D&D 5E Tweaking combat rules, fighting styles, and feats

LapBandit · Mar 15, 2017

I'm considering implementing the following at my table, I'd like your feedback before I do:

General

Shortbows and Longbows
To hit is DEX, damage is DEX or STR

Drawing and stowing
Anyone can draw or stow two weapons with the Light property as part of their movement.

Heavy Armor DR
Splint armor provides 1 DR against non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing.
Plate armor provides 2 DR against non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing.

Strength Weapon property
Melee attacks that use Strength to hit and do not have the Light property confer Cleaving through Creatures as in the DMG (pg 272).

Fighting Styles

Ranged Fighting Style (was Archery Fighting Style)
Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover.

Great Weapon Fighting Style
You add double your Strength Bonus to your damage roll.

Two Weapon Fighting Style
You add your ability modifier to attacks made with your off hand.
The weapons you wield do not have to be Light.

Melee Combat Options

Shield-Punch
When you take the Attack Action and you are wielding a Shield you can use your Bonus Action to Shield Punch, losing your AC bonus until the beginning of your next turn. The damage for this is attack is 1 + STR bonus unless stated by the shield (Lizardman Shield for instance). If you have proficiency with improvised weapons, then it is 1d4 + STR bonus.

Charge
When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack against or shove the target.

Related Feat Changes

Dual Wielder
Your offhand attack is now a part of the Attack action. When you make an Attack of Opportunity, you deal the damage of both weapons if you hit.

Great Weapon Master (half-feat, costs 1/2 ASI)
On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a Heavy melee weapon melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0
hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a us action.

Heavy Armor Master (REMOVED)

Sharpshooter (half-feat, costs 1/2 ASI)
Your ability to ignore cover goes up. Your ranged weapon attacks can ignore 1/2 cover. If you already ignore 1/2 cover (Ranged Fighting Style), you can now ignore 3/4 cover. This feat cannot confer the ability to attack a target behind full cover.

Cap'n Kobold · Mar 15, 2017

Bow change: Shouldn't be an issue. I have a houserule that bows can use either Str or Dex for both Attack and damage and it doesn't seem to have broken anything.

Ranged Fighting Style: this is a bit situational. Fighting style should probably be something that helps most of the time and your other new fighting styles are quite a bit more powerful than the standard ones.

Great weapon fighting style: this is very powerful: up to +5 extra damage. Way better than +1 AC in most situations for example.

Two-weapon fighting style (and Dual Wielder feat): You've moved the ability to use non-light weapons to the fighting style. This would seem to lock all characters who aren't Fighters or Rangers into having to use Light weapons only.
Furthermore, the main benefit of the feat is only going to be usable by characters with Extra attack.
I would suggest swapping the benefits of the two around.

Xeviat · Mar 16, 2017

I'd love to give my two cents:

LapBandit said:
Shortbows and Longbows
To hit is DEX, damage is DEX or STR

I'm not sure I see a time when this would be helpful to someone. Best case is a Str 20, Dex 14 character. They can longbow for like +5 to hit and 1d8+5 damage at long range, or javelin for +8 to hit and 1d6+5 damage. Gain range and +1 damage for losing 3 to hit? I'm not sure.

Based on some of your other changes, it sounds like you want to buff Str users? Why not have Str be for all weapon damage. Projectile weapons get strength ratings (you have to be strong to pull this bow or load this crossbow). It would limit non-rogue finessers. It might reduce ranged damage too much, though.

LapBandit said:
Drawing and stowing
Anyone can draw or stow two weapons with the Light property as part of their movement.

I've solved his similarly: you can draw a weapon as part of the action to use it. So if you're attacking with two weapons, you can draw them. If you have three attacks, you can draw three daggers and throw them (and a 4th if you use your bonus). Stowing ... I'm not sure about. I could go for a bonus action to stow.

LapBandit said:
Heavy Armor DR
Splint armor provides 1 DR against non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing.
Plate armor provides 2 DR against non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing

Heavy Armor Master (REMOVED)

Do you feel heavy armor needs a buff? I haven't noticed it. Getting to feel less pain from tanking Dex seems useful.

LapBandit said:
Strength Weapon property
Melee attacks that use Strength to hit and do not have the Light property confer Cleaving through Creatures as in the DMG (pg 272).

Great Weapon Master (half-feat, costs 1/2 ASI)
On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a Heavy melee weapon melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.

I kind of like the idea of the Cleaving through Creatures rule, but I think you weakened GWM too much. It's a buff to damage 5% of the time. It's not very big.

LapBandit said:
Ranged Fighting Style (was Archery Fighting Style)
Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover.

Great Weapon Fighting Style
You add double your Strength Bonus to your damage roll.

Two Weapon Fighting Style
You add your ability modifier to attacks made with your off hand.
The weapons you wield do not have to be Light.

These changes are too much. You left Duelist, so it seems you think it's fine. Duelist grants +2 damage per attack. Archery grants +2 attack. Great Weapon Style on a great sword grants +1.33 damage per attack (this one is a little behind). Two-Weapon style grants +Str or Dex once per round. TWFing doesn't scale well against the others, who scale reasonably well.

I left them all the same, except I changed the base TWFing and the Style. My base TWFing is "when you use the attack action with unarmed or a light weapon in both hands, you can take a second attack action as a bonus action with your offhand weapon. You do not gain your ability bonus to damage with your offhand attacks. If you have the Extra Attack feature, you can use them with your bonus action attack action as well."

Base, a 2d6+Str greatsword balances to 1d6+Dex+1d6 shortswords. For the price of a bonus action, they can split attacks, limit overkill, and gain some added stacking with magic weapons.

Then, my two Weapon style allows non-light weapons. Rogues fight with two light weapons. Fighters and rangers use big weapons. This grants +1 damage per attack, and since they have x2 attacks, it balances against Duelist and GWFing.

LapBandit said:
Shield-Punch
When you take the Attack Action and you are wielding a Shield you can use your Bonus Action to Shield Punch, losing your AC bonus until the beginning of your next turn. The damage for this is attack is 1 + STR bonus unless stated by the shield (Lizardman Shield for instance). If you have proficiency with improvised weapons, then it is 1d4 + STR bonus.

I kind of like this. I'd like to see more universal bonus actions.

LapBandit said:
Charge
When you use your action to Dash, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack against or shove the target.

You couldn't already shove with the bonus attack? Also, as this favors single attackers and penalizes extra attackers, is almost consider just giving dash as a bonus action instead. Or bonus damage if you have Extra Attack.

LapBandit said:
Dual Wielder
Your offhand attack is now a part of the Attack action. When you make an Attack of Opportunity, you deal the damage of both weapons if you hit.

No +1 AC anymore?

LapBandit said:
Sharpshooter (half-feat, costs 1/2 ASI)
Your ability to ignore cover goes up. Your ranged weapon attacks can ignore 1/2 cover. If you already ignore 1/2 cover (Ranged Fighting Style), you can now ignore 3/4 cover. This feat cannot confer the ability to attack a target behind full cover.

I don't think this is quite enough to be half a feat after taking away the rest.

Hope my ideas help!

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