Blog (A5E) Let’s Look At Combat Maneuvers

One of our goals with Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition was to create a more tactical combat system. But it was very important to us that we not create a more difficult combat system. Which is why our combat maneuvers are a buffet of over 150 bite-sized options, not unlike spells. Combat maneuvers are nonmagical.

Let’s Look At Combat Maneuvers — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

Our combat maneuvers are a buffet of over 150 bite-sized options, not unlike spells.

www.levelup5e.com

 

[TwoSix]

This is like getting Book of Nine Swords back in 5e, which makes me so, so happy. This section literally sold the book to me.

 

[dalisprime]

Exerting yourself to perform a maneuver doesn't sound right? That is literally what we do in real life. Would you prefer more of a gamist term? Not trying to be to snarky, I just don't understand where you are coming from and would love a clarification.

When you exert yourself, you don't spend/decrease/lose exertion, you build it up (and honestly, making it exertion points doesn't fix this issue). You lose stamina. That's my peeve with the wording here. There's also the issue of exertion not only being a synonym to exhaustion (which is a status that... Builds up and has levels) but also looking similar, making them easy to confuse.
In other words: exertion points going down and exhaustion levels going up is clunky wording and I dislike it greatly. Calling it endurance or stamina points would put the right contrast between this mechanic and exhaustion and make a lot more sense as something you spend.

 

[dave2008]

When you exert yourself, you don't spend/decrease/lose exertion, you build it up (and honestly, making it exertion points doesn't fix this issue). You lose stamina. That's my peeve with the wording here. There's also the issue of exertion not only being a synonym to exhaustion (which is a status that... Builds up and has levels) but also looking similar, making them easy to confuse.
In other words: exertion points going down and exhaustion levels going up is clunky wording and I dislike it greatly. Calling it endurance or stamina points would put the right contrast between this mechanic and exhaustion and make a lot more sense as something you spend.

I disagree, but I have already said Stamina does might work better. I just want to point out exertion and exhaustion are definitely not synonymous. Related, but not synonyms:

I think exertion works fine for me.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

When you have exerted yourself, you become spent. So spending exertion points seems perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[dalisprime]

I disagree, but I have already said Stamina does might work better. I just want to point out exertion and exhaustion are definitely not synonymous. Related, but not synonyms:

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I think exertion works fine for me.

Exhaustion is a synonym to strain which itself is synonymous to exertion so it's not like there's that much of a gap between the two.
Plus you can't argue that exhaustion and exertion aren't words that look similar, which in turn can lead to confusion especially in non-native English speakers, so the point of one building up and other being spent being confusing is definitely valid. But hey, all of this was my dislike of that particular term. You having a different opinion, won't change that

 

[Morrus]

Exhaustion is a synonym to strain which itself is synonymous to exertion so it's not like there's that much of a gap between the two.
Plus you can't argue that exhaustion and exertion aren't words that look similar which can lead to confusion especially in non-native English speakers, so the point of one building up and other being spent being confusing is definitely valid. But hey, all of this was my dislike of that particular term. You having a different opinion, won't change that

It’s not called ‘exertion’ though. It’s a pool of exertion points. When you exert yourself you spend an exertion point. Exertion points are the things which let you exert yourself.

Like hit points aren’t called hits. You don’t lose hits, you lose hit points.

And we have fatigue and strife, not exhaustion.

 

[Faolyn]

Plus you can't argue that exhaustion and exertion aren't words that look similar, which in turn can lead to confusion especially in non-native English speakers, so the point of one building up and other being spent being confusing is definitely valid. But hey, all of this was my dislike of that particular term. You having a different opinion, won't change that

While that's a point, we've also had to deal with multiple uses of words like Inspiration and Level...

 

[dalisprime]

And we have fatigue and strife, not exhaustion.

How does that work with effects that cause exhaustion (path of berserker/sickening radiance) given that level up is meant to be backwards compatible with o5e?

Also with all due respect, Morrus - hit points is a term prevalent throughout the gaming industry. Most gamers understand they represent the character's health/life/ability to stay in combat/whatever other term you prefer and are thus a resource that is used up. Exertion points have no such legacy to tap into.

 

[dalisprime]

While that's a point, we've also had to deal with multiple uses of words like Inspiration and Level...

And inspiration being a common term between a class ability and a core system mechanic still confuses people to this day which kind of makes my point really.

 

[tetrasodium]

I'm surprised the spend spend exhaustion thing keeps going. d&d characters are precision spreadsheets of exact numbers representing their capabilities while people are rarely tracked to the same degree. That difference leads to some uncommon uses of language, but there is a subset of people & a well known metaphor that uses similar language as expending exertion. The metaphor is called spoon theory.