D&D 5E Feats as upward level adjustment

[AverageCitizen]

I know its early, but i was just pondering about how to balance unconventional PCs. I love minotaurs, and while the 4e PC race a good, I miss having a huge guy who is just... different from the other PCs.

What if instead of cutting down the Minotaur for balance we bring everybody else up with feats?

 

[Wrathamon]

I dont see Large in 5e to be much of an advantage ... to be honest.

+2 Str +2 Con

maybe they have a gore or charge attack as a racial
advantage saves or checks on not getting lost
darkvision

Large could be - 1 AC but they get to increase their ability Max by 2 for STR or CON. They could get a 22 (not sure how powerful that is)

I dont think changing weapon size categories is a good route to go

 

[Crothian]

It would really depend on what racial bonuses the Minotaur gets. Not all characters though are going to be able to take advantage of extra feats. The feat selection is rather limited now.

 

[Sunseeker]

Is the 4e playable race minotaur that out of line with the 5e races? It doesn't seem to be save for a +1 or maybe a +2 to a stat.

 

[Wrathamon]

I think he was thinking of the 3rd edition version of playing a monster instead of the 4e one

 

[GX.Sigma]

I never understood why they want to limit PC size. I played a 4e campaign with homebrew races, where two characters were Large giant-types, and there was no problem (aside from occasional comedy when they can't fit inside a shop).

The benefits of being Large are few in 5e:

• You can carry more stuff (negligible to game balance)
• You're much more resistant to being grappled (which is about equivalent to the Elf's resistance to charm and sleep, or the Dwarf's resistance to poison)
• You get a little extra utility every now and then (which is about equivalent to a spell)
• You generally have a faster walking speed

I think this would be a fair Minotaur race:

Str +2
Con +1
Speed 40 ft.
Large
Darkvision
Savage attacks: When you crit, roll an extra damage die.

 

[Dausuul]

5E strikes me as a great opportunity to bring back level adjustment.

...Yeah, I went there. But there was nothing conceptually wrong with level adjustment, it was just the execution that sucked. It worked tolerably for some creatures and classes (heavy melee fighters, mostly). Not coincidentally, those were also the classes best suited to multiclassing. 5E's improvements to multiclassing could make LA feasible.

 

[Chocolategravy]

Pretty awkward when the 40 pound halfling with 20 STR is as strong as the 600 pound minotaur. Actually halflings are already pretty awkward just compared to humans. I'd say they could just give minotaurs a higher max but as they have very modularly written that you "can't go above 20" a dozen times, it should work well.

 

[Sunseeker]

5E strikes me as a great opportunity to bring back level adjustment.

...Yeah, I went there. But there was nothing conceptually wrong with level adjustment, it was just the execution that sucked. It worked tolerably for some creatures and classes (heavy melee fighters, mostly). Not coincidentally, those were also the classes best suited to multiclassing. 5E's improvements to multiclassing could make LA feasible.

It mostly lacked a mathematical underpinning on what made a level. Spells? Feats? HP/D? Attribute points? It was rare to find two things with a level adjustment that used the same reasoning for making such a level adjustment. I'd love for WoTC to come up with a codified "this is a level".

I think he was thinking of the 3rd edition version of playing a monster instead of the 4e one

There were so many ways to do it 3rd-style though.

 

[AverageCitizen]

5E strikes me as a great opportunity to bring back level adjustment.

...Yeah, I went there. But there was nothing conceptually wrong with level adjustment, it was just the execution that sucked. It worked tolerably for some creatures and classes (heavy melee fighters, mostly). Not coincidentally, those were also the classes best suited to multiclassing. 5E's improvements to multiclassing could make LA feasible.

OK, I was pretty young back then, so I may be wrong, but I remember LA basically penalizing your HP for any benefit you got beyond the basic races. Large size? +1 LA, so you're a level behind in HP. Spells were the same way.

So the Minotaur turns into a glass cannon