KO'D in 1?

[Ioxna]

Newish player. I'm playing in a campaign right now, and it was obvious before we started the DM was going to play rough. I decided I wanted to build a hard character to kill and chose a Monk with a plan to go Way of the Long Death. Lvl one we find our first enemy that KO'S me in 1 hit... I'm later revived and make it to our second encounter where I am KO'D in 1 hit. We make it to lvl 2 where we encounter 4 Ghouls and I am KO'D in one hit. The whole team including our paladin spends time with 0 hp multiple times playing the "don't bleed out game". My character dies and the rest of the teams survives based on 1 very well timed crit 20. My questions are: Is this normal? If this isn't normal where is the balance issue? Are monks really this squishy in melee early lvls? What should I build with my reroll that can survive this threat lvl? Thanks

[Fishyninja]

1) Monks are Squishy
2) WOTLD Monks are less Squishy but still Squishy
3) Many classes are Squishy up to about level 3 or 4.

4) May I ask what your tactics were for combat as a Monk?
5) Was the DM creating fair encounters for you?

[gfishfunk]

This is not normal.

The DM is either not good at balancing, or does not know how to make an encounter challenging outside of high damage encounters.

[Ninja_Prawn]

This is not normal.

The DM is either not good at balancing, or does not know how to make an encounter challenging outside of high damage encounters.

Yeah, first-level characters are squishy and player tactics matter, but if every combat is a near-TPK, I reckon the DM is doing something wrong. Or being deliberately cruel.

[Specter]

Monk's level 1 problem is that it's one level away from its best defensive feature (Patient Defense). What you want is to take a feat that lets you hang in there (like Defensive Duelist or Tough). Otherwise, go Barbarian and let it rip.

[gfishfunk]

The problem is not monk squishiness (monks are squishy) but damage output. If every attack one-hit KOs the character, it is not suitable for level 1. Level 1 is swingy, but EVERY ENCOUNTER? That screams of bad design.

It could be that your DM wants a war-as-war game where player creativity is more important than approachable encounters. The odds are stacked against you, but if you come up with something creative the DM might let it fly.

[N810]

buy a short bow* and stay away from enemies.

* also arrows

[Ioxna]

Bow and distance sounds like a good option however we havn't yet been to a store... We also are in catacombs so range is half common speed. My tactic so far has been hit and run, however I have the second highest AC and HP so I feel my place as melee is between my party and the monsters. The one time I was able to move away the ghoul chased and KO'D me dispite his starting position being next to our Paladin. I want to discuss this with the group without just sounding like I'm whining. I love a challenge however I just don't feel tactics, lvl options or equipment / items have even had time to come into play. Any suggestions or knowledge on what I can change is appreciated.

[Lombra]

At low levels it may happen, but that sounds really poor DM decisions. I played a monk from level one too but managed to survive, I think I never got OHKO, but I used to fall unconcious at least once every 2-3 encounters. The first time our party met a ghoul was around level 4 and it was till a hard encounter (there also were plenty of zombies and it was at night with little illumination). Not being in the face of the enemies is a good srtategy for the monk in general, so if you were standing in front of the enemies then that might have contributed to your demise. I'd talk to the DM and ask him to properly balance the encounters.

[RipTide]

Just out of curiosity how much health do you have?

[ad_hoc]

This is not typical.

Level 1 adventures should typically have close to 0 combat in them. And they will also only typically last half a session. Basically you have enough time in a standard 4 hour session to make characters, play a bit, then level up.

Level 2 is also short, typically lasting only 1 session.

Levels 3 and 4 are also fairly short, but now start to span multiple sessions.

Levels 1-4 are the apprentice tier. Characters have crappy gear, few HP, and few abilities.

[N810]

I wonder if he is pitting CR 1 enemies against them ?

(at lvl 1)

[Desamir]

We make it to lvl 2 where we encounter 4 Ghouls and I am KO'D in one hit.

Surprised nobody's mentioned this yet. 4 Ghouls is 2x Deadly for a 2nd level party of four. Add in the paralysis and the only unexpected part is that you guys survived.

[Bahamut7]

Yea this sounds like a DM who is trying to kill you. Did you roll stats or array? I would have gone V-Human Monk from the get go and grabbed Mobile. Run in, do your double attack and back off with no OAs against you. Most monsters do not have 40 ft of movement, and the feat gives you an extra 10. You would have 40 right there, you should be able to get in and out and force them to dash to you which means no attack that round.

