D&D (2024) 5E Rebuild (an alternate take on OneDnD) [+]

Okay, it's pretty much done now.

614 pages - the only things really left are to finish the Sage class, decide whether I want an Arcane Warrior, and futz with layout / art / fiction / default setting details.

The basic goals are:

- make something with a lot of heart/flavor in the way B/X and 2E did, where 5E-level mechanical complexity is there if you want it but isn't required.

- try to give intuitively satisfying in-setting reasons why the rules work the way they do.

- try to capture "old school dungeon crawling" flavor without making newer playstyles a pain to manage.
 

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dave2008

Legend
I always like to see another's homebrew 5e - thank you for sharing. I like a lot of what you've done, but would (and do) some things differently. Good luck with your project.
 

It occurs to me that I might want to do a "simple summary", so here it is:

Abilities
All creatures have the standard D&D Ability scores, which always range from 3 to 18, regardless of race/species. Each Ability score produces an Ability modifier, following B/X scaling (3 is -3, 4-5 is -2, 6-8 is -1, 9-12 is +0, 13-15 is +1, 16-17 is +2, 18 is +3).

A creature's race/species will provide a racial adjustment to one or more Ability modifiers; player character races always provide a +1 to one fixed Ability modifier and a +1 to another where the player can choose between two options (for example, Elves provide +1 to Wis and +1 to Dex or Cha).

Proficiencies
Characters, NPCs and monsters have a 'base combat proficiency', plus 18 skill proficiencies that they can level up. Each proficiency starts at +2/+d4, and increases by +1/+die size up to a maximum of +6/+d12 whenever a skill point is invested. Player characters get 1 skill point per class level (Expert classes get an additional +1 skill point every odd class level), and skills caps increase by +1 every 5 levels (or every time they take a feat or class feature that explicitly grants a skill point).

Combat proficiency is based on level (with Warrior classes starting at +3/+d6 and gaining +1 every 4 Warrior class levels, Experts starting at +d4 until class level 2 when they count as Warriors at half their Expert class level, and Mages starting at +d4 and staying there).

Hit Dice, Hit Points, Wounds, and Fatigue
Each class gets 1 hit die at level 1, and +1 hit die every 4 levels; these are used for rest-healing just like 5E hit dice. A character's hit dice determine their maximum skill proficiencies, as mentioned above.

A character's base hit points equals their Constitution score; they also gain hit points each class level equal to that class's hit die average + their Con modifier.

Characters also have Wounds, which are the equivalent of "failed death saving throws". You can gain Wounds by failing a death saving throw (obviously), but also by taking critical hits, or by explicitly life-draining attacks. A character dies when they've suffered more Wounds than their Con mod + 5.

Characters also have Fatigue, which works approximately like 5E's Exhaustion. Wounds and Fatigue both count towards Exhaustion, so when your total (Wounds+Fatigue) exceeds your (Con mod + 5), you're done for the day. Between (Con mod +1) and (Con mod +5), you start being Exhausted, which imparts conditions like Dazed or Slowed as your Exhaustion increases.

That's basically it; everything else is just details unique to a particular class/skill/monster/scenario.
 

payn

I don't believe in the no-win scenario
Season 2 Agree GIF by Paramount+
 

As an exercise, I decided to produce a B/X version of my rules here:


The rules are almost identical, except that class levels only go up to level 10, and there are no subclass, fighting style, or feat choices.

Certain rules have also been streamlined, which will probably get folded back into the main rulebook eventually.
 

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