D&D 5E Attack bonus equals Strength AND Dexterity, not Strength OR Dexterity.

[DND_Reborn]

I've thought about making DEX for to hit and STR for damage, so you need both. But I haven't actually done it.

Yep. I've thought about that, too. I think 5E also should have done more with weapon properties, as that would help balance things out as well.

 

[Inchoroi]

I've considered making lots of changes to the combat system of 5e:

• Making armor damage reduction and removing AC entirely; as a rough idea, the armor table would give a damage reduction equal to the value over 10 that the armor provides; so, Hide armor provides a -1 to physical damage, while plate armor provides a -8 to damage (which would allow you to ignore most attacks from weapon-wielding creatures that aren't bugbears or similar brutes or Large or larger creatures).
• Giving each a creature a Dodge and Parry Defense Value based on Dex and/or Str; Parry would use STR or either STR or DEX if you're using a finesse weapon; Dodge would be Dex. Monks would get to parry without wielding a weapon, of course.

But, looking at all the changes.....its too much change for not enough benefit. As with most houserules that I've used over the years.

 

[DND_Reborn]

But, looking at all the changes.....its too much change for not enough benefit. As with most houserules that I've used over the years.

Yep. At one point I had 20+ pages of house-rules for 5E. Now I am down to just 4 pages. In all those revisions, there is only a handful or so that keep making the cut.

This idea is just something I decided to explore and I doubt I'll adopt it or any version of it.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don’t think this is exactly the right answer, but in general I think more MAD is the solution to having racial ASIs with disadvantaging certain race/class combos, as you allude to in the last paragraph.

 

[CleverNickName]

Eh, I'm not a fan either. I got pretty tired of stacking bonuses in 3.X Edition and Pathfinder, and I'm not ready to trod them back out again.

On a tangent, I like using Intelligence instead of Dexterity for ranged attacks. Hand-eye coordination is all fine and good, but there is also a good deal of math and science involved in shooting or archery...stuff like trajectory, geometry, physics, air resistance, wind speed, and timing all come into play. So I'd probably house-rule that a character can use either their Dex or their Int for ranged attacks.

 

[DND_Reborn]

On a tangent, I like using Intelligence instead of Dexterity for ranged attacks. Hand-eye coordination is all fine and good, but there is also a good deal of math and science involved in shooting or archery...stuff like trajectory, geometry, physics, air resistance, wind speed, and timing all come into play. So I'd probably house-rule that a character can use either their Dex or their Int for ranged attacks.

I understand this logic, but the actual application of ranged attacks depends a lot more on muscle coordination, balance, and such, than on the math/physics IMO.

Now, you could extend my idea in the OP so that melee attacks were STR/DEX combo but ranged attacks were DEX/INT combo, with the same +5 max?

 

[CleverNickName]

I understand this logic, but the actual application of ranged attacks depends a lot more on muscle coordination, balance, and such, than on the math/physics IMO.

Now, you could extend my idea in the OP so that melee attacks were STR/DEX combo but ranged attacks were DEX/INT combo, with the same +5 max?

Nah, not my jam. My love for having Int-based ranged attacks is not enough to offset my hatred of stacking bonuses. ;-)

 

[Horwath]

This could work is all or almost all things add 2 abilities to it's mechanics.

I.E.

melee attack: str+dex
ranged attack: dex+wis

AC: dex+int
Fort save:str+con
ref save:dex+int
will save:wis+cha

clerics spell attack/DC:wis+cha
druid spell attack/DC:int+wis
paladin spell attack/DC:str+cha
ranger spell attack/DC:int+wis
sorcerer spell attack/DC:con+cha
warlock spell attack/DC:int+cha
wizard spell attack/DC:int+wis

 

[DND_Reborn]

Nah, not my jam. My love for having Int-based ranged attacks is not enough to offset my hatred of stacking bonuses. ;-)

LOL no problem. I doubt any of this will see the light of a live game table, but it is nice to discuss. Thanks for your input!

 

[DND_Reborn]

This could work is all or almost all things add 2 abilities to it's mechanics.

Yep, and those are good possibilities, but so far most people don't seem interested in a two-ability system.