As it is, I would confront your DM that his encounters are not balanced for level 1 and that no one is having fun with it (assuming the rest of the party is also perturbed).

[hymer]

We also are in catacombs so range is half common speed.

Is this some sort of house rule?

[Ioxna]

Just out of curiosity how much health do you have?


Is this some sort of house rule?

15Hp. I mean the largest room we are in are about 20 feet. The rest are halls and dead ends. Yes all 4 Ghouls we were fighting were capable of paralyze.

[gfishfunk]

15Hp. I mean the largest room we are in are about 20 feet. The rest are halls and dead ends. Yes all 4 Ghouls we were fighting were capable of paralyze.

The DM is absolutely putting you guys in situations that are beyond deadly. This is no surprise with what you said earlier.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I mean the largest room we are in are about 20 feet.

Judging by this, you're not only facing monsters that are too strong for you (which... there are situations where that is okay, so I didn't want to jump on that before), but they're also being given environments that play to their strengths. Ghouls love fighting in tight spaces, because it allows them to get up in your faces quickly, and you've got no way of isolating them or concentrating your efforts on one at a time. Your monk didn't have much of a chance, really.

[DragonBaneDM]

A buddy of mine ran two one shots in 5E. He's normally my girlfriend's DM, but I get to join in when he's home for Christmas one shots and stuff.

Anywho, since he's used to 3.5, he'd never used an XP multiplier before. It wasn't until I called him out on this that he realized he wasn't multiplying the XP of an encounter appropriately based around how many monsters there were. That led to him using higher CR monsters than he should have in big groups. Dude had no idea he was actually breaking a rule and had assigned us to two Deadly encounters back to back.

Talk to your DM about this specific (and very important!) rule of using XP multipliers, or bring it up the next time you're awarded XP. That could be something he's not wittingly doing, but that's leading to combats that are so difficult that they're not fun.

Above all, communication is key here. Even if you're not already friends with this person, a positive side effect of a good game is that you end up being their friend, especially if you voice your concerns respectfully.

[ad_hoc]

Yea this sounds like a DM who is trying to kill you. Did you roll stats or array? I would have gone V-Human Monk from the get go and grabbed Mobile. Run in, do your double attack and back off with no OAs against you. Most monsters do not have 40 ft of movement, and the feat gives you an extra 10. You would have 40 right there, you should be able to get in and out and force them to dash to you which means no attack that round.

As it is, I would confront your DM that his encounters are not balanced for level 1 and that no one is having fun with it (assuming the rest of the party is also perturbed).

This won't actually work. Yes, you can run away, but then the rest of the party is dead and the campaign is over anyway.

[Kane0]

Subtly point your DM in the direction of this (http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder). He's been throwing very tough fights at you, which is most easily visible at low levels (especially 1-3).

[HolyDraconus]

This is not typical.

Level 1 adventures should typically have close to 0 combat in them. And they will also only typically last half a session. Basically you have enough time in a standard 4 hour session to make characters, play a bit, then level up.

Level 2 is also short, typically lasting only 1 session.

Levels 3 and 4 are also fairly short, but now start to span multiple sessions.

Levels 1-4 are the apprentice tier. Characters have crappy gear, few HP, and few abilities.

False. Currently been in AL for well over a month and every single t1 for lvl1 jots had ATLEAST 1 encounter. Worse, they had exp caps on them too. Closest I've seen a player break that was on an 5+ hour session and/or with some lvl3+ people. The grind is real. Homebrew tho... players are usually lvl2 within an hour

[Lombra]

Is this some sort of house rule?

He means that even if he tries to space as far as possible monsters would be able to reach him within half their movement due to small rooms

[Waterdeep Merch]

This is not typical.

Level 1 adventures should typically have close to 0 combat in them. And they will also only typically last half a session. Basically you have enough time in a standard 4 hour session to make characters, play a bit, then level up.

Level 2 is also short, typically lasting only 1 session.

Levels 3 and 4 are also fairly short, but now start to span multiple sessions.

Levels 1-4 are the apprentice tier. Characters have crappy gear, few HP, and few abilities.

I had six players in a dungeon crawl scenario at level 1, and I started them with no equipment and intentionally forced them to scavenge for weapons and armor, only reaching proper load outs by the end of it (we did all of this in one mega-session lasting about eight hours). I also loaded the place with dangerous traps and something like three dozen different enemy encounters, most of which the players faced. Before they could hit level 2, I had the item-starved sextet fight rust monsters.

