Other stuff is really underbaked. Degree of success, succeed at a cost, non-violent conflict, ending combat other than totally wiping the other factions...
That can be fine if everyone's on the same page, but since D&D is the mega popular game you're likely to be playing with new players, or just randos, and that can lead to tension.
"Have you seen Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?"
Win if you can, lose if you must, but always TPK.
To be fair, starting at around level 13 it becomes more challenging to, well, challenge a party without having dragons and shit everywhere. You can almost not build encounters with "normal" enemies anymore.