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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Himbo_Jones" data-source="post: 9546091" data-attributes="member: 7049217">Stop me if you've heard this one before: I'm currently planning a game in 5e, but there are some holes in the system that I'm currently patching up with homebrew.To keep this from turning into an essay on the minutiae of particular inclinations toward TTRPGs, I will just say that I like a fair bit of crunch in my games (martial combat maneuvers, weapon skills, robust crafting systems, professions the players can pick up during downtime, rules for raising and leading an army, heck even rules for characters going steadily mad from the horrors of the unknown), and have been gathering homebrew/building my own to compensate and it's all becoming... a lot, obviously. I don't mind "a lot", but I also don't want to be doing all of this work when there might just be a simpler answer in the form of a system that does what I am looking for.Why do I stick with 5e, though? It's not like I haven't tried other systems. I've played a lot of AD&D 1e which has been a blast and has pushed me to use "gritty resting" and "safe haven" style rules in my 5e games. I've also played some Pathfinder 2e which has given me the inclination toward making homebrew abilities to sprinkle over my characters as rewards (I also learned to do this from Matt Colville, who suggested just taking class abilities from other editions and including them in your games). Beyond that, I've done Savage Worlds, some Vampire the Masquerade, and a smattering of other RPGs that I've mostly just read more than I've played.In spite of all of this, there are a couple of reasons I'm stuck on 5e and why I defaulted to it when I began making this campaign:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bounded Accuracy. It's something that I really like and I sometimes struggle to articulate actually why. As much as I enjoy my players (or even as a player) getting a lot of new abilities (and it is certainly necessary), I tend to like it more when those abilities to be side-grades rather than upgrades. It's more interesting, in my opinion, to have more options than always a better option. I also like it when a lock is a lock. Sure, a character can get really good at picking locks, but they don't ever (in my opinion) become the god of picking locks. Similarly, I like being able to keep a goblin camp around well into the late game and have it still be somewhat of a threat (Tucker's Kobolds comes to mind here, but that's only if I'm feeling particularly sadistic).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character Classes. I just like them. I like it when a class has a niche that they fill. The tank can do tank stuff, the back like does the pew-pew but dies in two hits, and healers. I love healers. Playing them is dope for me and GMing for them is also a blast if only because it means I can really ratchet up the difficulty of encounters when I have a party with an efficient healer. It's just fun all around for me.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Homebrew. This is the big one for me, honestly. And I do mean it's probably the #1 reason why I've stuck with 5e for so long. There's just so much dang homebrew. Largely, I'm thinking of classes (and subclasses) when I say this. Over the years I've collected a lot of it. A fair bit of it is garbage, to be sure. But that's the fun, right? Reading through it and judging balance; crunching the numbers to make sure the math for class features fits in line with the rest of the game so nobody outshines the others. Heck, I even like tweaking other people's homebrew if I feel like it needs a boost (or, more typically, a slight nerf) to make it more of an interesting choice. I like that there are so many reputable creators for it, too. Creators like MCDM, KibblesTasty, Mage Hand Press, and LaserLlama (just to name a few) hover over my table like benevolent spectors, exherting their influence in the form of all the cool stuff that I get to see my players go wild with. And they are not the only ones that I use. I also love that people like Jasmine Yang are out there (Hamund's Harvesting Handbook is like my top favorite supplement, not to mention her rules on naval combat) making stuff for people like me to throw onto the table.</li> </ul>Those three points (with the third point doing most of the heavy lifting) have kept me on 5e for a while now. But I still have my hesitations, and they mostly come in the form of 5.5e (or 5e '24, if you prefer) that has thrown a bit of a wrench in my plans. Before it felt like I was using 5e '14 as a foundation upon which I built everything else. I added some rules that superceeded the ones from WOTC, and left everything else. But now that 5e '24 has changed so much, I'm finding myself creating a whole new document of what's allowed from which edition, which rules to follow, spells to use, etc. and once I start to add in the homebrew I've collected (a large portion of it having been written for 5e '14), I'm starting to get the sense that I'm just making my own game at this point. Don't get me wrong, generally speaking I love the work. But it's also a TON of work and I didn't really want to get into outright game design, if I'm honest.And all the while I'm wondering if there's just a better way? A better system? Ideally, it would be one that has the ability for me to port some of my favorite 5e homebrew classes to it, but I know that's a tall ask.Or, should I just sally forth as I have been? Make no mistake, I'm enjoying myself to a degree, but I am also eager to get into the game.I have a fairly long wishlist, so to speak, of things that I have been adding to 5e, but I'm hesitant to make this initial post longer than it needs to be by putting that in. Suffice to say, I want some more crunch. If you would, however, like specifics, just let me know and I can drop in my wishlist to give you a better idea of what I'm looking for.Anyway, I hope this isn't too long (and I hope I've put this in the right place). If you have some advice for me, please let me know! Even if it's just encouragement that I'm on the right track for what I'm looking for, that would be enough.Cheers,Himbo_Jones</blockquote>

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