There were several close calls. Towards the end of it, a player did actually die (succubus charmed the team's great weapon barbarian, who proceeded to critically hit the team wizard). But they were nearly level 4 by then and rocking good equipment and even a little magic gear. It's completely possible to go combat heavy at low levels. But you MUST obey difficulty ratings more strictly than you might later.

[Knaight]

It's possible that the DM is running a setting where getting in over your head is a real option, and where retreating from this tomb entirely to go elsewhere is the right move.

[Vogonjeltz]

Newish player. I'm playing in a campaign right now, and it was obvious before we started the DM was going to play rough. I decided I wanted to build a hard character to kill and chose a Monk with a plan to go Way of the Long Death. Lvl one we find our first enemy that KO'S me in 1 hit... I'm later revived and make it to our second encounter where I am KO'D in 1 hit. We make it to lvl 2 where we encounter 4 Ghouls and I am KO'D in one hit. The whole team including our paladin spends time with 0 hp multiple times playing the "don't bleed out game". My character dies and the rest of the teams survives based on 1 very well timed crit 20. My questions are: Is this normal? If this isn't normal where is the balance issue? Are monks really this squishy in melee early lvls? What should I build with my reroll that can survive this threat lvl? Thanks

4 ghouls at level 2 is a more than twice Deadly encounter.

And by that I mean: Ghouls are worth 200 xp each, 4 of them imposes a x2 difficulty multiplier. That's an adjusted difficulty value of 1600

A party of 4 level 2 characters is expected to have at least one death (if not a TPK) against a difficulty value of 800+

The balance issue is that your DM isn't balancing their encounters, at all.

You might want to take your DM aside, pop the DMG open to page 82 and go over the encounter creation guidelines with them.

Edit: Bah Desamir covered it.

[Ioxna]

Thanks everyone.

[hymer]

He means that even if he tries to space as far as possible monsters would be able to reach him within half their movement due to small rooms

Ah, I see. Thanks!

[Angelmaker]

This is not typical.

Level 1 adventures should typically have close to 0 combat in them. And they will also only typically last half a session. Basically you have enough time in a standard 4 hour session to make characters, play a bit, then level up.

Level 2 is also short, typically lasting only 1 session.

Levels 3 and 4 are also fairly short, but now start to span multiple sessions.

Levels 1-4 are the apprentice tier. Characters have crappy gear, few HP, and few abilities.

Is that your experince/recommendation or supported by raw somewhere? Really curious. So far i've alwayys thought about the usual encounter per day cycle?

[djreynolds]

Newish player. I'm playing in a campaign right now, and it was obvious before we started the DM was going to play rough. I decided I wanted to build a hard character to kill and chose a Monk with a plan to go Way of the Long Death. Lvl one we find our first enemy that KO'S me in 1 hit... I'm later revived and make it to our second encounter where I am KO'D in 1 hit. We make it to lvl 2 where we encounter 4 Ghouls and I am KO'D in one hit. The whole team including our paladin spends time with 0 hp multiple times playing the "don't bleed out game". My character dies and the rest of the teams survives based on 1 very well timed crit 20. My questions are: Is this normal? If this isn't normal where is the balance issue? Are monks really this squishy in melee early lvls? What should I build with my reroll that can survive this threat lvl? Thanks

Who else is in your party?

When you fight undead and are manning the front... someone should place protection from evil on you.

Secondly, patient defense is awesome... use it. You are taking the dodge action after you attack, its almost impossible statistically to receive a critical hit.

So, unless you are sure to kill do not use that BA to attack with, save it for patient defense.

Also, pull out that bow or throw daggers from a distance and then move in. Soften them up.

Ghouls are tough and we fought some like level 1 or 2 in CoS Death House. My cleric almost died for 2 reasons, I had bless up for the ranger to benefit from and I didn't use PfE/G

[StoicLeaf]

I disagree with all the previous statements because it sounds like you're playing CoS and you're in the death house.

CoS is a hard line adventure.

[Ioxna]

I disagree with all the previous statements because it sounds like you're playing CoS and you're in the death house.

CoS is a hard line adventure.

So it is normal to be one shot KO'D in every encounter in one hit?

[ad_hoc]

I had six players in a dungeon crawl scenario at level 1

6 Characters changes things a lot. Parties are much stronger and better able to survive when there are 6 characters rather than 4.

