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<blockquote data-quote="ezo" data-source="post: 9588892" data-attributes="member: 7037866"><p>Frankly, this is the one I am struggling with most with 5E.</p><p></p><p>In the other thread it was mentioned about players struggilng to remember all the things their PCs can do, or have, etc. I currently have four players. Two are long-time vets of 5E (and D&D in general). The other two are new to D&D with 5E--one of them about 1.5 years ago, the other just half a year.</p><p></p><p>All of the, even the vets, occasionally forget something and remember it later on, realizing how much (in some cases) X might have made things better than the Y they used/did.</p><p></p><p>The two newer players: one is very organized, has over a dozen feature notes, etc. to help him track everything. The other's character sheet is a mess and only he can understand it lol! He often forgets or does "the wrong thing" (for example, he is a sword/board hexblade fighter build, but two of his invocations are for eldritch blast--which unless he is <em>immediately</em> in melee, he wants to do all the time).</p><p></p><p>A lot of the homebrew I've been developing with some others lately focuses on limiting features and PC "power" in general. While I think most of the group would be fine with that, I am fairly certain the new "organized" player wouldn't. He seems to <em>really</em> like all the "bells and whistles" for his fighter (rune knight).</p><p></p><p>So, I go back and forth. Should I finish the homebrew and force the group to try it? What about the one player who probably will fight against it? It hardly seems fair to him, but his PCs tend to be a bit OP and frankly as more a "low-key" DM it is annoying at times.</p><p></p><p><strong>Proficiency Bonus</strong></p><p>This is another issue I have with 5E, mostly due to bounded accuracy I think? While not a fan of the "thread-mill" effect of 3E, I think the base +2 to max +6 is too narrow a gap. Even when you factor in the likelihood of a PC improving a prime ability score from +3 to +5, you have a total increase of +5 to +11, barely double. This means, barring a feature like <em>expertise</em> (which is rampant in 2024 for this reason IMO), after likely dozens of adventures and hundreds of encounters, facing death in many possibly, you are only 30% more likely to hit, succeed in an ability check, etc.</p><p></p><p>I feel this leads to too much reliance on ability over proficiency (and experience which goes with it). My preference would be for proficiency to go up to +10 by default, and allow features like expertise to raise the floor or provide advantage, or even a smaller half proficiency bump (max +15 at 20th level). This would remove some of the stress on maximum out ability scores in key areas, I would think. Overall in a base 5E system, this could lead to +20 with expertise at most, with DCs up to 30 I don't think this would be bad at the extreme end of the game.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hit Point and Damage Bloat</strong></p><p>Ah... the inflation of D&D and the necessity of bounded accuracy. Numbers continue to grow as one direction dictates the other. You could just do a blanket "cut it all in half" and get back to more reasonable number for hit points and damage. Instead of damage bonuses increasing the floor and ceiling alike, allow additional dice representing damage bonuses via advantage.</p><p></p><p><em>For example, instead of 1d8+3 you have 4d8K1. </em></p><p>With 1d8+3 you have minimum 4, maximum 11, and average 7.5. </p><p>With 4d8K1, you have minimum 1, maximum 8, average 6.85 (over 68% your damage will be 7 or 8).</p><p></p><p><strong>Attacks Are Too Easy (tied into HP and Damage bloat)</strong></p><p>Sure, the baseline for 5E has been 65%, but let's be honest, this is often higher in practice and in 2024 is likely worse. It slows down the game IMO when you are hitting 3/4 times. Yeah, I know: "But missing isn't fun". Well, IMO, even as a player--hitting all the time practically isn't really any fun, either. It becomes predictable--and that is bad IMO. This enforces the <em>slog</em> many players experience in combat. You might as well just remove attack rolls and go straight to damage; cut out the middle-man. </p><p></p><p>In short, accuracy isn't "bounded", it is practically guaranteed!</p><p></p><p><strong>The Plethora of Magic</strong></p><p>Magic is much to easy to get in 5E, especially when you consider races, classes, and feats. It is just much too common for every PC to have some form a magic.