I know a lot of people struggle to balance combat in DnD 5e and tend to blame more powerful character builds.
I think this is a good opportunity to discuss Party vs. Environment balance and Party vs. Party balance!
What is Party vs. Environment balance?
PvE balance is your traditional “I need to make combat challenging.” type of balance. This is the balance where you pull out a really cool monster and forget your players have a neat ability that then makes the whole combat minute. It’s tricky! Especially in DnD 5E! More often than not challenge rating will not match your party as written and it takes some experience to get that sense for what will be a good challenge.
Here’s my tip for you: If you struggle with PvE balance don’t sweat it. It’s frustrating, I know. But a good fix is to start trying out monsters that are much more challenging than what your first instinct says your party can handle. Sometimes it’ll be a moment for your players to rise to the challenge and shock you! If it isn’t then you can nerf the monster’s AC and damage dice or other effects mid combat and narrate it as a result of player success!
“A massive shard flies off the creatures shell from your strike, exposing a weak spot. You have a feeling it will be much easier to hurt this thing now that you’ve broken through its shell.”
Really? PvE balance is the easier type of balance to solve. All you need is too experiment until you understand what your party sees as a fair challenge. PvP balance is harder.
What is Party vs. Party balance?
PvP balance is the balance between party members. Contrary to how the name sounds it is not necessarily the ability for players to fight one another and have a balanced fight. Unfortunately DnD 5e isn’t made for that. But that’s another blog! PvP balance more-so concerns balance in contributions.
Does every member of the party feel as if their character is able to contribute to the party’s success?
In my opinion, this is the more important type of balance. This is the balance that is more important to your players having fun! Feeling like they steamrolled a monster may be a little boring, but they’ll feel good! Feeling like they’re useless in combat and out because they can’t keep up with another player who just happens to be better than them at everything just SUCKS! This can lead to the player withdrawing from the game, and in some cases, resentment toward the stronger characters.
DnD is a place for escape, a way for a lot of people to feel they can make an impact in the world when out of game they can’t. It’s important to remember this and help your players have their chances for impact!
Here’s my tip for you: Keep an eye out for signs a player is feeling left behind. They may stop talking, or get uncharacteristically distracted. They could also just get really grumpy sometimes. If you see this, check in with them! There’s a chance they’d really appreciate the chance to talk out how they’re feeling if they’re struggling with feeling useless.
The solution is almost never to nerf another player.
However, some good suggestions on helping someone feel stronger are to offer them some tweaks to their build to fill another niche or extra magic items to help them keep up! Experiment! The fact you’re trying to help is already a big boost to them!
Party vs. Environment and Party vs. Party balance are different things. Sometimes what people think is a PvE issue is actually a PvP issue. Both take experimentation to solve but the key is flexibility. The fact your players see you trying is already a huge boost!
