After running a few combat encounters with my PCs, I've noticed that they appear to be missing their attacks more than I've expected. I was wondering if there are ways for them to increase the attack bonuses with their weapons in order to hit more often. As a DM, what should I do or instruct them to do?
[RPG] Are there any ways to increase weapon attack bonuses, besides, perhaps advantage?
combatdnd-5e
Related Solutions
Armor Class has historically represented your ability to avoid taking the brunt of a hit, not your ability to avoid the hit.
When your characters are in melee, don't assume they're all standing still staring at each other. They're constantly in a state of brawl, swinging blades, trading jabs, parrying, shifting around, etc. This is why there are penalties for Ranged Attacks vs. characters in melee.
What attack actions represent are the notable combat actions that constitute dealing meaningful blow to your opponents. Like two samurai fighting when one breaks away and manages to get a heavy strike in. I'll be using a Samurai Duel as an example throughout this answer.
Let's look at the formula for Armor Class in a past edition. D&D 5e has changed a lot of things, but it still had its beginnings here.
Total AC in D&D 3.5e = 10 + armor bonus + shield bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier + deflection bonus + natural armor + dodge bonuses + enhancement bonuses*
Dexterity and Dodge Bonuses
These bonuses contribute how likely you are to dodge an attack outright. In this situation, a Samurai will go in for a strike and the other Samurai will sidestep it.
Size Bonus
The size bonus/penalty represents the how your size contributes to a sort-of passive dodge. You're harder to hit when you're small because just your general movements would make you harder to hit. A goblin samurai is shifting back and forth against a human samurai. Since the goblin is small, the human samurai needs to hit a smaller target which is generally harder to do. The goblin isn't trying to dodge, it's just moving around.
Deflection Bonuses
Deflection bonuses represent parts of armor or your body that will take a hit and divert most of its force away from you. The shape of the armor-clad samurai's helmet diverts a head strike from an annoyed Ronin.
Armor and Shield Bonuses
Your Armor and Shield Bonuses contribute to how likely an enemy is to hit your armor or shield instead of your actual body.
Natural Armor Bonuses
For when your armor doesn't help, but your rock-hard skin does. Natural armor is the part of your body you don't mind getting hit in. If you've got wood for skin and someone's swinging a katana at you, it could very well get caught in that thick, woody membrane. The Shogun learned this lesson the hard way when when a treefolk swordsman challenged him to duel.
In D&D 5e, a lot of this is unspoken or hidden away
Now, your "Armor Bonus" is masked by being your new "Base Armor". Most modifications to your Armor Class will follow similar logic in terms of what's actually happening when you get attacked. For example, in D&D 5e, Mage Armor changes your Base AC to 13. What this really amounts to is instead of being naked with a Base AC of 10, you've got a +3 chance for an attack to hit your Magic Armor, instead of hitting you. It's still generally the same concept.
Now, back to your goblin example
You said you have 19 AC. Let's say for the sake of a meaningful example, your AC breaks down in the following way:
Magical Leather Armor Rogue: 11 + 4 Dex + 4 from a Magic Item or something.
That base 11 is really 10 from general brawling movement and +1 from actually wearing armor at all. We don't really care what that last +4 is from. Let's say something magic.
Next, let's assume that the Goblin doesn't have any bonus to it's Attack rolls. It rolls a 1d20 and uses that roll only to see if it hits you.
Roll -> What Happens
1 -> They were bad, so they missed.
2 -> You were moving, so they missed.
3 -> You were moving, so they missed.
4 -> You were moving, so they missed.
5 -> You were moving, so they missed.
6 -> You were moving, so they missed.
7 -> You were moving, so they missed.
8 -> You were moving, so they missed.
9 -> You were moving, so they missed.
10 -> They would have hit you, but you passively dodged.
11 -> They would have hit you, but you passively dodged.
12 -> They would have hit you, but you passively dodged.
13 -> They would have hit you, but you passively dodged.
14 -> This cloud of magic catches the blade before it reaches you.
15 -> This cloud of magic catches the blade before it reaches you.
16 -> This cloud of magic catches the blade before it reaches you.
17 -> This cloud of magic catches the blade before it reaches you.
18 -> Blades hit you, but you were wearing enough armor so it didn't reach your body.
19 -> The Goblin cuts you, because it matched your Armor Class.
20 -> The Goblin cuts you, because it beat your Armor Class.
