D&D 5E Variant 5e?

[Xenonnonex]

I didn’t imply it. I said it directly.

Dude. This is really not cool.

 

[dave2008]

Things have gotten a bit off topic - shocking! To steer them back to the OP a bit:

Is anyone else interested in posting there ideas for small changes to the 5e ruleset that can make a big change in the theme / feel of the game?

 

[Xenonnonex]

Things have gotten a bit off topic - shocking! To steer them back to the OP a bit:

Is anyone else interested in posting there ideas for small changes to the 5e ruleset that can make a big change in the theme / feel of the game?

Have you thought about using the variant 5e rules in the DMG?

 

[dave2008]

Have you thought about using the variant 5e rules in the DMG?

Of course and we do use some of them. In fact, your (or anyone's) suggest for this thread could be: "We use XYZ variant / optional rules to create W style of game. It works great." That is a completely on topic response.

The hope is to hear what small changes people do to their campaigns to get a different feel from the game.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I've now run two Tyranny of Dragon campaigns, two Curse of Strahd campaigns, and am currently in the middle of two Eberron campaigns, all for 5E. For all three sets of campaigns I have changed up my houserules for all of them-- number of hit points, lengths of rests, no feats, amended feats, changed Prepared spells to Known spells for all spellcasting classes, and a whole host of other small rules here and there. And as a result of all of that, I have come to one conclusion regarding making the game "feel different"...

...so long as I am the DM and my players are the same in each game, the game will never really feel different no matter how many little rules changes I put in.

That's the honest truth. The way I DM has so much more influence over the game than any house rules I use. I could house rule to my heart's content, but at the end of the day it doesn't ever really feel different. My style is what makes the game always feel relatively the same regardless of the little niggling rules changes here and there. Couple that with my group of players who also play exactly the same they always do (regardless of the genre of the game or how many house rules I put in)... all the games end up feeling the same.

When I can run a pair of gothic horror games and a pair of magitech games and have them both feel like they are one of a piece... it tells me that it ain't the changes in rules-- it's me and my players. And I would not be surprised if this is something that happens to every DM out there. Unless you are able to change the very way you DM for each and every campaign, rules changes just won't cut it. Your games will feel relatively the same each and every time.

 

[dave2008]

I've now run two Tyranny of Dragon campaigns, two Curse of Strahd campaigns, and am currently in the middle of two Eberron campaigns, all for 5E. For all three sets of campaigns I have changed up my houserules for all of them-- number of hit points, lengths of rests, no feats, amended feats, changed Prepared spells to Known spells for all spellcasting classes, and a whole host of other small rules here and there. And as a result of all of that, I have come to one conclusion regarding making the game "feel different"...

...so long as I am the DM and my players are the same in each game, the game will never really feel different no matter how many little rules changes I put in.

That is basically my experience as well. I have a long time group that I played D&D/AD&D with back in the 80's and 90's and then we switched to 4e when it came out. I couldn't understand all the complaints about it being a completely different game or being like a video game or class being to similar. It felt just like D&D to us. We played the game just like we had been play for the previous 20 years.

I guess I should have thought about that before I started this thread. It is probably a bit pointless for me and my group. Oh well, I still like to design and tweak the game and hear how others have done too - so there is that!

 

[DEFCON 1]

I guess I should have thought about that before I started this thread. I guess it is probably a bit pointless for me and my group. Oh well, I still like to design and tweak the game and hear how others have done so too - so there is that!

Don't get me wrong... I still tweak and houserule the game all the time simply because I find it fun. And I do introduce all kinds of new methods for creating characters and running combats for each and every game just because it's an enjoyable part of the game for me. And every idea for my campaigns I run after the current ones end have all manner of these tweaks and rules changes as it helps me solidify the type of game I wish to run.

I just no longer fool myself into thinking that the new game will feel massively different than all the previous ones.

