D&D 5E Remove stat bonus from damage

[UngeheuerLich]

Right now i see folowing problem in D&D next (and 4e before that)

Stat bonus adding to damage rolls usually means, that every attack that hits deals at least 4 damage (minimum roll 1 + main stat 3+).

This static damage is the reason, why it does not matter, if a monster has 1 or 4 hp. This is the reason, why 1st level hitpoints need to be higher than 4 and why the wizard can´t have his d4 hit die. And this is the reason, why a spell that deals 1d4+1 damage is rather ridiculous.

So I have 2 Ideas to reduce the impact of stats:

1. Leave attack bonus to stats as it is, but remove the bonus to damage alltogether.

2. Divide your statbonus by two and add half of it (rounded up) to attack and (rounded down) to damage.

EDIT: My proposal does not explicitely take expertise dice into account. If we so, level 1 damage for the average lvl1 fighter would now be:

1d8 + 1d4 + 4 (Longsword + expertise dice + 18 strength)

This is too much for a lvl 1 character facing monsters of current design or even other PCs.
Also I believe, the main stat does too much for fighting types (even worse if your main stat is dexterity!)
You could also remove stat bonus from attack bonus, but with expertise dice, i guess bonus to damage taken away hurts a lot less after a few levels!

 

[Steely_Dan]

I can see ditching ability modifiers to damage, what with Expertise dice; monsters attacks would be like pre-3rd Ed (1d6/1d6/1d8 or what-have-you).

 

[MortalPlague]

It would also make it more viable to play a character without a stacked primary ability. So if I wanted to play an archer with only a 14 DEX, I'm just losing out on a little attack bonus, not the damage too.

This is a change I wouldn't mind seeing, but I doubt they'll put it in.

 

[nightwalker450]

I'd much rather see it removed from attack before it was removed from damage.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

How about only adding it to damage if you use a two-handed weapon? I feel like those guys are getting shafted at the moment by expertise dice damage.

 

[fjw70]

It would also make it more viable to play a character without a stacked primary ability. So if I wanted to play an archer with only a 14 DEX, I'm just losing out on a little attack bonus, not the damage too.

This is a change I wouldn't mind seeing, but I doubt they'll put it in.

I agree it probably won't happen, but on the Google Hanhout chat a couple weeks ago Mike Mearls did mention they were considering this.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

How about only adding it to damage if you use a two-handed weapon? I feel like those guys are getting shafted at the moment by expertise dice damage.

Please don´t forget, that I let out expertise dice. If you calculate them in, minimum damage goes up again and average damage considerably.

So by removing stat bonus to damage (except maybe from two handed weapons) you have a much more sensible damage range at level 1!

 

[dkyle]

Take it away from Attack and Damage.

Take Dex away from AC.

Take Con away from HP.

Bring back saves, independent from ability scores.

Remove ability scores from the combat system entirely. We already have classes, specialties, spells, and maneuvers that are entirely sufficient for expressing varied combat styles and effectiveness.

Let ability scores exist solely for skills. At most, have easy ability score minimums for classes (say 10 STR for Fighters, 12 INT for Wizards, etc) if DMs are concerned about players assigning "unrealistic" ability scores to characters. But really, I think anything can be justified (the weak fighter fights effectively using agility or superior tactics, the low-int wizard is an idiot-savant with a preternatural talent for learning spells, but is useless at anything else related to intellect).

There's no need to "punish" roleplayers who want to make a smart, social fighter with being lousy in combat. He's a fighter; that's what makes him good at fighting.

Really, this is closer to D&D's roots than 3.X is, given how small, and hard to get, actual bonuses from ability scores were in early D&D.

 

[ren1999]

Are you implying there would be no bonuses to damage? That would be a mistake.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

No, i explicitely said, that the bonus to damage will come from expertise dice!