Closing Notes
When Armor Class and Attack Rolls get REALLY high, you don't always get to break it down like this. Eventually, enemies won't miss you because you were moving. They still hit you when you're dodging. When an enemy is well out of your league, sometimes the only reason you didn't get hit is the skin of your teeth giving you that 1/20 chance to avoid a fatal blow. But at the very least, your enemy wasn't just swinging at the air when they rolled lower than your AC.
If they aren't scared of death, make them scared of negative modifiers.
DMG pg. 272, Lingering Injuries
Nothing is stopping you from having a monster tear a guys arm off in battle with a particularly vicious strike. The kind of magics needed to reconstruct a limb are a lot harder to come by.
Other things you can run into are things that can cause real damage to magical weapons and gear. Things that erase spells from a wizards mind (temporarily, you want to scare them not give them a stroke). Things that steal all the rogues money.
Think outside the box. Death isn't always terrifying, especially with the ease of reviving people. Being a burden to the team because you're short an arm and leg would be. Not being able to use Zeus' Lightning Sword of Olympus because it's two handed and you don't have a right hand would be enough to terrify your Champion until he's rolled into a ball crying.
Think about critical wounds. Take an eye. Make somebody deaf for a weak. Cripple the most mobile member of the team.
See how they react. Watch how fights become a more cautious affair, as traps no longer deal just damage, but take things from your players permanently.
Related Topic
- [RPG] Does potion use as a bonus action speed up or slow down combat
- [RPG] How should XP be awarded for an encounter when enemies flee, get intimidated, or are convinced to help
- [RPG] ny way to get melee to-hit bonuses as high as ranged to-hit bonuses
- [RPG] How to end combat quickly when the outcome is inevitable
Best Answer
There are several ways. Below is a (currently) non-exhaustive list. For your information, fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons is based on the principle of bounded accuracy, which means that the designers purposefully made flat bonuses rarer than in previous editions. That being said, on to the list :
Achieving certain character levels (the proficiency bonus at level 1 is +2, but becomes +3 at level 5, +4 at level 9, +5 at level 13, and +6 at level 17. For example, a Rogue 2 / Fighter 4 [character level 6] would have a proficiency bonus of +3)
Ability Score Improvement towards the ability used to attack (Each +2 put on an ability score increases the attack bonus by 1, for a maximum score of 20, giving +5. The first ASI is available at class level 4)
The Bard's Bardic Inspiration (add a d6 to an attack roll. Later becomes a bigger die)
The Cleric's Bless [level 1 spell] (add a d4 to an attack roll)
[From Xanathar's Guide to Everything] The Forge Cleric's Blessing of the Forge feature (make a non-magical weapon magical to give it a +1 to attack rolls)
The Paladin's Elemental Weapon [level 3 spell] (make a non-magical weapon magical to give it a +1 to attack rolls. If the spell is cast with a higher level slot, the bonus increases, for a maximum of +3)
Gained magical weapons (grant a fixed attack roll bonus when used to attack. The maximum is +3)
[From Xanathar's Guide to Everything] The Kensei monk's Sharpen the Blade feature at level 11 (spend up to 3 ki points to give that much of an attack roll bonus to a weapon that doesn't already have a magical weapon attack bonus)
Gained magical ability-boosting items (increase an ability score which, incidentally, increases its bonus if said ability is used to attack. Example : Belt of Giant Strength increases Strength score)
The Battle Master Fighter's Precision maneuver at level 3 (add a d8 to an attack roll. Later becomes a bigger die. Can also be obtained via the Martial Adept feat for a d6 attack roll bonus)
The Archery fighting style (add +2 to ranged weapon attack rolls. Available to Fighters and Rangers)
The War Cleric's Divine Strike Channel Divinity at level 2 (add +10 to an attack roll. Can be given to another player's attack roll at level 6. Also available to an Oath of Conquest Paladin [Xanathar's Guide to Everything] at level 3)
The Oath of Devotion Paladin's Sacred Weapon Channel Divinity at level 3 (add Charisma bonus on top of the regular ability bonus for an attack roll)
The Wild Magic Sorcerer's Bend Luck feature at level 6 (add a d4 to an attack roll)
So, for example, a level 1 character (proficiency bonus of +2) usually has at least a 16 (+3) in the ability he uses to attack. That's already a +5 to hit. If a friendly Bard gives the character a Bardic Inspiration, that's another +1d6 for a single attack. If a friendly Cleric uses Bless on the character, that's yet another +1d4 for all attacks for up to 1 minute. If the character attacks with a ranged weapon while having the Archery Fighting style, that's yet another +2.