It's the exact same reason why I don't go along with the other posters on the boards here who feel like the game needs many more character options (new subclasses, new feats etc.) because the game has grown stale for them. If the game is stale it's because the DM can't help but run their game the exact same way they always do, and the players can't help but play their characters the exact same way they always do. And having a couple new mechanical changes from a new subclass option or two is NOT going to solve their problem.

The style of how we play just matters so much more than the numbers we have on our character sheets and behind the screen.

 

[3catcircus]

Of course and we do use some of them. In fact, your (or anyone's) suggest for this thread could be: "We use XYZ variant / optional rules to create W style of game. It works great." That is a completely on topic response.

The hope is to hear what small changes people do to their campaigns to get a different feel from the game.

I have several ideas for changes, some big, some small.

1. Change hit points from a "subtract until you hit zero" system to a "when you take a hit of at least x damage, you suffer an injury of severity y, with the following effects."

2. Change to a dice pool mechanic (qty based upon how many skill ranks you have), with margin of success determining total damage, crits and fumbles. Combat would be skill-based.

3. Armor as damage reduction - not used as-is as the DC for attack rolls in most cases.

4. Ability to block, dodge, or parry as an active defense (opposed attack rolls) instead of standing still and using AC as the DC on attack rolls.

5. Healing modified to allow low/no magic campaigns. Short rest only restores you to 1hp (akin to first aid), can only burn HD to heal less serious wounds on a long rest, and must take an extended rest (duration based upon injury severity) to remove all injuries.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Things have gotten a bit off topic - shocking! To steer them back to the OP a bit:

Is anyone else interested in posting there ideas for small changes to the 5e ruleset that can make a big change in the theme / feel of the game?

Yeah, I know, shocking! Sorry for the derail.

Back to topic:

IMO we've seen a lot of posts of things you can try, reflected even in your OP.

I think the easiest changes are:

• Increases in DC for skills (+2 boost per Tier of play, so +8 at highest levels)
• Boosting opponents AC (my suggestion is +1 per 5 levels of CR)
• Boosting attack bonus and saves (same rate of increase)
• Make death saves more meaningful. Even adding a level of exhaustion with no other impact, using recover RAW would be a good start.
• Remove bonuses from magic weapons. For example, a +1 longsword would still be magical to overcome resistance, but add no bonus to hit or damage.
• Have charged items (like staves) only recover 1 charge per day.
• Have spellcasters only recover a number of spell level slots equal to their caster level. Example: A 5th level caster normally has 4 1sts, 3 2nds, and 2 3rds, for a total of 16 spell levels worth of slots they can cast, but they can only recover 5 spell level slots per long rest. In this case, maybe 1 2nd and 1 3rd, or 3 1st and 1 2nd, etc. If the 5th level caster expended all their slots, it would take over 3 long rests to get them all back.

Of course there are other ways as well. How major or minor the changes are really depend on taste.

 

[dave2008]

I have several ideas for changes, some big, some small.

Thank you for sharing!

1. Change hit points from a "subtract until you hit zero" system to a "when you take a hit of at least x damage, you suffer an injury of severity y, with the following effects."

OK, I would consider that a major change as you have to change every character and monster and basic combat and encounter assumptions. If it could be done simply maybe, but I think it is probably beyond the scope of the small change I was talking about. What are you hoping to get from this change?

2. Change to a dice pool mechanic (qty based upon how many skill ranks you have), with margin of success determining total damage, crits and fumbles. Combat would be skill-based.

Ya, another big change IMO

3. Armor as damage reduction - not used as-is as the DC for attack rolls in most cases.

Yes, we do that now, although we still use AC. DR only comes into play when your bloodied.

4. Ability to block, dodge, or parry as an active defense (opposed attack rolls) instead of standing still and using AC as the DC on attack rolls.

That is already a variant rule in the DMG. I have thought about using it, but haven't tried it yet with my current group.

5. Healing modified to allow low/no magic campaigns. Short rest only restores you to 1hp (akin to first aid), can only burn HD to heal less serious wounds on a long rest, and must take an extended rest (duration based upon injury severity) to remove all injuries.

I thought per #1 you were using a wound system and not HP. Can you clarify?