Still, there is a huge spike in survivability from level 1 to 2. And then again, though not quite as big, from level 2 to 3.

It is very easy for a TPK to happen at level 1 and there is often little to do about it and little choice by the players as their characters were just thrown into the opening of adventure. Every published adventure I have played has had very few combat encounters at level 1. Usually it's just 2 or 3 goblins, maybe 2 or 3 times. The only exception that I have played is HotDQ and most of that is meant to be sneaking around and not getting into fights. Also, the MM and other rules weren't finalized yet so I think they ended up making it more dangerous than they meant to.


Is that your experince/recommendation or supported by raw somewhere? Really curious. So far i've alwayys thought about the usual encounter per day cycle?

It is a bit of both.

Take a look at the experience curve. It is designed to be very fast at the beginning and then stretch out levels 5-10. For example, it actually takes less experience to go from level 11 to 12 than it does from 10 to 11, even though there is a huge power jump at level 11 so presumably characters can face much tougher adversaries.

Also take a look at the published adventures. Even Death House which is brutally hard has very few combat encounters for the level 1 characters. Things don't ramp up until level 2, and then it is a bit too much imo.

[Spellbreaker26]

6 Characters changes things a lot. Parties are much stronger and better able to survive when there are 6 characters rather than 4.

Still, there is a huge spike in survivability from level 1 to 2. And then again, though not quite as big, from level 2 to 3.

It is very easy for a TPK to happen at level 1 and there is often little to do about it and little choice by the players as their characters were just thrown into the opening of adventure. Every published adventure I have played has had very few combat encounters at level 1. Usually it's just 2 or 3 goblins, maybe 2 or 3 times. The only exception that I have played is HotDQ and most of that is meant to be sneaking around and not getting into fights. Also, the MM and other rules weren't finalized yet so I think they ended up making it more dangerous than they meant to.


Hugely agree on both counts. The priority for both the GM and the Players at level 1 is getting to level 2. And 6 players means a much greater chance of having more healers, for example, and having more healers is the main things that helps survivability at low levels.

[StoicLeaf]

So it is normal to be one shot KO'D in every encounter in one hit?

Depends on the fight but in death house?
Yeah 1-2 hits and you're down.
CoS is known as a meatgrinder.

I'd possibly point the finger of "blame" at the DM; CoS deserves a prewarning.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

So it is normal to be one shot KO'D in every encounter in one hit?

In most cases? No. In this particular adventure, when you aren't running something optimized? Yes.

You're needing something cheesy like a PAM/Sentinel Paladin to stop them from closing and something like an Agonizing Blast Warlock backing him up to blow things up. Or maybe a Dragon-blood Sorcerer with elemental affinity blasting with empowered or something.

Point is, unless you've got an optimized party with good tactics, that module is going to eat your face.

[djreynolds]

So it is normal to be one shot KO'D in every encounter in one hit?

I don't want to ruin the game for you. Are you in CoS? I do not want to ruin it, I loved it.

Protection from evil is your friend. Its 10 minutes long. At first level its the best defense for front liners vs ghouls. They are down right nasty, con saves vs paralysis are tough.

[Gignere]

I don't think it is unusual in published adventures to be KO'd in 1 shot. I have played three so far, besides LoMP both HotDQ and PoTA we faced triple deadly encounters in levels 1-4 repeatedly.

[Haldir]

Op: I'm going to play someone who has no armor, no weapons, and hits fast and weak!

One game later- OP wonders why he is dying.

Reasonable people- The monk is bad and a trap in every edition.

Letting my hate out a little here, but screw monks. Garbage class that causes more problems than it solves.

Everyone else "But I should be able to play someone who forgoes tools and works just as effectively as others!" No, you shouldn't. Stop pretending the game world needs to revolve around your whims.

[Rysto]

I think that you're letting your views of the Monk's fluff poison your view of their mechanics. Mechanically, Monks work just fine in 5e.

[Vaz]

Op: I'm going to play someone who has no armor, no weapons, and hits fast and weak!

One game later- OP wonders why he is dying.

Reasonable people- The monk is bad and a trap in every edition.

Letting my hate out a little here, but screw monks. Garbage class that causes more problems than it solves.

Everyone else "But I should be able to play someone who forgoes tools and works just as effectively as others!" No, you shouldn't. Stop pretending the game world needs to revolve around your whims.

