Recent content by NotAYakk

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    D&D 5E (2024) Unfreezing the Narrative

    OAs (and being out of reach so you can't be charged) are about the only reasons why position matters in melee combat right now. Getting rid of them is sort of bad. I've played with a flanking rule that is "if you end your turn flanked, melee attacks are at advantage on you until the start of...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Unfreezing the Narrative

    Imagine if each time you get the ball, you flip a coin. On heads, you stand around for 5 minutes, then the other team gets possession. That is what rolling 2 times and missing both times while staying still (because moving is clearly worse) is like in 5e D&D. You roll 2d20, both are low...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Deeds of Legend (Fighter high level abilities)

    No, it shouldn't be copy and paste? Meteor Storm is not a copy and paste of Shield. But Meteor Storm has mechanics in common with shield. Mechanics should be introduced in lower tiers and made epic in later tiers, not utterly different in design in later tiers. This means if you add Deeds of...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Unfreezing the Narrative

    Seems like a fun game to play. That is sarcasm. Alice rolled to hit and missed. Bob skipped their turn. Same game state change. In 5e D&D, taking a 5 foot step backwards doesn't give you any defensive boosts. It means your foes get extra OAs. Giving ground makes you worse defensively. In...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Deeds of Legend (Fighter high level abilities)

    Mechanics at level 11+ should echo mechanics at level 1-5 not be out of left field. People get into their class in the first few levels; most people want something that feels the same, if better, not something new. 6/7/8/9 spells are similar mechanically to lower level spells, just stronger...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Unfreezing the Narrative

    5e doesn't reward moving all that much, unless you build for mobility. If you are engaged, mostly a melee character's turn is to roll to hit that target. If those rolls miss, the melee character's turn may as well have been skipped. And position in 5e mostly matters in that it determines who...
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    D&D 5E (2024) An Optional Counterspell Metagame

    Redirect 2nd level Abjuration 60' range Reaction to a spell being cast In response to detecting a spell being cast with a component you can perceive, or a spell with a perceptible effect going off, you attempt to redirect the target of the spell. The spell's target or center of effect is...
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    D&D 5E (2024) Unfreezing the Narrative

    I'm thinking about mechanics to unfreeze the narrative in D&D. Ie, some creature's turn comes. The creature tries to do something, but rolls poorly or the enemies roll well. Nothing happens. The next creature goes. That is a frozen narrative - the turn could have been skipped. Sometimes...
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    D&D 5E (2024) An Optional Counterspell Metagame

    Look, if you want to make counterspelling fun, please don't make it save-or-suck. The best counterspells aren't counterspells. 1. A counterspell that replaces damage dice with d4s ("stifle"). The creature whose spell is countered gets to reroll damage dice on their next spell. 2. A...
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    D&D General What Does Your Cosmology Look Like?

    I'm thinking of a flat cosmology. We have the mirror worlds of Fey and Shadow (they are just too good), but we'll add Liminal worlds between. Fey : Astral : Prime : Ethereal : Shadow Lets go further and swap Fey and Astral: Astral : Fey : Middle : Ethereal : Shadow This breaks the symmetry...
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    D&D General Why is the multi-classing spell slot math so weird?

    Oh yes, I fully support the "add up and round up after fractions" in my houserules. It is a bit more complex, but multiclassing already is complex enough. I go further than that even; I give access to higher level spells for multiclassed characters. Max spell level for full casters is half...
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    D&D General Why is the multi-classing spell slot math so weird?

    The math is weird to avoid exploits. A simple version would be to give everyone an ECL. Half casters get (1/2 class level, rounded up), Subclass casters get (1/3 class level, rounded up), and full casters get class level. You just add up ECL. This leads to an "exploit": 1 level splash of...
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    D&D 5E (2014) A Time-Based Combat System for 5e (2014): Replacing Actions with Seconds and Making Movement Matter

    Bonus Actions are designed as "while you are doing", not "instead of". Like, attacking with a second weapon while attacking with the first, or hiding while shooting, or smiting while attacking. Your system converts them to "instead of", then patches it at level 5 with a bunch of mechanics that...
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    D&D 5E (2014) Why doesn't Magic Stone get better?

    Magic Stone as written is crazy strong. As noted, it can't scale, because you can get allies to throw it for you (or you can, with Extra Attack). A level 6 artificer can have extra attack. They can now throw 2 pebbles, doing 2d6+int+int damage. This is scaling; if you had 2d6 damage pebbles...
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    Homebrew Magic Items, review requested

    I'd remove the auto-leveling. A sentient weapon should be akin to an NPC hanging around with the party. Rather than auto-leveling, I'd have some kind of unlocking process. +1d4 lightning damage; I'd make the die not a 1d4. I like making the extra damage on a weapon not match the base dice of...
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