D&D 5E Variant 5e?

[Morrus]

I am all for supporting RPGs

Clearly not.

 

[snickersnax]

Since magical healing remains the same, it will simply shift the healing burden from HD to slots. Classes with Cure..Wound &c on their lists will blow through slots more quickly, forcing more frequent rests to recover spells, other casters will thus be free to use more spells in each encounter - and should, as they'll be harder encounters, demanding every effort to bring them to a swift conclusion before anyone gets mangled or worse, a level of exhaustion.

Support casters will be healbots, others will be OP casting virtually every round, non-casters will be disposable...

...hm...sounds familiar.

My experience playing with reduced HD healing doesn't support your concern. What it does support are role playing opportunities to develop relationships with NPCs in local healing temples and convalescing in hospitals.

From a world-building perspective this is pure gold. Not only does it mean that everyone who wants fast healing has to listen to a sermon, but I can create adventures where healing is readily available or adventures where it is not and I'm not stuck with the same story every week of "deplete the parties resources, Oh wait I have to (edit: nearly) kill them 3 times before that's even a possibility."

 

[Charlaquin]

1. PC HP is normal but you must roll. No option to take the average. Level 1 is your roll or half of maximum, whichever is greater. You add CON bonus up to level 7 or 9 maybe, but after that it is only the HD roll.

This could be pretty fun, though I wouldn’t remove the con bonus after however many levels.

2. MAX ability is 18. 19 for races which receive a bonus (a mountain dwarf could have STR 19 and CON 19 for example). We do this currently with a feat called "Raising the Bar" which allows one score to be 20.

I’m not really sure what the desired outcome of this change is. Seems to have a pretty small impact on combat math and no impact on play patterns.

3. I like the idea of a level of exhaustion, but only a failed death save, and don't make 3 death, make it when the exhaustion level equals death (at 6). You could even combine them, so if you already had a level of exhaustion, and then went to 0 hp, a failed death save would put you at two levels, etc.

Three successes would still stabilize, a 1 would be two levels, and a 20 would remove a level as well as stabilize with 1 hp.

Have the death save be modified by CON. It is not a check or a save, so no features or such would further modify it. IMO a person with a CON 7 is much less likely to survive and stabilize than one with a CON 17.

I’ve done exactly this. It was too death spiral-y for my group’s taste, but I think for folks who want to make dropping to 0 HP really, really dangerous, this works very well. If you do this, I highly recommend swapping the functions of potions of healing and potions of vitality.

4. Short Rest recovered HP = level + CON bonus.

Interesting! Would this replace or be in addition to HD expenditure?

Long Rest = Short rest x2.

:/
Seems odd to me since a long rest takes 8 times as long as a short rest.

This way a "fulll day of rest", i.e. 2 short rests and one long rest would be a short rest x4 effectively. That might be too much, though.

I don’t follow? This only adds up to 10 hours.

Exhaustion takes one day per level you currently have. So, if you have 5 levels (the max since at 6 you die), it takes 5 days to recover, then 4, then 3, 2, and 1. Thus to completely remove 5 levels would take 15 days. If that isn't long enough, you could double it.

I don’t see this having any impact on play patterns. Players are just going to retreat to the nearest safe location and spend the amount of in-game time they need to go back to 0 exhaustion levels. Whether that’s a day, two weeks, a month, the only time it really takes is enough time for the players to adjust the numbers on their sheets.

5. Sure. Every 4 levels you gain a feat as well as a proficiency to spend on whatever you want (skill, armor, language, tool, etc.)

Seems pretty good!

 

[DND_Reborn]

Clearly not.

You seem to think I wrote, "I am for supporting all RPGs", Which I am not. There is a LOT of junk out there that is not to my tastes (as I mentioned PF2) and I am not about to waste my money supporting something I don't feel is worthwhile.

Notice I said, "I am all for supporting RPGs." Which I am. RPGs I see, read through, try out with others, and/or think I will enjoy, I am very willing to purchase and generally, because I am cautious, I am happy with my purchase and glad I was able to help the company/individual out. For instance, I have bought about a ten 5E books, but there are over a dozen I haven't bought and will likely never purchase because I have no use for them.

At any rate, kindly don't imply that I am not for supporting RPGs. To single out a snip of a quote in such a manner is petty and not worthy of a staff member.

Thank you!

 

[Zardnaar]

DTRPG is a great equaliser. Geography doesn't matter.



I don't know why you're buying three Kobold Press (not 'Publishing') books. A core rulebook for an RPG is a fraction of that. "150 pounds" is utter nonsense. Seriously: show me one RPG which costs 150 pounds to buy (other than D&D, which kinda does...)

I mean, D&/D is one of the most expensive games. You can pick up WOIN for $20. D&D needs three core rulebooks, which come to ... wait... $150!

I can sell you a full RPG for $10 in PDF, or $30 in hardback. I can point to a hundred RPG core rulebooks for a quarter of the ridiculous price you just quoted.

Postage I bought the Tome of Beasts, Midgard Heroes and Midgard Worldbook direct from the Kobolds. Potage put the price over $300 (eBay had sold out)

I didn't mind paying extra as I have ethical concerns over giving Bezos money.

Most players don't know TRPG exists and PDFs are still a pain ( I use them myself).

