If a monster has a recharge ability, and gets it back, are the players supposed to know or is it a secret until they get blasted with it? I assume they don't know, but I want to be sure.
Secondly--and I realize this should probably go in the Homebrew section, but I'm already making a post on the topic--is there some downside or disadvantage towards making monster abilities recharge on time intervals rather than the luck of the die that I'm not thinking of? I tried googling it, but I couldn't find anyone asking the question anywhere. It seems logical that if an ability has a 4-6 recharge roll, it would instead be usable every other round, and a 5-6 recharge could be used every third. Combat is chaotic enough just dealing with everyone succeeding or failing at attacks or abilities. Sussing out the timing on a rechargeable ability seems like the kind of thing that should give the PCs an advantage, like calculating how long the guys manning the cannon will take to reload and deciding what you can do in the interim.
Mostly it seems like having a major ability (e.g. dragon breath) attached to a roll has the ability to make an encounter broken in either direction if the rolls go streaky one way or the other. I'm trying to figure out of there's a good reason for it to be that way, other than some vague concept of excitement.
You are not required to inform your players that your monster has recharged its recharge ability.
The design for the dice-roll recharge is to allow for some unpredictability in combat. If players know that a dragon can torch them with a breath weapon every three turns, they will plan for that and adjust their tactics more predictably. The fight will become less dynamic and more monotonous. That being said, there's nothing from stopping you from making this adjustment if you think it will be more fun for your players.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
My players love recharge rolls instead of set recharge timing because that creates variety in what might happen during an encounter, where set timing for recharge has in the past made abilities that are supposed to recharge effectively the same as single-use abilities (i.e. an attack that recharges in 3 rounds gets used once, and the creature is taken out of combat before their turn that they'd next get to use the attack comes up).
My players also get frustrated by recharge rolls sometimes. Namely the two occasions on which the roll of the dice resulted in a dragon using it's breath weapon 5 times in a row (once in 4th edition, and once in 5th so far). Yet they still prefer the variety over the predictability.
I think a big point for it is predictability and metagaming. Much like in an MMO boss fight if something is predictable the party will find a way to limit the impact of the ability. Whether that take the form of spreading out to avoid a breath attack or casting spells to directly negate the ability the turn it becomes available.
Personal take on it, just makes things more interesting. No longer can a party say "The dragon used its breath we are safe for the next 4 rounds" instead they have to decide how to deal with it when it happens to come up.
In terms of straight game mechanics i think it is an excellent point where house rules you can just say it recharges in 3 turns, or 6 turns and ignoring the die roll. Find what is fun for you and go for it.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
My players also get frustrated by recharge rolls sometimes. Namely the two occasions on which the roll of the dice resulted in a dragon using it's breath weapon 5 times in a row (once in 4th edition, and once in 5th so far). Yet they still prefer the variety over the predictability.
I really think this a problem and could have been easily fixed by having recharge happen at the END of the Monster's turn instead of the START. Any ability powerful enough to need a recharge should have a minimum of 1 turn cool down.
If you're worried about the monster not ever getting it back (as a set of bad luck for the GM can be as bad as a hot streak.) Spent a Legendary Action to get it back?
If it's genuinely more fun for people, ok, cool. I may end up DMing for a group who knows little enough about the game to rarely, if ever, know what recharge abilities exist, in which case I may try it with timed recharge because then they have to be observant, but I wouldn't want metagaming to take over either.
Do any of you bend recharge rules at all, ie. roll but don't let a recharge succeed or fail too many times in a row?
If it's genuinely more fun for people, ok, cool. I may end up DMing for a group who knows little enough about the game to rarely, if ever, know what recharge abilities exist, in which case I may try it with timed recharge because then they have to be observant, but I wouldn't want metagaming to take over either.
Do any of you bend recharge rules at all, ie. roll but don't let a recharge succeed or fail too many times in a row?
On a personal note, even if it comes off cooldown immediately I might just hold onto the ability for a round, and use other actions.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
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If a monster has a recharge ability, and gets it back, are the players supposed to know or is it a secret until they get blasted with it? I assume they don't know, but I want to be sure.
Secondly--and I realize this should probably go in the Homebrew section, but I'm already making a post on the topic--is there some downside or disadvantage towards making monster abilities recharge on time intervals rather than the luck of the die that I'm not thinking of? I tried googling it, but I couldn't find anyone asking the question anywhere. It seems logical that if an ability has a 4-6 recharge roll, it would instead be usable every other round, and a 5-6 recharge could be used every third. Combat is chaotic enough just dealing with everyone succeeding or failing at attacks or abilities. Sussing out the timing on a rechargeable ability seems like the kind of thing that should give the PCs an advantage, like calculating how long the guys manning the cannon will take to reload and deciding what you can do in the interim.
Mostly it seems like having a major ability (e.g. dragon breath) attached to a roll has the ability to make an encounter broken in either direction if the rolls go streaky one way or the other. I'm trying to figure out of there's a good reason for it to be that way, other than some vague concept of excitement.
You are not required to inform your players that your monster has recharged its recharge ability.
The design for the dice-roll recharge is to allow for some unpredictability in combat. If players know that a dragon can torch them with a breath weapon every three turns, they will plan for that and adjust their tactics more predictably. The fight will become less dynamic and more monotonous. That being said, there's nothing from stopping you from making this adjustment if you think it will be more fun for your players.
My players love recharge rolls instead of set recharge timing because that creates variety in what might happen during an encounter, where set timing for recharge has in the past made abilities that are supposed to recharge effectively the same as single-use abilities (i.e. an attack that recharges in 3 rounds gets used once, and the creature is taken out of combat before their turn that they'd next get to use the attack comes up).
My players also get frustrated by recharge rolls sometimes. Namely the two occasions on which the roll of the dice resulted in a dragon using it's breath weapon 5 times in a row (once in 4th edition, and once in 5th so far). Yet they still prefer the variety over the predictability.
I think a big point for it is predictability and metagaming. Much like in an MMO boss fight if something is predictable the party will find a way to limit the impact of the ability. Whether that take the form of spreading out to avoid a breath attack or casting spells to directly negate the ability the turn it becomes available.
Personal take on it, just makes things more interesting. No longer can a party say "The dragon used its breath we are safe for the next 4 rounds" instead they have to decide how to deal with it when it happens to come up.
In terms of straight game mechanics i think it is an excellent point where house rules you can just say it recharges in 3 turns, or 6 turns and ignoring the die roll. Find what is fun for you and go for it.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
If it's genuinely more fun for people, ok, cool. I may end up DMing for a group who knows little enough about the game to rarely, if ever, know what recharge abilities exist, in which case I may try it with timed recharge because then they have to be observant, but I wouldn't want metagaming to take over either.
Do any of you bend recharge rules at all, ie. roll but don't let a recharge succeed or fail too many times in a row?
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."