Jeff Carlsen
Adventurer
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:
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.
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.