D&D General Let's Talk About How to "Fix" D&D

I know. "Fix" implies there is something "wrong" and that's okay. We are allowed to not like the way a thing is done in D&D (or any other game). But it also suggests something positive: that by tweaking or changing a thing, we can make the game better for our own purposes.

So here are the rules: present a "problem" with D&D (any edition will do) and explain why you feel it is a problem (this part is really important) and the either suggest a fix, or ask for a fix from fellow community members.

For example, one thing in 5E that I really find to be a problem as a GM is how poorly the action economy is balanced for "solo" creatures. A PC party of 4 or 5 characters punches WAY above its weight class against solo monsters, even in Lairs and with legendary actions. A good part of this has to do with the 5E math -- solo monsters don't hit especially hard and so they aren't terrifying in that "stay away from it or you're dead!" feeling that helps keep the PCs at bay. On top of it, PCs can really pump out a lot of damage when they want to and solos, which are usually just big bags of hit points, don't last long. All that said, the fight against one massive foe is a fantasy staple and I want it to work -- and not just for epic boss battles. There's no reason a random encounter with a giant or whatever shouldn't be viable, too.

One thought I have had to fix this is to treat a big creature like a group of creatures that all stay close together. Like, if the dragon were it's head, it's tail and its torso/claw routine. So the head not only gets to act independently on its own initiative, it has its own list of abilities, its own reach and range, and its own hit point pool. The same for the other parts. But while I think it is a neat idea for a dragon, I don't know how it would translate well to a giant or other creature without lots of "interesting parts."

Problem: Too many classes are spellcasters.

Solution:
1. Rangers and Paladins become non-spellcasters. Provide them abilities instead.
2. Re-work the Sorcerer to make it a more interesting full-caster option to the Wizard.
3. Make the Druid a half-caster. The "nature caster" is already covered by the Nature Cleric. Beef up cool abilities.
4. Nuke the Bard from orbit. Nobody cares about you and your lutes.

The problem is that the party fights the big bad rested instead of after a long series of battles with all his minions when they are nearly depleted of resources. Every edition of D&D (and other RPGs) will have this problem with poor encounter design.

commandercrud said:

The problem is that the party fights the big bad rested instead of after a long series of battles with all his minions when they are nearly depleted of resources. Every edition of D&D (and other RPGs) will have this problem with poor encounter design.

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It's only "poor ancounter design" because the system in 5E doesn't work for this kind of creature. And other than hit points it hardly matters when the PCs gang up on a solo whether they use their big guns or not.

Snarf Zagyg said:

4. Nuke the Bard from orbit. Nobody cares about you and your lutes.

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And take the gnomes with you on the way out!

Snarf Zagyg said:

Problem: Too many classes are spellcasters.

Solution:
1. Rangers and Paladins become non-spellcasters. Provide them abilities instead.
2. Re-work the Sorcerer to make it a more interesting full-caster option to the Wizard.
3. Make the Druid a half-caster. The "nature caster" is already covered by the Nature Cleric. Beef up cool abilities.
4. Nuke the Bard from orbit. Nobody cares about you and your lutes.

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I wonder if powers like 4e were used instead of spellcasting. An encounter power that took the place of a spell or ranger thing. Not sure if it is just the same, but I think some cool ideas can be made to swap out spells. This way you get a few options to make your PC more unique over than just a 5th level power every ranger gets.

aco175 said:

I wonder if powers like 4e were used instead of spellcasting. An encounter power that took the place of a spell or ranger thing. Not sure if it is just the same, but I think some cool ideas can be made to swap out spells. This way you get a few options to make your PC more unique over than just a 5th level power every ranger gets.

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I wish they would just make everything more mundane and grounded as the baseline and then, if you want, add the extra layer of magical awesomesauce. It is much harder to remove that stuff than to add it.

No offense, but ... does this board ever talk about anything else?

jayoungr said:

No offense, but ... does this board ever talk about anything else?

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Looks like it does to me. Maybe it is the threads you are reading?

Reynard said:

And take the gnomes with you on the way out!

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Not sure that would help with the spellcasting. But maybe we could consolidate the races? Lineages? Ancestries?

Here would be the new conversion table for the core races:
Human: Human
Dragonborn: Human that has not brushed their teeth this morning
Dwarf: Human that drinks too much
Elf: That really annoying guy, you know who.
Gnomes & Halflings: Bruno Mars
Half Elf: Half as annoying as that guy
Half Orc: Lax Brah
Tiefling: I really liked that band before they became popular