Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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"I see no acknowledgement by the game designers that the ability is broken."
In 5E, every Bugbear stat included Sneak Attack (and Brute) in their traits. In 5.5E, no Bugbear has Sneak Attack (or Brute) in their stat block. As I noted in my earlier posts. So AFIK, the game designers haven't said the exact words "these two abilities are broken," but in reading between the proverbial lines, they've acknowledged that the two abilities are broken.
Regarding the other stuff, it would appear that we have significantly different approaches to encounter design (yes, I also vary the number and type of encounters) and especially PC design. And that's OK.
On the one hand, the PC race doesn't have the Brute trait in 2014 (MPMM), even though the monsters have it. So what the PC race has does not have to be what the monsters have, and never did. And they gave the PC race traits which the monsters didn't have, like the ability to squeeze through small spaces, or Powerful Build, or Fey Ancestry.
On the other hand, they definitely still have Brute, it's just not listed as a trait (because the MM philosophy is to incorporate things directly into relevant actions where possible). So if you check the MM14 Chieftain and the MM25 BB Stalker, both do the same 2d8+3 damage with a Morningstar, which is 1d8 more than normal - and that's because of Brute. ie, there's no reason to list a Brute trait that has its only effect already incorporated into the attack. (Similarly, long-limbed is built right into their melee attack).
It is certainly the case that they've removed Surprise Attack from all two Bugbears in the MM25. And they gave them this grapple thing instead, which is a really weird change in direction for Bugbears. (Sneak Attack aligns pretty well with ~50 years of precedent, where they were always ambush specialists. The grapple thing is hella weird.) I honestly don't know what they were thinking, and won't until they make an updated PC race.
They also didn't give any sort of advantages on saving throws like they should get from their fey ancestry, even though they're now explicitly type Fey. I would bet real money an updated Bugbear PC species would still have Fey Ancestry or similar.
In short, the playable species is not married to whatever the monster entries are doing, and you can't read intent towards the PC species from changes to the MM.
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I don't know what to tell you. If you think Rogue combat damage with one sneak attack per round is the appropriate benchmark for PC damage, I don't know what kind of game you're playing. The Rogue is always going to feel bad on damage like that. It's one of the lowest damage dealing classes in the game without the 2nd sneak attack per round.
And if you have few enough combats that the fighter is action surging every single combat, then yeah, the resource limits are going to feel broken.
No they haven't.
2024 seems to avoid using sneak attack on any templates, even ones where it obviously belongs such as the assassin. This is probably because of CR targets -- if you balance the creature on having sneak attack it's underpowered if it can't use it, if you balance the creature on not having sneak attack it's overpowered if it can use it, and if you balance it on being able to use sneak attack part of the time it might be either over or under powered, depending on circumstances. Also, 2024 has generally tried to nerf surprise.
Brute is missing because 2024 doesn't include traits like that on stat blocks. The bugbear warrior is doing 3d4+2 with d4 weapon, which is even more damage than brute.
"And if you have few enough combats that the fighter is action surging every single combat..."
I didn't say that