Got maths to back up your frankly utter nonsense given my experience (2 years, 3 sessions a week, with a monk of some variant in each, each session 5~ hours = nearly 500+ hours experience, ranging from 1st through to 14th level, including multiclassing in some levels).

The monk in 5e is one of the most powerful classes out of the box, albeit one with a lower ceiling than a Smitadin or Bladehexlock. It is one of the few classes that needs the least support in the game.

Unless of course you're talking about boring 'here is a flat open battlefield where using alternative movement methods don't count' in which case your DM is simply catering to the weaker members of the party/actively nerfing the monk abilities along the lines of not providing a situation where the XYZ class can use XYZ ability. Or the DM is just ****e at balancing fights and believes WotC are actually capable at their jobs and give monsters appropriate CR, which is hilariously off kilter ever since they gave a CR12 (a challenge for a 12th level parthy using 1/4 of their daily resources) monster Disintegrate At Will bacl in 3.5, without actually considering the make up of the party.

[Arc-Royal]

Secondly, patient defense is awesome... use it. You are taking the dodge action after you attack, its almost impossible statistically to receive a critical hit.

So, unless you are sure to kill do not use that BA to attack with, save it for patient defense.

OP said they are/were level 2, and Patient Defense requires you to expend 1 ki to Dodge as a bonus action, so at best, OP is getting two uses of that per short rest. Not especially sustainable in a long combat at early levels. Not to say it's a bad use of your ki (especially at early levels if you're up against heavy-hitters), but it's not going to last you forever.



Op: I'm going to play someone who has no armor, no weapons, and hits fast and weak!

One game later- OP wonders why he is dying.

Reasonable people- The monk is bad and a trap in every edition.

Letting my hate out a little here, but screw monks. Garbage class that causes more problems than it solves.

A little? That's more of a distilled rant.

I never played a monk in previous editions (although I toyed with the idea), but the 5E monk is pretty damn solid--to the point where that fact is brought up to alleviate frustration with the Four Elements monk (because at its core, it's still a monk and has all the core monk abilities). Monks have respectable AC to start if you're not dumping your DEX or WIS, and it continues to get better and better as they get ASIs. With a quarterstaff, their damage output is on par with (or in some cases outpaces) other martials in the first few levels, and while they hit their damage spikes early because of Martial Arts/Flurry of Blows/Extra Attack, the improving Martial Arts damage die keeps them from completely stagnating on damage output (and again, all this is while their AC continues to improve with ASIs). As you get to high levels and have a bigger ki pool, more frequent uses of Patient Defense make monks one of the harder classes to hit, on TOP of getting proficiency in all saves at 14.

Monks aren't tanks in the same sense as a fighter or paladin (and your expectations need re-tooling if you're expecting that, or you're used to getting +3 everything), but they don't need to be. Similarly, they aren't burst DPS like a caster, but they don't need to be. What they are is consistent. Because they're as well-rounded as they are, they can last in combat, and their battlefield control options mean that either the enemy focuses them (and they pop Patient Defense), which takes heat off their allies, or the enemy ignores them, which gives them the ability to run in and stun the enemy's DPS. Monks are anything but useless.

[Telok]

I don't think it is unusual in published adventures to be KO'd in 1 shot. I have played three so far, besides LoMP both HotDQ and PoTA we faced triple deadly encounters in levels 1-4 repeatedly.

Note too that Out of the Abyss starts the characters off at first level, no gear, chained up, and primed to get into conflict with an 8th level drow cleric and a number of drow fighters ranging from 3rd to 5th level. If it's not well presented by the DM (because the adventure doesn't give anything more than suggestions) then combat within ten minutes and a TPK is possible.

[Haldir]

Blah blah, a boatload of features to make them almost as good as someone with a weapon.

Been playing this game for almost twenty years, and I see this all the time. Giving them a bunch of extra crap to pretend they're something other than a fighter subclass just adds confusion to this system. OP is a newbie victim of nostaligia and system artifacts, and he fell into a classic trap.

[AttilatheYeon]

Got maths to back up your frankly utter nonsense given my experience (2 years, 3 sessions a week, with a monk of some variant in each, each session 5~ hours = nearly 500+ hours experience, ranging from 1st through to 14th level, including multiclassing in some levels).

The monk in 5e is one of the most powerful classes out of the box, albeit one with a lower ceiling than a Smitadin or Bladehexlock. It is one of the few classes that needs the least support in the game.

