Sacrosanct
Legend
The other thread was mostly just looking at the first playtest packet. But it sparked my interest. From all the playtest packets, what were some of your favorite rules that never made it to the final 5e game?
August 2012 packet
Sorcerer: Had will power points, total number of spells known, and highest level of spell possible. Entirely on the willpower point system. Spells and origin powers fueled by WP. E.g., a 5th level sorcerer had 16 WP, knew 6 spells, and could cast up to level 2 spells. Spells cost 1 WP per spell level. So the sorcerer could cast up to 16 1st level spells, or 8 second level spells at that point.
Base HD and proficiencies were based on sorcerous origin, and the more WP you spent during the day, the more you reverted to that origin. E.g., the dragon origin gave you d8 HD and armor&weapon proficiencies. You could use 1 WP to give yourself the dragon strength power, or 2 WP to use dragon scales power. If you used 3 WP in the day, you grew claws and gained melee damage bonuses. If you spent 10 WP in the day, you manifested dragon scales on your body.
All classes: Each class got a bonus to a relevant attribute. For example, choosing to play a rogue gave you a +1 bonus to either dexterity or intelligence.
Races: Some races got damage bonus upgrades to racial weapons. Dwarves had axes and hammers, Halflings had short swords, daggers, and slings. For these racial weapons, the damage die type was increased by one category.
General rules: DC values were more varied, and many more examples of how to set DCs for various actions based on attribute type. Well over 100 examples.
Monsters: Monsters had levels, rather than CRs.
December 2012 packet
Monk: The monastic tradition of The Path of Stone’s Endurance. The three ki fueled powers were: grasp of stone, stone’s defense, and touch of stony doom. Basically, you could range grapple, reduce damage to 0, or make target vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.
Skill dice: You got a dice to add to your general roll instead of a flat bonus. This die increased based on level. So a PC with the bounty hunter background at level 10 would add 1d8 to their gather rumors, sense motive, track, or use rope skill checks. I know it’s not as smooth as a flat bonus, but I liked the variability of it.
January 2013 packet:
Barbarian: I liked the regenerative rage (while raging, regain 5 hp at the start of your turn if below half hp) and incite rage (grant dmg bonus and damage reduction to allies) abilities.
March 2013 packet
Druid: Moon druids healed hp = level when reverting back to human shape
Paladin: Special mount at level 8. Could summon a mount based on oath: charger, stag, or nightmare
August 2013 packet (this was the packet when major class revisions were done to where they looked a lot more like the final ones we got, as subclasses (called paths in the packet) were established)
Wizard class now called the mage class. Short lived, and not a favorite thing I wished they kept, just calling it out because it’s interesting.
Monk: I liked how monks got expertise in either DEX or WIS ability checks
September 2013 packet
Races: you could play a Kender. Just kidding. Not about being able to play one, you totally can. But kidding that I liked this. Kender suck. Kender are the answer to “How can I take a chaotic neutral character and make it even more annoying in the game?”
Bard: call to battle. It wasn’t just a single inspiration die. It was a bonus die (that level scaled) to all allies within 25ft when rolling for damage.
Fighter: bell ringer weaponmaster maneuver. Roll the superiority die, if it’s greater than the target’s CON modifier, the target can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn, and has disadvantage on its next attack.
Other interesting note: The ranger beastmaster subclass never appeared in the playtest packets before showing up in the PHB. I think we all know what the result of that was.
August 2012 packet
Sorcerer: Had will power points, total number of spells known, and highest level of spell possible. Entirely on the willpower point system. Spells and origin powers fueled by WP. E.g., a 5th level sorcerer had 16 WP, knew 6 spells, and could cast up to level 2 spells. Spells cost 1 WP per spell level. So the sorcerer could cast up to 16 1st level spells, or 8 second level spells at that point.
Base HD and proficiencies were based on sorcerous origin, and the more WP you spent during the day, the more you reverted to that origin. E.g., the dragon origin gave you d8 HD and armor&weapon proficiencies. You could use 1 WP to give yourself the dragon strength power, or 2 WP to use dragon scales power. If you used 3 WP in the day, you grew claws and gained melee damage bonuses. If you spent 10 WP in the day, you manifested dragon scales on your body.
All classes: Each class got a bonus to a relevant attribute. For example, choosing to play a rogue gave you a +1 bonus to either dexterity or intelligence.
Races: Some races got damage bonus upgrades to racial weapons. Dwarves had axes and hammers, Halflings had short swords, daggers, and slings. For these racial weapons, the damage die type was increased by one category.
General rules: DC values were more varied, and many more examples of how to set DCs for various actions based on attribute type. Well over 100 examples.
Monsters: Monsters had levels, rather than CRs.
December 2012 packet
Monk: The monastic tradition of The Path of Stone’s Endurance. The three ki fueled powers were: grasp of stone, stone’s defense, and touch of stony doom. Basically, you could range grapple, reduce damage to 0, or make target vulnerable to bludgeoning damage.
Skill dice: You got a dice to add to your general roll instead of a flat bonus. This die increased based on level. So a PC with the bounty hunter background at level 10 would add 1d8 to their gather rumors, sense motive, track, or use rope skill checks. I know it’s not as smooth as a flat bonus, but I liked the variability of it.
January 2013 packet:
Barbarian: I liked the regenerative rage (while raging, regain 5 hp at the start of your turn if below half hp) and incite rage (grant dmg bonus and damage reduction to allies) abilities.
March 2013 packet
Druid: Moon druids healed hp = level when reverting back to human shape
Paladin: Special mount at level 8. Could summon a mount based on oath: charger, stag, or nightmare
August 2013 packet (this was the packet when major class revisions were done to where they looked a lot more like the final ones we got, as subclasses (called paths in the packet) were established)
Wizard class now called the mage class. Short lived, and not a favorite thing I wished they kept, just calling it out because it’s interesting.
Monk: I liked how monks got expertise in either DEX or WIS ability checks
September 2013 packet
Races: you could play a Kender. Just kidding. Not about being able to play one, you totally can. But kidding that I liked this. Kender suck. Kender are the answer to “How can I take a chaotic neutral character and make it even more annoying in the game?”
Bard: call to battle. It wasn’t just a single inspiration die. It was a bonus die (that level scaled) to all allies within 25ft when rolling for damage.
Fighter: bell ringer weaponmaster maneuver. Roll the superiority die, if it’s greater than the target’s CON modifier, the target can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn, and has disadvantage on its next attack.
Other interesting note: The ranger beastmaster subclass never appeared in the playtest packets before showing up in the PHB. I think we all know what the result of that was.
