D&D 5E D&D 5E Has 'Raises' (or degrees of failure)

[Connorsrpg]

I was just reading over the new monsters added and noticed under 'ghost' that there are effects if you fail a save by 5 or more.

I always though D&D could benefit by 'degrees of success or failure'; Raises in Savage World.

I know some skills for eg had this idea baked in in the past, but it is good to see more than just pass of fail in more areas. I hope this continues, but part of me thinks, "Why didn't they bake in the -/+5 as a general rule?" like Savage World raises.

We recently replaced and trialed crit charts with a Stunts system (in our Bashed & Borrowed system). We got the stunts idea from Dragon Age. I could see this working very well with 5E.

 

[Shiroiken]

Actually, this is an older idea. In 3E if your check was a hazard, you suffered a penalty for failing by 5 or more. This is the same thing.

 

[Sir Brennen]

The Bounded Accuracy concept this edition makes that a bit more viable, I think. In 3E, I had a character that could roll over a DC of 50 on some knowledge skill checks, due to a combination of points, attributes, feats and magic items. A +/- 5 wouldn't have made much difference.

However, due to the gap in good/bad saves at higher levels, that same character had a Will Save in the single digits, generally giving me a 20% chance of success or less for the DCs we were facing at that level. If "fail by 5 or more" attacks had existed then, not only would I have been very likely to fail, but more than half the time, fail with the worst possible result.

Also note, the medusa has a similar "fail by 5 or more" attack.

 

[Connorsrpg]

[MENTION=6775477]Shiroiken[/MENTION] Yeah, that's what I meant by Skill Checks, where this thing was embedded. I was just pondering why they did not make it a more 'standard' mechanic. It is good to see in specific areas though.

 

[Connorsrpg]

[MENTION=6738998]Sir[/MENTION] Brennan Yes. I totally agree. It 'was there' in earlier versions (such as failing Climb checks by 5), but with Bounded Accuracy, it was a real good chance to bring in as a 'standard'.

I guess they have in a way, given the DCs go up by 5. So if aiming for a moderate pass and you make a difficult one, I guess the DM can come up with something. I was just hoping they made it more explicit. Maybe there will be something in the DMG.

Still, it would be cool to see most powers/attacks/checks listed similar to Savage Worlds; "with every success and raise (+5) you gain...".

I think I may trial our stunt system with this anyway. It works on raises (but is based on Dragon Age) in our bastardised Savage Worlds rules.

 

[Li Shenron]

I was just reading over the new monsters added and noticed under 'ghost' that there are effects if you fail a save by 5 or more.

I always though D&D could benefit by 'degrees of success or failure'; Raises in Savage World.

I know some skills for eg had this idea baked in in the past, but it is good to see more than just pass of fail in more areas. I hope this continues, but part of me thinks, "Why didn't they bake in the -/+5 as a general rule?" like Savage World raises.

We recently replaced and trialed crit charts with a Stunts system (in our Bashed & Borrowed system). We got the stunts idea from Dragon Age. I could see this working very well with 5E.

I think this would be a very nice idea.

Although, whatever mechanics are used doesn't really matter to me. It could be based on missing the DC by a larger amount, or it could be multiple effects requiring multiple rolls, also perhaps on consecutive rounds or time windows (like disease and poison in 3e).

I already liked for example the new take on petrification effects in today's Basic DM rules, and how the effect is spread over 2 rounds instead of one!