How to trim 5E down to "Rules Lite" (for kids)

While 5E is far simpler than the "rules heavy" 4E and 3.5E versions of D&D, it is still very much a "rules medium" game - if not "medium plus" - and probably requires a base level of either nerdy 12 year olds, or non-nerdy 14-15 year olds to grasp the entire RAW.

I was thinking of introducing my two non-nerdy (but imaginative) daughters, age 13 and 10 to the game, but wanted to trim it down a bit. My 13-year old is quite young for her age with limited mathematical and analytical skills, so think more in terms of my younger daughter as a baseline.

I think over time they could grasp the full rules, but I would rather start simpler.

Preliminary thoughts:

*Get rid of skills, use ability checks only. This is pretty obvious, even a no-brainer. PCs would be proficient in whatever their class saving throws are, with a few exceptions (e.g. rangers would have to get a hybrid Nature/Survival skill).

*Get rid of backgrounds, archetypes, sub-classes. Sounds like a lot, but could do without, at least the first go around.

*Trim class features. Not sure exactly how to do this, as they are so central to what differentiates classes. But one of the main complexities of 5E--as with prior editions--is keeping track of the many contextual modifiers. For example, I'm currently playing a ranger in a ToA campaign and am always forgetting to cast Hunter's Mark or remember to use the Colossal Slayer feature for the Hunter Conclave - and even more so the Dread Ambusher feature for the Gloom Walker Archetype.

*Fewer class options? Maybe no sorcerers, for instance, with their metamagic. I could let warlocks and monks go. Maybe the rest are fine.

So essentially I'm talking about a stripped down version of the game, focused on race, class, and ability scores, with maybe trimmed class features. I'd have to adjust what classes can do as the stripping down of features and sub-classes would hurt non-spellcasting classes more than, say, wizards, who main thing is their spells.

I could run the monsters and DM stuff more RAW, although with a very liberal fiat approach.

Thoughts? I could also just run them through something like Wrath of Ashardalon, but wanted to give them the "real" D&D experience of theater of mind immersion rather than a boardgame. As much as we enjoy boardgames (logged many hours of Dungeon, although recently our go-to has been the tried and true Monopoly), they just aren't the same as D&D.

I would suggest Dungeon World if you dont mind going for a more ''story telling'' game, its quite simple and works well. If not, someone made a rule-lite version of the 5e rules here: https://olddungeonmaster.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/5-0-ez41.pdf.

For my new-ish players I used the Basic rules for 5e and it work great but require a little more on the player side.

I’d go with the basic 4 classes - cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard - as your only class options. Similarly, humans, elves, dwarves, and Halflings as the only races, with either a locked-in subrace choice or no subraces. Come up with a starting equipment package for each class, maybe with some supplementary equipment from race, because without backgrounds you’ll be missing some of the starting equipment, and you don’t want to start these kids off buying equipment with starting gold. Alternatively, do away with equipment entirely. Do class-based damage dice, handwave ammo, and assume everyone has basic adventuring necessities.

Perhaps combine race/class in the “classic DnD” style (All Dwarves are fighters, elves wizards, halflings rogues, etc). If the player wants options, just use the non variant Human.

There have been some basic 5e fan variants around ut unfortunately I can't think of one at the moment.

At their age I think trying to simplify the math will have the most bang for your buck.

The dmg has a variant that they choose one ability for their class and one for the background. They get their proficiency bonus whenever they roll either of those abilities, and skills are removed.

I personally think background is a great tool for prompting imaginstion and i would leave it in.

I'd also suggest removing ability scores and just going with the modifiers. E.g, str 12 is Str 1, str 16 is str 3 etc. Then you just add the scire and the bonus.

Other than that spells can be the most complex but hard to unwind. Perhaps you just need to deal with them on a case by case basis.

Otherwise they may perhaps surprise you.

Let us know how you go. It's great you're bringing new people into the fold!

In a helpful way, for kids young enough to take out all that, I'd suggest another game. When my kids were that young, they got caught up in things like having character concepts that weren't described well by any class. By havuing the ability scores explained and wanting a low wisdom because they wanted to play an impulsive character with little common sense - but the play a druid or cleric. by coming up with concepts that "work" in story or movie but don't fit together well in the rules.

There's a regular columnist here who describes gaming systems for kids. Or grab Fate Accelerated Edition for free and be going in 10 minutes with a system flexible enough to match kids imaginations.

If you want to teach a D&D-like game, I'd suggest 13th Age. It came out a bit before 5e and is perhaps even more streamlined. But it has some concepts that kids can easily get - for instance instead of skills it just has backgrounds. If you have "Pirate captain +3", you get +3 to every skill roll that makes sense for a pirate captain, from piloting a ship to intimidating a landlubber. Plus every character gets a One Unique Thing, which fits well into children's ideas of their heroes.

When running 5e for my son, I've dropped proficiency for the optional proficiency die rule from the DMG. So he knows to make Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha checks, saves, and attacks. It puts the focus entirely on those six boxes. But sometimes I'll tell him he can add his "proficiency die". It's more math, but he's not looking for "Athletics" or the like on the sheet. (And I'm okay with more math.)

Other than that, I tend not to worry about most of his class features, but generally play by the base rules.

Mercurius said:

While 5E is far simpler than the "rules heavy" 4E and 3.5E versions of D&D, it is still very much a "rules medium" game - if not "medium plus" - and probably requires a base level of either nerdy 12 year olds, or non-nerdy 14-15 year olds to grasp the entire RAW.

I was thinking of introducing my two non-nerdy (but imaginative) daughters, age 13 and 10 to the game, but wanted to trim it down a bit. My 13-year old is quite young for her age with limited mathematical and analytical skills, so think more in terms of my younger daughter as a baseline.

I think over time they could grasp the full rules, but I would rather start simpler.

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I bet they can handle more than you think. I started my sons on full blown 4e when they were 6 & 8 and they handled it just fine. If you want to streamline it, just use basic D&D: fewer classes & races, and no feats. Play with that and then you can add more later.

Backgrounds would be the last thing I would cut.

They're intuitive and descriptive. They can easily replace the role of skills. Whenever a trait applies get advantage is a simple mechanic and creates characterization for the character.

dave2008 said:

I bet they can handle more than you think. I started my sons on full blown 4e when they were 6 & 8 and they handled it just fine. If you want to streamline it, just use basic D&D: fewer classes & races, and no feats. Play with that and then you can add more later.

Click to expand...

Yeah my biggest problems when my kids were young wasn't understanding the rules, it was not being fettered by them when coming up with their character ideas, and then being disappointed by the rigidness of the classes. (And the ability score system that doesn't allow equally viable characters of a class with any arrangement - the low wis, high int druid not being as viable in a standard party as the high wis, low int druid.)