Most gamers here are students. They get around $230 a week, rent is $150-200 a week a PHB is $65-$75 or $50 via eBay.

After food, rent power etc the average student can afford a burger and beer for the weekend.

There's also a gap in age group. Older ones like me in late 30s early 40s who have money and the young ones who make up the numbers.

Personally I own more 5E books than two or 3 groups put together.

Alot of players also don't like RPGs, just D&D.

 

[DND_Reborn]

This could be pretty fun, though I wouldn’t remove the con bonus after however many levels.

Well, I would either go one way or the other. 1E-style, you get HD to level 9 or so, and then a static amount after with no CON bonus, or you get your HD all the way to level 20, but after 9 or so, no more CON bonus. Either way it works out about the same for most characters I would think.

I’m not really sure what the desired outcome of this change is. Seems to have a pretty small impact on combat math and no impact on play patterns.

It is not a huge impact no. The idea is simply to keep bonuses a bit lower. If you really want the 20 score, the feat allows for it and represents the investment that you really are going beyond what others can.

I’ve done exactly this. It was too death spiral-y for my group’s taste, but I think for folks who want to make dropping to 0 HP really, really dangerous, this works very well. If you do this, I highly recommend swapping the functions of potions of healing and potions of vitality.

Yep, I like 0 hp to be super scary! Given the cheap costs of a potion of healing, I couldn't allow it to restore a level of exhaustion. I am fine with a time-extended rest mechanic. I know many people feel it won't change anything, but we play on timelines for our adventures--many times things simply can't wait.

Interesting! Would this replace or be in addition to HD expenditure?

It would replace the HD mechanic. We discussed this at our table yesterday and IMO anyway there is no need for an HD mechanic anywhere in 5E. I don't know why they added it. It seems like a "hey, this could be what HD is used for!" idea...

:/
Seems odd to me since a long rest takes 8 times as long as a short rest.

I don’t follow? This only adds up to 10 hours.

Sorry, it is more along the ideas that you can only take two short rests between long rests from RAW. Depending on how quickly the OP wants hp to heal, it would all have to be adjusted accordingly. Hopefully that makes sense?

I don’t see this having any impact on play patterns. Players are just going to retreat to the nearest safe location and spend the amount of in-game time they need to go back to 0 exhaustion levels. Whether that’s a day, two weeks, a month, the only time it really takes is enough time for the players to adjust the numbers on their sheets.

This isn't quite true, but depends a lot on play style IMO. We play with time-constraints for most of our adventures. You can't start it and then take two months off without issues arising.

Take our current adventure. We are infiltrating a stronghold, moving through it, and taking out the bad guys as quietly as possible. We know we aren't going to be able to finish this before we have to retreat. Depending on our status, that retreat will hopefully just be a long rest. But, if someone gets injured badly, we might have to leave them behind the next time we go in since they won't be full strength. Or, maybe they'll come along but be weaker and we have to be more cautious.

Rests, and the time in between them, can certainly impact the game play.

Seems pretty good!

We discussed this yesterday, too. We have a few members without proficiency in Stealth, but had to make checks moving through the stronghold. The ones without it were annoyed, "My character has been sneaking around through places for two years now from time to time, shouldn't I be better at it yet?!" We have downtime rules for it, but they take a long time and frankly are a bit annoying to track. We thought maybe every 4 levels would be good for new proficiencies. We will probably do it.

 

[snickersnax]

I’m not really sure what the desired outcome of this change is. Seems to have a pretty small impact on combat math and no impact on play patterns.

In my version (20 is still possible), but 19 is the common max. The purpose is have some variety in primary stats. Now instead of everyone needing a 20 and anything less is sub-optimal, a few who commit to a specialized race or take a feat may reach 20, most will be at 18/19, and 16/17 is slightly less optimal, but still viable.

I don’t see this having any impact on play patterns. Players are just going to retreat to the nearest safe location and spend the amount of in-game time they need to go back to 0 exhaustion levels. Whether that’s a day, two weeks, a month, the only time it really takes is enough time for the players to adjust the numbers on their sheets.

There are some aspects of slow healing and exhaustion levels that I like. It feels somewhat more realistic, and allows for story opportunities that might not otherwise be available. From a story perspective, everyone isn't ready to get back in the ring right away. The fight may come to them when their resources are depleted. Chasing wounded opponents can take on a very different dynamic. Finally I like that advancing in levels from to beginner to master takes longer than a month or two.

 

[Tony Vargas]

My experience playing with reduced HD healing doesn't support your concern.

In these experiences, how many encounters did you typically complete between long rests?

What it does support are role playing opportunities to develop relationships with NPCs in local healing temples

That's fine for between adventures, and potentially interesting, I suppose, but I don't see how it makes a huge difference.

 

[Garthanos]

Perhaps exhaustion could use a bit more gradual mild lead in ... to reduce the curve of that death spiral?

 

[Morrus]

Postage I bought the Tome of Beasts, Midgard Heroes and Midgard Worldbook direct from the Kobolds. Potage put the price over $300 (eBay had sold out)

You bought three books. An RPG is one book (except D&D which is three books).

I bought a car this year. It also cost more than an RPG. It, like your purchase, wasn’t an RPG. So let’s stay on target, eh?