D&D 5E (2024) Bonus Action Conversion

[doctorbadwolf]

This is what Mike Mearls said about them on YTube.

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I...to put it nicely, i think it is anomolous that he headed 5e and 5e turned out so well.

Because the game he seems to have wanted, i truly believe would have ended up actually being dnd's swan song.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

yeah, i think if there was just, a basic selection of simple BA actions available to everyone i think it would fill in the urge to be using your BA for something without being optimization bait.

maybe convert some of the basic actions like the disengage and help actions, or make variants, a shorter dash, a minor defend that gives you a few extra AC.

Shift: As a bonus action you can take an evasive stance. Until the end of your turn you cna use half your movement to move 5ft without provoking opportunity attacks.

En Garde: As a bonus action you take an En Garde stance. Until the start of your next turn, when a creature moves into a space within half your current speed, you can use your reaction to move to a space within 5ft of that creature, before they move any further.

Mark? When you hit a creature with an attack with you action, you can use a bonus action to Mark the creature. (Then give some sort of bonus like extra damage on your next attack against the target if they have attacked your allies or whatever.)

Or maybe Protect (give an AC bonus to an ally near you, or damage reduction)

Charge gain +10ft speed and small damage buff if you hit someone after moving at least 10ft. Something like that.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I...to put it nicely, i think it is anomolous that he headed 5e and 5e turned out so well.

Because the game he seems to have wanted, i truly believe would have ended up actually being dnd's swan song.

I think he did a superb job of managing the design of the edition. He intentionally suppressed his own personal preferences to try to get at a shared D&D game essence that appealed to most people. (It doesn't work for the die hards of any previous edition, but it at least works for most fans of most editions, and excels for some.) There are plenty of different things he would have done with the game, if he were making it for himself, and it would have probably been a worse game for it for most people other than himself.

And that's a skill in and of itself, being able to distinguish between what is going to work best for the vision, and what you personally want, and having the self-control to choose the former when you have the power to enforce the latter. While I respect the contributions of the other leading 5e design and development figures, I think Mike's commitment to that goal is what really brought everything together, and it hasn't been the same since he ceased being the guiding hand.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think he did a superb job of managing the design of the edition. He intentionally suppressed his own personal preferences to try to get at a shared D&D game essence that appealed to most people. (It doesn't work for the die hards of any previous edition, but it at least works for most fans of most editions, and excels for some.) There are plenty of different things he would have done with the game, if he were making it for himself, and it would have probably been a worse game for it for most people other than himself.

And that's a skill in and of itself, being able to distinguish between what is going to work best for the vision, and what you personally want, and having the self-control to choose the former when you have the power to enforce the latter. While I respect the contributions of the other leading 5e design and development figures, I think Mike's commitment to that goal is what really brought everything together, and it hasn't been the same since he ceased being the guiding hand.

Right, it has been even better. Under him we got Volos and MToF, which are absolute garbage. The further we have gotten from that low point the betger the products have gotten.

But you are right that he did a good job of prioritizing feedback over his own preferences.

 

[Horwath]

It should be noted that Swift Action came very late in the 3rd Edition life-cycle, and I think it was mostly relegated to spells, that cost precious spell slots, so the impact wasn't as strongly felt as if it had started at first level.

I agree with EzekielRaiden that having a standard bonus action every character can take would be a good thing.
One might want to be careful though with handing out bonuses like +1 AC or so. That can get fiddly fast. (No offense, but I was reminded of 3E Dodge feat here).

now we have potions as Bonus actions,
that probably applies to poisons or similar weapon effects.

maybe adding half your speed to movement would also be nice default.
everyone likes more movement.

or "preparation"
use your Bonus action to gain extra Reaction per round.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Right, it has been even better. Under him we got Volos and MToF, which are absolute garbage. The further we have gotten from that low point the betger the products have gotten.

But you are right that he did a good job of prioritizing feedback over his own preferences.

I couldn't disagree more about VGtM and MToF. Volos is probably my favorite 5e product.

But, after decades of internet debates across multiple games and editions, and becoming very familiar with extreme differences in preferences (such as strong opinions about 4e), I think having the complete opposite view about Volo's Guide to Monsters is the most extreme difference of preference I've experienced.

My awareness has just been expanded. (Glad you got more out of later products than me!)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I couldn't disagree more about VGtM and MToF. Volos is probably my favorite 5e product.

But, after decades of internet debates across multiple games and editions, and becoming very familiar with extreme differences in preferences (such as strong opinions about 4e), I think having the complete opposite view about Volo's Guide to Monsters is the most extreme difference of preference I've experienced.

My awareness has just been expanded. (Glad you got more out of later products than me!)

Lol yeah fair enough. I find that the original printing of Volos in particular is just...nasty, is the best word i have at the moment, and what is left in later printings that removed certain phrases and ideas is just not particularly useful or interesting.

But, i also despise the mtof "gnomes and halflings are just better protected ny their gods and thats why they dont get overrun by orcs" concept, and the changes to the Raven Queen, to me, are vastly worse than just not bringing her into 5e at all. Might as well make Pelor a minor celestial of black holes or something, like...no just leave it in the past if you cant use it without completely changing it.

So both books get a solid bleh from me lol

But i can see how one could value the rest of the books enough to value the books as a whole.