Acceptable Damage Types / Gaming Styles

[MarkVIIIMarc]

How do your games go as far as favored damage types?

Most of the groups I've been part of including my 3.5 days seem to prefer physical damage be it from blades, bolts or fireballs.

One was as keen on talking their way through encounters as anything but when push came to shove they'd hack bad guys readily.

Do any of your groups lean towards magical effects such as suggestion, illusions, fear spells or magical intimidation or banishments?

Are them tactics those of more advanced groups? Does it depend more on players? Levels perhaps?

[TheCorsairMalac]

In my experience, only more skilled players solve encounters without combat. It takes skill and experience to be able to improvise unusual solutions. Similarly, because such solutions usually involve asserting leadership over the group and taking responsibility for a failure, new players and female players usually just resort to combat.

Also from my experience, spellcasters prefer fire damage, while martial classes prefer slashing damage. For spellcasters, I think they choose fire simply because there are more fire spells that deal more damage. For martial classes, I think the decision is mostly cosmetic, since 5e has very evenly matched weapon options for all three physical damage types.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

In my experience, only more skilled players solve encounters without combat. It takes skill and experience to be able to improvise unusual solutions. Similarly, because such solutions usually involve asserting leadership over the group and taking responsibility for a failure, new players and female players usually just resort to combat.

Also from my experience, spellcasters prefer fire damage, while martial classes prefer slashing damage. For spellcasters, I think they choose fire simply because there are more fire spells that deal more damage. For martial classes, I think the decision is mostly cosmetic, since 5e has very evenly matched weapon options for all three physical damage types.

Huh. I've played with considerably fewer women than man but the ladies seem to pay more attention and use the setting better. Small sample size though.

A couple of our spellcasters absolutely prefer fire damage. Heck, our DM's seem to enjoy it. Shatter has more ill effects than casting Fireball in a hayloft lol.

Do you think its the players or their characters being more skilled and avoiding the combat?

[TheCorsairMalac]

Do you think its the players or their characters being more skilled and avoiding the combat?

I think it's probably both, but mostly the player's skill, rather than their character's. A highly skilled character, such as an Arcane Trickster, has more skill and spell options than a barbarian, yes. However, the player has to be skilled enough to think of tactics for them in a tense situation.

A rogue's Dexterity(Sleight of Hand) only trumps combat if the rogue's player can think of a way to get the magic macguffin using it. A druids Wild Shape only trumps combat if the druid's player can think of a way that an animal could solve the situation.