D&D 5E Mapping Fate Character Aspects onto D&D

[Garthanos]

Someone did mention Hero points... I do not know about the built in hero points but this looks to be an alternative.

Hero Points

Each session characters have 1 Hero Point they may spend for a benefit at any time. If this Hero Point is not spent it is lost. Additionally at the start of the campaign and each time they attain a new level characters gain 1 Hero Point, which they can retain indefinitely. A character may not have more than 5 Hero Points at any time (this includes the Hero Point they gain each session):
Hero Points might also be awarded for particularly heroic and risky deeds or the completion of important events or adventures.
1 Hero Point may be spent to:

• Gain advantage on attack, ability check or save.
• Impose disadvantage on an enemy save against one your spells or abilities.
• Impose disadvantage on an enemy attack or ability check used against you.
• Re-roll the damage of an attack, variable numeric effect of a spell or ability or other effect caused by you. You may choose which of the results to use.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion.

2 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Automatically stabilize or prevent Instant Death.
• Add your proficiency bonus to a roll it wouldn’t normally apply to (so long as the roll does not require being proficient to attempt).
• Gain 1 free use of an ability that requires a short rest to regain.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

3 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Regain the uses of abilities as though you had taken a short rest. You don’t gain any other benefits of a short rest.
• Get 1 free use of an ability that requires a long rest to regain.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

5 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Take an additional turn.
• Regain the uses of abilities as though you had taken a long rest. You don’t gain any other benefits of a long rest.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

Note: This gives the players bit more control over the dice and insures that while death remains a threat, it less likely to occur outside of dire circumstances.

 

[Garthanos]

Rituals and spells are scaling to level... level generally has no context in Fate but its a core element in D&D. That is another reason i think to pay attention to those if you want story impact. Dice impact are the lesser function of fate points always were.

 

[Fenris-77]

My problem with systems like the one above is that I feel they are too dense. For most people there's going to be some lag while they figure out the formula of points/action. I would vastly prefer to avoid needing to take that second to think in a key dramatic moment. So I'd probably favor some strong, cool effect off a very short list. As an example, if that list is advantage/reroll/flashback/effect then no one has to think about it and the drama flows on uninterrupted. That would be my pick anyway - the easier it is to remember to more likely players are to use it.

I also favor immediate help in the right moment over things like resource renewal. I want the point spend to directly help, not regain you something that might help. It might seem like a bit of a quibble, but I think it matters from a narrative standpoint.

 

[Garthanos]

I want the point spend to directly help

Yup I prefer spend the point and it works model too.

I mean there a ton of already existing spend a point and dally with extra dice already

 

[Umbran]

Dice impact are the lesser function of fate points always were.

There are four uses a player has for a Fate point: Powering a Stunt, Refusing a Compel, declare a minor story detail, and Invoking an Aspect (which is generally for a dice bonus).

I don't see how you get to the dice impact being the lesser of these.

 

[Fenris-77]

Yup I prefer spend the point and it works model too.

I mean there a ton of already existing spend a point and dally with extra dice already

Yeah, which is precisely why I suggested upstream that maybe the carrot needed to be bigger. You'd want this mechanic to stand out from those for sure.

 

[Garthanos]

Someone did mention Hero points... I do not know about the built in hero points but this looks to be an alternative.

Hero Points

Each session characters have 1 Hero Point they may spend for a benefit at any time. If this Hero Point is not spent it is lost. Additionally at the start of the campaign and each time they attain a new level characters gain 1 Hero Point, which they can retain indefinitely. A character may not have more than 5 Hero Points at any time (this includes the Hero Point they gain each session):
Hero Points might also be awarded for particularly heroic and risky deeds or the completion of important events or adventures.
1 Hero Point may be spent to:

• Gain advantage on attack, ability check or save.
• Impose disadvantage on an enemy save against one your spells or abilities.
• Impose disadvantage on an enemy attack or ability check used against you.
• Re-roll the damage of an attack, variable numeric effect of a spell or ability or other effect caused by you. You may choose which of the results to use.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion.

2 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Automatically stabilize or prevent Instant Death.
• Add your proficiency bonus to a roll it wouldn’t normally apply to (so long as the roll does not require being proficient to attempt).
• Gain 1 free use of an ability that requires a short rest to regain.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

3 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Regain the uses of abilities as though you had taken a short rest. You don’t gain any other benefits of a short rest.
• Get 1 free use of an ability that requires a long rest to regain.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

5 Hero Points may be spent to:

• Take an additional turn.
• Regain the uses of abilities as though you had taken a long rest. You don’t gain any other benefits of a long rest.
• Any other affect in-line with these uses, at the GMs discretion

Note: This gives the players bit more control over the dice and insures that while death remains a threat, it less likely to occur outside of dire circumstances.

That is a bit complex...

 

[tetrasodium]

Fate is a great system. But d&d is massively defined in ways that make importing things related to the fractal quite difficult in a player facing form. There are a couple versions of fate tightly implemented in Dresden files and mindjammer but even the dramatically more structured mindjammer would be difficult to import to d&d. This with wil wheaton Felecia day & some of the writers for shows like leverage might be one of if not the best example of fategameplay in motion for howing just how starkly different fate is from d&d.

I ran/run a lot of d&d over the years, but also ran a semiopen dresden files (early fate) game at a flgs for about a year & various settings in fate core for almost as long. D&d works just great in an adversarial gm vrs player or even gm dictates players react railroad but in fate it's a disaster if everyone is not onboard with engaging in a shared narrative. Mindammer weighs in at just shy of 500 pages* for what is probably the most d&d-like version of fate & even then it can't really do adversarial gmvrs players or function with players that are entirely reactive.

That last bit about fate requiring proactive involves players interested in pushing a shared narrative is the part that makes translating parts of fate like character aspects to d&d as a player facing resource. Fate is a great tool to employ behind the screen as a gm using things like high concept/trouble/aspects to juggle all the people places and groups in your head & how they might react when the players do $unexpectedThing.

d&d is too hard coded for fate style aspects to really fit well. Take "The room is on fire">"I have a cantrop that lets me put out a 5 foot cube or snuff a campfire up to...". How do you model something like superman's "stronger than a locomotive" aspect when his strength is 32(+12) & that 32 is hardcoded into how everything that might rely on strength will work? (I don't think you can)

Someone mentioned it earlier how inspiration is a poor fit for fate style compels & I generally agree with the discussion around that earlier.

Spoiler: Hero points(the DMG version)

work better, but even if restricted to only gain them on approved compels they are still too easy to game like the ad&d traits & flaws table where your 3 dex 18/100 strength fighter picks a -2 to every range attack he will never make & gets +1 to melee attacks or similar.

* as opposed to fate core's 300ish

 

[Garthanos]

I don't see how you get to the dice impact being the lesser of these.

Depends on the extent your stunts have impact (can you say spell system based on stunts) and how minor is minor (its subjective). I have composed the effects of Dragon Fear before to induce a behavior and allowed fate points to resist those inborn compels.