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    Need More XP Categories for Homebrew XP System

    Thank you for sharing the anecdote, Blue. I am still hoping to get more categories from folks, however. I might also break down the XP award phase into different parts, similar to your anecdote: Part 1: Player Awards: Each player suggests one group award. Each player suggests one award for...
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    Need More XP Categories for Homebrew XP System

    More details @LordEntrails I find D&D's regular XP system to be too much accounting. This system is meant to be simpler in that XP points accumulate from categories similar to video game "achievements." I am looking for new XP awards to add to the ones I already have. New "'achievements," as...
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    Need More XP Categories for Homebrew XP System

    Constructive feedback requested. Can you suggest any additional XP awards (with catchy phrases, if you feel so inclined) to add to the ones below? General Awards (+1 XP/award) Danger (Survived one or more potentially lethal encounters/situations) Mortal Combat (HP reduced to/below...
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    D&D 5E Why I Am Starting to Prefer 4d6 Drop the Lowest Over the Default Array.

    Easy fix for high CON: each time your character is reduced to 0 HP and fails one or more death saves, you lose a point of CON permanently. Don't want to lose the CON? Then drop one point from STR and one point from DEX. Those crippling wounds have an effect over time....
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    [UPDATED] Here's Mike Mearls' New D&D 5E Initiative System

    The Old Crow Hmm.... How about d4 for a readied ranged attack a dX one shift lower than the damage die for an unreadied ranged attack?
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    [UPDATED] Here's Mike Mearls' New D&D 5E Initiative System

    D&D 5E Initiative a la Mike Mearls (?) Here's a way to implement Mearls' initiative system.... Each round you declare your general intentions (in order of lowest to highest Proficiency Bonus) before gathering dice to roll for initiative (lowest roll goes first). Declare general actions, in...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    And so a purpose would have been fulfilled....
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    I don't understand your post. Immune to what mechanic? Auto-hits from sneak attacks? And what favor? The mechanic applies to one and all. How is requiring the DEX component to add to AC be predicated upon one's awareness of the attack? It's simply the flat-footed condition from earlier...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    If a player can't take a fair lump now and again then he or she should return to watching My Little Pony and wondering about the magic of friendship. Better for all concerned.
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    Actually, I never played 3.5. I looked at some of it, but I was still in the "D&D is too simple for me now" camp back then. I've come back to the game with 5E because some of the simpler parts of 5E are better than a lot of the complicated parts of 3.5 (or Pathfinder). Perhaps it's safe to say...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    A succinct way of putting it. As for game balance, my primary concern is to eliminate anything outside the fuzzy edge of moderate imbalance. Again, the threshold for this is relative. The popular conception of game balance that many folks espouse (with talk of "DPI" and "optimization," etc.)...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    @LowKey You are not wrong. But some aspect of being flat-footed needs to be brought back to the game. I might split the difference and have any addition of DEX to AC be predicated upon using a reaction (for one and all), and have other addons like WIS or CON from unarmored defense remain...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    LowKey I'm not relying on strict wordings; I'm trying to get to what I believe is the intent of certain rules, subject to the caveat of suspension of disbelief trumping the breaking of disbelief. Not having to don armor counts in so many other ways. Characters don't sleep in anything other...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    Versimiltude is a good word. I've also used the term suspension of disbelief, rather than a wholesale breaking of it. I've addressed the flavor origin of an unarmored defense. I've also stated that inasmuch as it's a game of magic and adventure, some folks like a more grounded playstyle...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    My term "common sense" is meant as "rulings, not rules...suspension of disbelief, not total disregard for disbelief." Another example: A Ranger's 11th level class feature Volley: If the player were using a crossbow and wanted to use this ability, I'd say no. A combat round isn't long enough to...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    Fine by me. If a player wants to be a rules pedant rather than a flexible player, well...that's a style of game play I can do without. Someone posted that a DEX bonus would apply to a sleeping person's AC, and with no slight intended to him or her, that's just silly. I would simply rule an...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    Thanks for the input, folks. I'm going with my gut, nonetheless: Rulings, not rules, and as such AC derived from Unarmored Defense (and ability scores/similar sources) is dependent upon one's ability to use their reaction as a part of self-defense. Natural Armor and worn armor do not require...
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    D&D 5E Unarmored Defense and Surprise

    The Barbarian and the Monk both have Unarmored Defense. The inclusion of DEX in the formula to calculate Unarmored Defense strongly implies to me that the word "defense" is meant in the active sense, as in "I am taking steps to evade an attack that I am aware of." Were a character with...
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    D&D 5E Tweak Instant Cure spells to fix whack-a-mole

    No need to tweak spells. Instead, tweak what it is like to recover from being at death's door. If the player is at 0 HP and is not forced to make death saves, allow healing spells to whack-a-mole. But if the player character is forced to make even one death save because of HP loss, things...
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