Anyone figured out math to remove extra attacks?

[CapnZapp]

You do realize multiple attacks would be replaced by something which would then be the feature of playing a fighter in the OP's campaign?

I'd hit thanks, but this is tapatalk and I don't know how

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

If I can make a suggestion, why not try it as written before you do extensive work on the system? Most characters wont have more than one extra attack for the bulk of the campaign. Rolling upwards of two extra dice (to hit, damage) is a heck of a lot simpler than what you're proposing, both in determining balance and implementation.

Reducing it to one roll has a ton of knock on effects. It severely changes the weight of advantage/disadvantage. Bardic inspiration. Lucky. Battlemaster maneuvers. Dual Wielding. Inspiration. Sharpshooter and Great weapon fighting (both the -5/+10 and the cleave).

Look, I loathe the math minutia of 3E - it was designed for people with a spreadsheet fetish. 5E is nothing like it. Start at 1st level, by the time you've reached 5th, everyone should be familiar with the system and the few characters that have an extra attack should take very little time.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

You could increase weapon damage die in place of where they get an additional attack. The outcome would be marginally different.

So...5th level all weapons do double their original damage dice, 10th they do triple, 11th quadruple, etc...

Yeah, one of the playtest packets did just such a ting: Deadly Strike.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Most likely - though, if you don't push past the 3.5 obsession with 'RAW,' it might not speed up that much.

Wow, you really are relentless with your crusade of passively bashing 5th Ed, please go troll somewhere else, I mean, you're a subtle troll, but a troll none-the-less. …I can't wait to meet you when I come to San Jose…

 

[Blue]

13th Age, an OGL game from Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo that came out before 5e but shares a lot of aesthetics with it, figured out the math for their system. It was to make weapon damage be [L]dX + ability. So a 3rd level fighter with a 1 handed weapon and an 18 Str would do 3d8+4. This is for a 10 level system instead of 5e's 20 level system, so it would be growing at half that rate if directly ported. The ability damage portion doubled at 5th and again at 8th, their tiers of play. So a 7th level fighter with a 20 Str would do 7d8+10 with a martial one-handed weapon.

(13th Age also gives more HPs, with three dice at 1st and gaining more then one at some of the advanced levels. But again, only 10 levels total.)

However, 5e has more damage adds from class features, spells and feats then 13th Age does. And those can be classified as per hit or once per turn. So any system that wants to condense to a single attack roll needs to consider those types separately to keep their relative impact.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

13th Age took the number bloat to a new level, as if 3rd and 4th Ed were not bad enough.

 

[Dausuul]

Maybe a simple equation that allows for no-damage; half damage; or full damage (half/ full damage intended relative to the amount you would do with all possible attacks)

Sure. Reduce all attack bonuses by 2. Then say that if you miss by 4 or less, you deal half damage. That will yield the same average damage, but with a middle ground between "all" and "none."

Also consider eliminating the damage roll and using the average. (If you do this, I'd change the Great Weapon fighting style to give a flat +1 to damage.)

All that said, I agree with the general sentiment that it's worth trying the game out as written before you start messing with it. The multiple attacks of 5E go a lot faster than the iterative attacks of 3E.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

I've not seen this mentioned above, but I think a huge reason to not eliminate extra attacks is the fact that every class in 5E has "pounce" (move and full attack) and "spring attack" built in. In tactical combat, and specially in combats that involve multiple enemies, removing the extra attacks severely weakens the martial characters. I think you should consider that and the fact that, as someone else already mentioned, the extra attacks in 5E don't slow down the game that much.