D&D (2024) 5.5e - What ONE section of the rules would you rewrite for clarity?
W'rkncacnter
Hero
ok this is actually a fantastic one i'm legitimately mad i didn't think of this
Most of page 397 comes to mind. Or how Hit Dice work for healing, I'd love to bring back surge healing from 4e.
Or Interacting with Objects, that really could use some clarity (as well as the funky implement rules mentioned upthread, as the really annoy me).
Or...Darkvision, since people can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that it's really a terrible ability- make it actual darkvision so they have something to complain about, lol!
Or my biggest pet peeve, Saving Throws. 6 saves is completely unnecessary, some are rarely used, and it all conspires to make sure that most characters have 4 bad saves (3 if Resilient is allowed), and most likely, there's at least one of those bad saves that at higher levels you can't possibly succeed at on your own merits. I mean, at least bring back automatic save on a natural 20! Or dump the whole thing and go back to Non-Armor Defenses... (I know, I know, but a man can dream...).
Or Interacting with Objects, that really could use some clarity (as well as the funky implement rules mentioned upthread, as the really annoy me).
Or...Darkvision, since people can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that it's really a terrible ability- make it actual darkvision so they have something to complain about, lol!
Or my biggest pet peeve, Saving Throws. 6 saves is completely unnecessary, some are rarely used, and it all conspires to make sure that most characters have 4 bad saves (3 if Resilient is allowed), and most likely, there's at least one of those bad saves that at higher levels you can't possibly succeed at on your own merits. I mean, at least bring back automatic save on a natural 20! Or dump the whole thing and go back to Non-Armor Defenses... (I know, I know, but a man can dream...).
Immoralkickass
Adventurer
1. Whether an ability is magical or not (like the ol 'is Dragon's breath magical?') Sage Advice. When i ask a Y/N question, i expect to get a Y/N answer. I don't want to go through a massive checklist and get a 'maybe, ask your DM' nonsense.
2. If we are talking about clarity, so many things should be spelled out explicitly, but none more so than the difference between melee weapon attack, melee spell attack, attack with a weapon and natural weapons/unarmed strike.
3. Outright say that they hate TWF. 'Hello, we realise that we have put a lot of abilities and even some magic items to activate as a Bonus Action, so we will have TWF use the same Bonus Action, because naughty word you. TWF sucks and is not cool. Oh, and the feat support is total ass too.'
4. Druids and metal armour. Seriously, this is so dumb.
2. If we are talking about clarity, so many things should be spelled out explicitly, but none more so than the difference between melee weapon attack, melee spell attack, attack with a weapon and natural weapons/unarmed strike.
3. Outright say that they hate TWF. 'Hello, we realise that we have put a lot of abilities and even some magic items to activate as a Bonus Action, so we will have TWF use the same Bonus Action, because naughty word you. TWF sucks and is not cool. Oh, and the feat support is total ass too.'
4. Druids and metal armour. Seriously, this is so dumb.
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Horwath
Legend
yes please
this is a clusterfrakk, I agree
If you want TWF, buy yourself double-blade scimitar from Eberron and if you want to be dex fighter take Revenant blade feat.
Yeah, technically it's not TWF, but it works.
No,
we want our MacGyvering with ironwood, duskwood, dragon hide, bone, silkweave or living metal armors
/sarcasm off
Ick! Goodness no. Perception is already too powerful and useful as it is.... this just turns it back into the uberskill that surpasses every other skill on the skill list for usefulness and how often checks get made. Never again for me!
For me the answer was simple and something I've done ever since 5E got released-- Perception is for finding living beings that can move around and hide, and Investigation is for finding objects that don't move and have been concealed by someone else. Just doing that simple split made neither skill too overpowered, gave Investigation something actually concrete to use it on (rather than it being merely a supplement to help boost and cover for players who just can't figure something out), and kept Elven Clerics (et. al.) from being the defacto trapfinders in the party.
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See I look at it differently. Every character should be good at noticing things, because adventuring is a career that can quickly lead to death if you don't.
Having people with a reason to invest in Wisdom be slightly better at noticing things is fine, it's a reward for a Wisdom focus. And Wisdom is a good ability to have, since failed Wisdom saves tend to be very bad news, usually resulting in you losing the ability to actually play the game!
But when one class has an Intelligence focus, and the ability score does so little for other classes, it feels like you've just made a Wizard with Investigation proficiency vital to success in the game!
So either make Intelligence a better ability score for everyone, make more classes that want it, or ditch Investigation entirely, thanks.
Having people with a reason to invest in Wisdom be slightly better at noticing things is fine, it's a reward for a Wisdom focus. And Wisdom is a good ability to have, since failed Wisdom saves tend to be very bad news, usually resulting in you losing the ability to actually play the game!
But when one class has an Intelligence focus, and the ability score does so little for other classes, it feels like you've just made a Wizard with Investigation proficiency vital to success in the game!
So either make Intelligence a better ability score for everyone, make more classes that want it, or ditch Investigation entirely, thanks.
Again, no thanks. Now you'd have to remember what level the spell is you are looking up before then finding it alphabetically. That'll be even worse.
Sure, the cantrip and 1st level section would be probably fine more or less... but if you told me "Go find the spell block for Mirage Arcane", I'd never be able to do it. I'd have to go to the spell list first, find out its level, and then go find the block alphabetically. And even then I'd have to spend time flipping through the entire chapter just to find the "7th Level" section before finally looking for the spell alphabetically.
People keep complaining that the Index sucks because some entries just redirect you to other entries so you have to now take an extra step in getting to where you want to go... this now turns finding spells into the exact same thing.
How about a digital printing of the rulebooks with embedded hyperlinks for easier searching? That really shouldn't take a big company too long to do.
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