Unless of course you're talking about boring 'here is a flat open battlefield where using alternative movement methods don't count' in which case your DM is simply catering to the weaker members of the party/actively nerfing the monk abilities along the lines of not providing a situation where the XYZ class can use XYZ ability. Or the DM is just ****e at balancing fights and believes WotC are actually capable at their jobs and give monsters appropriate CR, which is hilariously off kilter ever since they gave a CR12 (a challenge for a 12th level parthy using 1/4 of their daily resources) monster Disintegrate At Will bacl in 3.5, without actually considering the make up of the party.

I'm going to disagree with the idea that monk is one of the most powerful classes. While monk isn't the least powerful, it's somwhere in the middle of thepack. Def not for beginners, and even experts with a lot of system mastery have troubles with it.

[FilthyLucre]

Newish player. I'm playing in a campaign right now, and it was obvious before we started the DM was going to play rough. I decided I wanted to build a hard character to kill and chose a Monk with a plan to go Way of the Long Death. Lvl one we find our first enemy that KO'S me in 1 hit... I'm later revived and make it to our second encounter where I am KO'D in 1 hit. We make it to lvl 2 where we encounter 4 Ghouls and I am KO'D in one hit. The whole team including our paladin spends time with 0 hp multiple times playing the "don't bleed out game". My character dies and the rest of the teams survives based on 1 very well timed crit 20. My questions are: Is this normal? If this isn't normal where is the balance issue? Are monks really this squishy in melee early lvls? What should I build with my reroll that can survive this threat lvl? Thanks
I've run Curse of Strahd three times now. If you are in fact in the catacombs of Death House then, by the modules rules, you would *have* to be level 2. The module states that when characters discover the secret stair case that allows them to access the catacombs they level up to 2.

[Knaight]

Been playing this game for almost twenty years, and I see this all the time. Giving them a bunch of extra crap to pretend they're something other than a fighter subclass just adds confusion to this system. OP is a newbie victim of nostaligia and system artifacts, and he fell into a classic trap.

Mechanically the Monk is fairly solid - as much as it would make sense for a class who's defining feature is bringing their fists to a swordfight to be at a disadvantage, that doesn't actually play out in the system, and that intuitive reading has no bearing on the balance.

[djreynolds]

So it is normal to be one shot KO'D in every encounter in one hit?

This is combat. This is chance and it is fair. But this is fun, its why we play.

If you and your party defeated 4 ghouls, 22 HP, paralyze on DC10 (you might have needed a 8 to pass that), 2 attacks bite is +2/9damage, claws are +4/ 7damage

You guys beat 4 of these, the party revived you, and now you lived to tell the tale of when I was "almost" killed by ghouls

I'm impressed.

I wouldn't have died though, because I would have.....bravely ran away.

[Desamir]

Been playing this game for almost twenty years, and I see this all the time. Giving them a bunch of extra crap to pretend they're something other than a fighter subclass just adds confusion to this system. OP is a newbie victim of nostaligia and system artifacts, and he fell into a classic trap.

They don't need a "bunch of extra crap." They have Stunning Strike.

[Deleted]

It's possible that the DM is running a setting where getting in over your head is a real option, and where retreating from this tomb entirely to go elsewhere is the right move.

Then I would fault the DM for not telling this directly to a new player. Do you want new players rage quitting, because this is how you get new players to rage quit.


Been playing this game for almost twenty years, and I see this all the time. Giving them a bunch of extra crap to pretend they're something other than a fighter subclass just adds confusion to this system. OP is a newbie victim of nostaligia and system artifacts, and he fell into a classic trap.

I wasn't aware that 5e was out for 20 years! Where have I been?

The fact that you think the fighter is a better class than the monk is pretty telling that you haven't been playing 5e all that much.

[Knaight]

Then I would fault the DM for not telling this directly to a new player. Do you want new players rage quitting, because this is how you get new players to rage quit.

I don't necessarily disagree, but there is the matter of what you do and don't need to explicitly specify ahead of time beyond just the system. For instance, with D&D I'd never bother specifying a combat heavy game, because it's D&D and of course it is compared to RPGs as a whole (though it's far from the only one which wouldn't get this specification). There's a case to be made for not specifying a travel focused, logistics heavy sandbox full of deadly stuff* for much the same reason.

*The term "combat as war" would normally be thrown in right about now, but I despise that whole CaW/CaS model, so it's not going to be.