CapnZapp
Legend
Keep in mind that if you replace healing in 5e with hit dice, characters will need additional hit dice.
Not really?
Keep in mind that if you replace healing in 5e with hit dice, characters will need additional hit dice.
I cobbled together all of the variants and optional rules in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, and put them into a single list (okay okay, I didn't do it...but the kind folks over at this website did). Here's what my "dashboard" looks like.
Ability Score Generation (PHB 13): 4d6 Method
Not really?
Caution: this makes healing work like 4E.
I think this works even worse in ME than D&D.
Reason: if you need to spend something intrinsic to a specific character (such as his Hit Die), each and every character needs to put herself in harm's way during the adventuring day.
The Player's Handbook describes a handful of ways to do ability scores on that page. That dial's default is "4d6," but it lists other settings you can choose. For the sake of completeness, I listed the one I use.This is the default, not the variant or optional rule.
I think you do.
In typical 5e, you have HP + HD + curative magic (spells, potions, etc).
Without a healer, you lose out on a chunk of curative magic, but you make up for it in other ways. Instead of a cleric, you have an extra fighter and therefore a stronger front line. Or another rogue to rip apart enemies. Or another mage to crowd control foes.
Read the books since they first came out. Have xp!
My son loved it when his epic barb-20 got to str 30 (actually 26 plus legendary gauntlets giving +4) and auto succeeds on dc 30 athletics checks.
Massive magic item dependence ahoy (I like character awesome to be part of the character instead of something some magic device - ie caster made device) and end-game level on top of that - the discussion was not end game where in my experience almost nobody actually plays, though it is cool you do, hope much fun to be had.
Nor really was my intention to have paragon level (13) characters able to do it all the time. Expertise was asserted as giving what I wanted - or evidence that what I wanted was already happening - and no it really really doesn't - Expertise being almost entirely the purview of 2 classes makes it even less valuable (That sure seems nonsensical to me). Neither does magic items.
I am fast coming to the conclusion there is no lever I can pull and no switch and no dial that gives me what I am after on so many things about 5e this is just one.
I believe what you're saying is you can add Hit Dice, not that you need to.I think you do.
In typical 5e, you have HP + HD + curative magic (spells, potions, etc).
Without a healer, you lose out on a chunk of curative magic, but you make up for it in other ways. Instead of a cleric, you have an extra fighter and therefore a stronger front line. Or another rogue to rip apart enemies. Or another mage to crowd control foes.
However, if magic relies on HD, then you remove curatives entirely without replacing them with anything. You might still have a healer, but their magic is no longer additive to the total pool of damage that a party can take. Neither are potions.
Now, if you think that the default difficulty curve of the game is too easy (and I know you do) then this will add to the difficulty. But if you don't want to change that curve, then you need to add some HD in order to balance the loss of curative magic.