Good critique. I don't agree with the phase spider bit but I do want underline this because it's spot on. "You can mod 6 party members" is not answer, we need a 6 member party to get past the DOS feel
I haven't played 5E myself, but I have heard that it was designed with parties of 4 adventurers in mind, and that most campaign modules suggest playing with 3 to 5 adventurers. So I strongly doubt that 6-members parties are in any way
needed. Wanted maybe, and hopefully Larian gives this options for those who want (after they have sorted the party controls), but not needed.
Depends on the module. Most say 4-5 all give advice on how to modify to accommodate more. The critical role adventures work just great with 6+ Avernus says 4-6 but most DMs on reddit say that 4 too few for that module. Adventurer's league says 3-7
Curse of Strahd: "...for a party of four to six characters...", Storm King's Thunder: "adventure for four to six player characters"
https://www.enworld.org/threads/heres-the-most-common-d-d-party-composition.666906/You also need to keep marketing in mind -- why the switch from the 6 - 8 party recommendations of earlier editions? Because it's just not that easy to get that many people together on a weekend. 5th was designed to bring in new players and sometimes marketing is at odds with gameplay.
@warlocke I've never been convinced by the combat too long narrative. I'm not sure where it came from. Truth be told I think existing combat is a bit too short. Buffing is, more often than not, a wasted turn -- it makes much more sense to try and buff the moment before combat begins then to waste a turn on buff. Why blow a turn on bless when guiding bolt is going to either end combat or allow the next character to end combat?
The tactics you use with a six character party are just different. One caster buffs, another strikes, another runs support.
Barrels should weigh enough allow Minsc to carry one on his back. Smokepowder should be 1) be exceedingly rare -- I think we've found all the smokepowder in the Forgotten Realms 2) be cursed, every so often the game should check to see if it explodes while you are lugging it.
