Mercurius
Legend
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 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.