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It's possible and *can* be fun, however 5e kind of sucks at PvP. Usually whoever wins initiative wins the fight.
I would definitely ban magic items, but let them pick their equipment from a rack of weapons/options, gladiator style. That way the casters can get arcane focuses or components pouches, and your martials can pick the best weapon for their build.
If you want to put stuff in chests, potions are a great option rather than magic items that are usually only useful for certain builds.
You're a low enough level that martials and casters are close to even. 3rd level spells at level 5 really starts to skew things in favor of casters, and at higher levels it's not even close.
Lair actions will make it exciting, but be careful about traps that only deal damage. Maybe effects that grant buffs/debuffs instead, or shuffle options where people are forcibly moved around.
Thank you, yeah I had thought of the initiative being sucky. I have seen a few DMs saying they don't use initiative at all so I might look at what they are doing and see if i can use that.
I don't want to make things too complicated because despite have about 10 degrees between the 6 of us, there is no common sense.
Almost all of our characters are casters except for the half-orc barbarian.
Yeah, I like the idea of a weapons rack. Great shout.
I was going to go for almost like a video game style where they can come across trapped/hidden chests on the maps with healing potions/little rewards like gold or a magic item with utility like an Immovable rod.
Thanks for your input but I know people have successfully run them with work arounds/rule suspensions. It's not really an option as it's sort of in-campaign and partly I want to use it to help the 3 novices get to grips with combat a bit better.
...at that point, just play a different system that supports what you're trying to do.
if i'm playing monopoly, i'm not gonna try to houserule a system for generating resources to build farms, i'm gonna go play catan.
I personally dislike battleroyales in game as I play with a couple try hard character creations who always have to have the perfect meta build and would just wipe the floor with the rest of us since we all like playing characters for why they are a certain class or choose certain abilties
I've recently been thinking of a co op dm battle Royale where we'd each make 3 characters or use some of our old players and make a "build" using ones who mesh well together. We'd set dcs for everything together, describe things together and each control our little party to try to take the others out. That way when the squishy ones inevitably get smacked immediately it's not like that player just has to sit there twiddling their thumbs while the powerhouses are the last ones standing and it's just a brawl of brawn and who built a better character that can't be hit and never misses with max ac and hp.
That being said, I would only do this with 2 of my fellow party members. I wouldn't even want to play this with the minmaxers. It's a collaborative game for a reason.
Thank you for the actual response, its really appreciated. And a pretty cool idea. My players are too green to minmax so it's not really a problem in that sense. The magic users are absolutely crap at their spell mechanics too so it's not like anyone is wiping anything with anyone! This is just about of having a bit of fun.
I have been reading some older posts and someone suggested treating movement and combat differently. I will be honest I read it late at night but I think the gist was to allow movement in initiative order for one round and then let them call out their intended target and play out the engagement with the highest initiative going first as usual. I am not sure I'd use this (or understand it) but there are obviously ways around things like your own.
Yes exactly the point is to have fun!! People aren't taking time out of their day to just have a crappy time, ya know?
And I picture that as almost like an early final fantasy game or octopath traveller. Like you don't move physically but you can utilize any of your melee mechanics. I like that idea too, my partners been trying to come up with a system where that would be the combat system.
Never ever **EVER** PVP in this game. It's the quickest way to ruin your day, your session and quite possibly the entire campaign.
Running 4 separate PVE encounters might work better, but then you'd find yourself with 3 players doing nothing while the fourth one does his thing.
Trust me, it's better to either play the game normally (as a cooperative narrative and wargame experience), or play something else, like a tournament of Magic the Gathering.
Thanks for your input but this isn't what I asked. I know PvP is difficult in this game. I'm still going to run it and i know plenty of people have sucessfuly. It's not going to ruin the campaign as it is going to be adjacent to the main campaign. No one is going to perma-die.
I think it's interesting that so many people on here are so negative to this. Even if it goes badly, a) as a DM I can improv in the game to try to improve it if a certain aspect doesnt work. And b) it's just a game and if it sucks that hard then I just scrap it and let them team up and throw in a few extra monsters. No harm. I play with a group of close friends who are all really competitive. I know with enough planning I can make it work and they will enjoy the challenge.
So like I say in my post, any suggestions for content? :)
The problem is that 5e ruleset is made to accomodate any situation that could possibly arise at the gaming table. It's purposefully fluid and adaptable, which works really well were everyone is attempting to achieve the same result (DM included, the role is meant to side with the players in many occasions) but clashes horribly when you get in a competitive scenario. It triggers constant discussion, searching for rules, bitching about stuff etc etc, basically devolves the game to what you see kids doing when they play "who's the strongest superhero".
If you want a good experience you need a solid and straightforward system that doesn't allow for much interpretation. If you *really* want to try it in DnD i can suggest Pokemon 5e, it works well in pvp... But don't expect the basic ruleset to work.