</p><p></p><p>Those are my issues with 5E and the direction D&D has gone. Most of my tweaking and homebrews have been to lessen or eliminate those issues.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ezo, post: 9588892, member: 7037866"] Frankly, this is the one I am struggling with most with 5E. In the other thread it was mentioned about players struggilng to remember all the things their PCs can do, or have, etc. I currently have four players. Two are long-time vets of 5E (and D&D in general). The other two are new to D&D with 5E--one of them about 1.5 years ago, the other just half a year. All of the, even the vets, occasionally forget something and remember it later on, realizing how much (in some cases) X might have made things better than the Y they used/did. The two newer players: one is very organized, has over a dozen feature notes, etc. to help him track everything. The other's character sheet is a mess and only he can understand it lol! He often forgets or does "the wrong thing" (for example, he is a sword/board hexblade fighter build, but two of his invocations are for eldritch blast--which unless he is [I]immediately[/I] in melee, he wants to do all the time). A lot of the homebrew I've been developing with some others lately focuses on limiting features and PC "power" in general. While I think most of the group would be fine with that, I am fairly certain the new "organized" player wouldn't. He seems to [I]really[/I] like all the "bells and whistles" for his fighter (rune knight). So, I go back and forth. Should I finish the homebrew and force the group to try it? What about the one player who probably will fight against it? It hardly seems fair to him, but his PCs tend to be a bit OP and frankly as more a "low-key" DM it is annoying at times. [B]Proficiency Bonus[/B] This is another issue I have with 5E, mostly due to bounded accuracy I think? While not a fan of the "thread-mill" effect of 3E, I think the base +2 to max +6 is too narrow a gap. Even when you factor in the likelihood of a PC improving a prime ability score from +3 to +5, you have a total increase of +5 to +11, barely double. This means, barring a feature like [I]expertise[/I] (which is rampant in 2024 for this reason IMO), after likely dozens of adventures and hundreds of encounters, facing death in many possibly, you are only 30% more likely to hit, succeed in an ability check, etc. I feel this leads to too much reliance on ability over proficiency (and experience which goes with it). My preference would be for proficiency to go up to +10 by default, and allow features like expertise to raise the floor or provide advantage, or even a smaller half proficiency bump (max +15 at 20th level). This would remove some of the stress on maximum out ability scores in key areas, I would think. Overall in a base 5E system, this could lead to +20 with expertise at most, with DCs up to 30 I don't think this would be bad at the extreme end of the game. [B]Hit Point and Damage Bloat[/B] Ah... the inflation of D&D and the necessity of bounded accuracy. Numbers continue to grow as one direction dictates the other. You could just do a blanket "cut it all in half" and get back to more reasonable number for hit points and damage. Instead of damage bonuses increasing the floor and ceiling alike, allow additional dice representing damage bonuses via advantage. [I]For example, instead of 1d8+3 you have 4d8K1. [/I] With 1d8+3 you have minimum 4, maximum 11, and average 7.5. With 4d8K1, you have minimum 1, maximum 8, average 6.85 (over 68% your damage will be 7 or 8). [B]Attacks Are Too Easy (tied into HP and Damage bloat)[/B] Sure, the baseline for 5E has been 65%, but let's be honest, this is often higher in practice and in 2024 is likely worse. It slows down the game IMO when you are hitting 3/4 times. Yeah, I know: "But missing isn't fun". Well, IMO, even as a player--hitting all the time practically isn't really any fun, either. It becomes predictable--and that is bad IMO. This enforces the [I]slog[/I] many players experience in combat. You might as well just remove attack rolls and go straight to damage; cut out the middle-man. In short, accuracy isn't "bounded", it is practically guaranteed! [B]The Plethora of Magic[/B] Magic is much to easy to get in 5E, especially when you consider races, classes, and feats. It is just much too common for every PC to have some form a magic. Those are my issues with 5E and the direction D&D has gone. Most of my tweaking and homebrews have been to lessen or eliminate those issues. [/QUOTE]
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