D&D 5E A Hint of Elegance in the Latest Playtest

[Jeff Carlsen]

I've written a fair number of words about how haphazard the current playtest feels, but much of that is due to the experimentation that's currently happening. Right now I want to talk about some of the promise that can be found in the recent package.

Weapon Attack and Spellcasting bonuses now range from +0 to +5. That mirrors the bonuses from ability scores, where +0 is a normal human and +5 is the maximum a character can have without magic.

Moreover, classes like the fighter or the wizard have a +3 around level 10, which helps us get a feel for what the scale means:

• Normal/Untrained: +0
• Apprentice: +1
• Journeyman: +2
• Expert: +3
• Master: +4
• Grand Master: +5

I assume that if the Skill Dice concept doesn't work out, skills will use the same scale.

Not only that, but skill training currently looks a lot like weapon proficiency. In both, you have a generic bonus, and then a list of weapons or skills that you're proficient in. The difference is how each subsystem handles a lack of proficiency. Attacking with a non-proficient weapon causes disadvantage, whereas you only get your bonus on trained skills. Going forward, I think I'd prefer weapons to work like skills.

It isn't hard to imagine a module that gives each skill its own bonus, and similar modules could apply to weapons and spells as well.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

I would love to see this followed up, there's definitely an elegance in balancing training and natural ability - attributes with skills or bonuses.

It's also not hard to imagine a module which treats weapon proficiencies the same as skills either, so you can have different attack modifiers with different weapons. Now if we can somehow scale spells in the same way.. only five levels would be appealing..!

 

[Stormonu]

Spells are easy enough to group - Apprentice (0th, 1st); Journeyman (2nd, 3rd); Expert (4th, 5th); Master (6th,7th); Grand Master (8th,9th)

Considering a starting wizard will have 0th and 1st level spells, part of the work is already done.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Please explain those +20 damage bonuses, then. Shouldn't they scale +0 to +5?

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

Please explain those +20 damage bonuses, then. Shouldn't they scale +0 to +5?

They certainly need scaling down, but they're not on the d20 axis, so they needn't be 0-5. Down with damage, down with hitpoints!

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Now if we can somehow scale spells in the same way.. only five levels would be appealing..!

It's a departure from tradition, but I would support this.

Spells are easy enough to group - Apprentice (0th, 1st); Journeyman (2nd, 3rd); Expert (4th, 5th); Master (6th,7th); Grand Master (8th,9th)

Considering a starting wizard will have 0th and 1st level spells, part of the work is already done.

It is a little rough, but yes. This would work.

Please explain those +20 damage bonuses, then. Shouldn't they scale +0 to +5?

Martial damage bonuses are one of the clunky parts. I would prefer if damage were entirely measured in dice. Perhaps zero to five Martial Damage Dice.

 

[KidSnide]

Martial damage bonuses are one of the clunky parts. I would prefer if damage were entirely measured in dice. Perhaps zero to five Martial Damage Dice.

Martial damage bonus exists for the simple reason that a crap load of dice would slow down combat at high levels. Right now, their math says that level 17-20 fighters need a +40 damage adjustment and forcing folks to roll dice that average to 40 just takes too long for an "every round" activity.

-KS

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Martial damage bonus exists for the simple reason that a crap load of dice would slow down combat at high levels. Right now, their math says that level 17-20 fighters need a +40 damage adjustment and forcing folks to roll dice that average to 40 just takes too long for an "every round" activity.

-KS

It potentially does more than that.

In the previous packet, the type of expertise dice scaled as well as the number. So, by level 20, we were likely looking at 6d12. By moving half of that to a static bonus, the high end of what can be rolled is reduced. Though mostly, it seems like it was done so they could stick to the d6 for damage dice.

One mistake with the current approach is trying to continue the rate of HP and damage scaling seen in levels 1 though 10. Levels 11 through 20 should see dramatically diminishing returns, but provide a handful of truly outstanding tricks.

 

[Grimmjow]

i wouldn't mind having skills get bonuses like this, or somthing close to this, because the dice rolling thing is too much

 

[variant]

Remove the martial damage bonus and let the damage dice scale with the weapon. I would even go as far as have the weapons themselves add their own martial dice that anyone can use for something basic at the sacrifice of doing no damage, and then simply have the dice scale. It would give a good way to differentiate certain weapons that have two damage dice instead of the one and the weapons would have to be balanced accordingly.

i wouldn't mind having skills get bonuses like this, or somthing close to this, because the dice rolling thing is too much

Why is it too much?