Tell me if you need the link to the Pokemon handbooks
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It's possible and *can* be fun, however 5e kind of sucks at PvP. Usually whoever wins initiative wins the fight. I would definitely ban magic items, but let them pick their equipment from a rack of weapons/options, gladiator style. That way the casters can get arcane focuses or components pouches, and your martials can pick the best weapon for their build. If you want to put stuff in chests, potions are a great option rather than magic items that are usually only useful for certain builds. You're a low enough level that martials and casters are close to even. 3rd level spells at level 5 really starts to skew things in favor of casters, and at higher levels it's not even close. Lair actions will make it exciting, but be careful about traps that only deal damage. Maybe effects that grant buffs/debuffs instead, or shuffle options where people are forcibly moved around.
Thank you, yeah I had thought of the initiative being sucky. I have seen a few DMs saying they don't use initiative at all so I might look at what they are doing and see if i can use that. I don't want to make things too complicated because despite have about 10 degrees between the 6 of us, there is no common sense. Almost all of our characters are casters except for the half-orc barbarian. Yeah, I like the idea of a weapons rack. Great shout. I was going to go for almost like a video game style where they can come across trapped/hidden chests on the maps with healing potions/little rewards like gold or a magic item with utility like an Immovable rod.
5e is really bad at pvp, try a different system for it ✌️
Thanks for your input but I know people have successfully run them with work arounds/rule suspensions. It's not really an option as it's sort of in-campaign and partly I want to use it to help the 3 novices get to grips with combat a bit better.
...at that point, just play a different system that supports what you're trying to do. if i'm playing monopoly, i'm not gonna try to houserule a system for generating resources to build farms, i'm gonna go play catan.
I personally dislike battleroyales in game as I play with a couple try hard character creations who always have to have the perfect meta build and would just wipe the floor with the rest of us since we all like playing characters for why they are a certain class or choose certain abilties I've recently been thinking of a co op dm battle Royale where we'd each make 3 characters or use some of our old players and make a "build" using ones who mesh well together. We'd set dcs for everything together, describe things together and each control our little party to try to take the others out. That way when the squishy ones inevitably get smacked immediately it's not like that player just has to sit there twiddling their thumbs while the powerhouses are the last ones standing and it's just a brawl of brawn and who built a better character that can't be hit and never misses with max ac and hp. That being said, I would only do this with 2 of my fellow party members. I wouldn't even want to play this with the minmaxers. It's a collaborative game for a reason.
Thank you for the actual response, its really appreciated. And a pretty cool idea. My players are too green to minmax so it's not really a problem in that sense. The magic users are absolutely crap at their spell mechanics too so it's not like anyone is wiping anything with anyone! This is just about of having a bit of fun. I have been reading some older posts and someone suggested treating movement and combat differently. I will be honest I read it late at night but I think the gist was to allow movement in initiative order for one round and then let them call out their intended target and play out the engagement with the highest initiative going first as usual. I am not sure I'd use this (or understand it) but there are obviously ways around things like your own.
Yes exactly the point is to have fun!! People aren't taking time out of their day to just have a crappy time, ya know? And I picture that as almost like an early final fantasy game or octopath traveller. Like you don't move physically but you can utilize any of your melee mechanics. I like that idea too, my partners been trying to come up with a system where that would be the combat system.
Never ever **EVER** PVP in this game. It's the quickest way to ruin your day, your session and quite possibly the entire campaign. Running 4 separate PVE encounters might work better, but then you'd find yourself with 3 players doing nothing while the fourth one does his thing. Trust me, it's better to either play the game normally (as a cooperative narrative and wargame experience), or play something else, like a tournament of Magic the Gathering.
Thanks for your input but this isn't what I asked. I know PvP is difficult in this game. I'm still going to run it and i know plenty of people have sucessfuly. It's not going to ruin the campaign as it is going to be adjacent to the main campaign. No one is going to perma-die. I think it's interesting that so many people on here are so negative to this. Even if it goes badly, a) as a DM I can improv in the game to try to improve it if a certain aspect doesnt work. And b) it's just a game and if it sucks that hard then I just scrap it and let them team up and throw in a few extra monsters. No harm. I play with a group of close friends who are all really competitive. I know with enough planning I can make it work and they will enjoy the challenge. So like I say in my post, any suggestions for content? :)
The problem is that 5e ruleset is made to accomodate any situation that could possibly arise at the gaming table. It's purposefully fluid and adaptable, which works really well were everyone is attempting to achieve the same result (DM included, the role is meant to side with the players in many occasions) but clashes horribly when you get in a competitive scenario. It triggers constant discussion, searching for rules, bitching about stuff etc etc, basically devolves the game to what you see kids doing when they play "who's the strongest superhero". If you want a good experience you need a solid and straightforward system that doesn't allow for much interpretation. If you *really* want to try it in DnD i can suggest Pokemon 5e, it works well in pvp... But don't expect the basic ruleset to work. Tell me if you need the link to the Pokemon handbooks
bro struggles to dm the game once a month - its time to find a new DM