D&D (2024) Chaosmancer Martial Brews

[Chaosmancer]

So, I’ve been in another caster vs martials thread, and a few days ago we were challenged to essentially put our money where our mouths are and design fixes for the martials. I’ve had ideas rattling around in my head since I saw the One DnD Fighter, but I kept telling myself to wait to start making things. I didn’t want to end up deep into a design, only for the revised fighter to come out and end up with me having to start from scratch again because of another good idea.

But, I was pushed, and the idea for the system at the end of this chain of posts was too interesting for me to completely dismiss. So I started chipping away at the ideas.

Chain of posts? Ideas?

Yep. This is not a single all-encompassing brew, this is a series of brews tackling different problems in different ways. And, in addition to that, in certain places I’m going to offer alternatives, variants, and other thoughts, because sometimes I’m not 100% certain which way would work best. I’m not a game designer, I’m a hobbyist, and I’m just out here tinkering around with ideas. And if you guys want to debate me on the implementation of an idea, just be aware of the variants, because sometimes people are going decry an implementation, and I’ll have already addressed that concern in a variant.

Let’s get started. (Note: This will reference a lot of One DnD rules, which is why I posted it in the One DnD section)

 

[Chaosmancer]

Fixing Strength and Lifting​

So, going to start with a simpler change, but one that has BIG implications for the game. Lifting, pushing, pulling, ect. There are two major problems with the original lifting rules. 1) Most things aren’t strong enough. 2) There is no guidance on what an athletics check to increase the lift looks like.

Now, I know Enworld, so first I’m going to prove point #1 briefly.

The official rules are Strength score x 15 (double for max) And you end up doubling the weight for every size increase. This is more than enough for most equipment, so why is this a problem?

Because big things are too weak. Take the Hill Giant. With a strength of 21 they can lift: 21 x 15 x 2 x 2 = 1,260 lbs. Now this is nowhere near weak right? Except… read the Hill Giant lore and it mentions they use uprooted trees to fight. Take a gander at a logging company website, and you will see that the average log the size of a person (which is cut down from a full tree’s height) weighs in at approximately 1,500 lbs. Now, a Hill giant isn’t at their max capacity with the 1,260, but they would certainly be unable to swing it around as a weapon without penalties.

And this continues. Rocs and Tarrasque’s are too weak to even attempt picking up elephants, ect. So, I wanted to fix that problem, and in the process, I ended up creating something interesting for martials too.

The new equation is more complicated, so I made a chart, but I feel that is okay. You end up doing your strength score ^ X, where X is determined by your size category. Then doubling it for your maximum. The exponents are:

Diminutive: ^0.5
Tiny ^1
Small ^1.5
Medium ^2
Large ^2.5
Huge ^3
Gargantuan ^3.5

So, what kind of ranges does this give us? Well, your average Hill Giant can now lift 9,261 lbs. Plenty to uproot and swing a small tree, or to pick up a rhino and toss it. Which, for a giant, feels about correct.

This also means the mighty Tarrasque, strongest of all monsters, can with some strain, drag 295,770 lbs. That is a cruise liner. Which, for a gargantuan strength 30 beast, makes sense.

How does this affect martials? Well, your average martial starts at 16 strength. That is them being able to lift between 256 and 512 lbs, which isn’t much higher than they started with (240 - 480) but scales much faster. Additionally, 500 to 600 lbs? That is a horse. Or a harley-davidson motorcycle, that they can lift and carry.

But if you are playing a creature with the large stature ability, like Goliaths or Orcs? Instead of 480 to 960, they are able to lift 1,000 to 2,000 lbs. Which opens up a lot of utility from just being incredibly strong. I tried it out with an Iron Body Goliath Monk, and they had a blast just from realizing how strong they were.

However, isn’t this just a single solution, didn’t I say there were two problems? Yep. And the second solution is just… setting some DCs.

If you want to push/lift/drag more than your normal maximum amount, then you can roll athletics.

DC 15 = x1.25
DC 20 = x1.50
DC 25 = x2.00

So, you have your normal Strength 16 human fighter, he can drag 512 lbs over his head, and has a +5 at level 1. He needs to roll aside a boulder blocking them in a cave? Well, he now knows that if he rolls a 10 on the check, he can push 640 lbs. 15 on the check? 768 lbs. Nat 20? He can push 1,024 lbs. Not only is this incredibly impressive amounts of strength, but now he can pretty quickly figure out his odds of success at moving the boulder, and if they may need to find a different way, instead of just guessing (both for them and the DM)


Expected Complaint: This makes people TOO strong, this is unrealistic!

Frankly, no. Firstly, DnD is a world saturated in magic. Every aspect of the world from the soil to the air to the sun is magical. Secondly though… I think people often forget how strong 16 strength IS. 16 Strength is the same strength score given to a gorilla. Apes in DnD are medium creatures with a 16 strength. IRL they are capable of ripping small trees out of the ground and I'd exactly expect they could drag aound a motorcycle by the wheel. You have to remember that when you are picturing an “average person” you are actually picturing someone who in DnD terms is strength 8 or less

 

[Chaosmancer]

Pushing Yourself and Jumping​

So, I’ve brought up a few times that I run a handful of… odd things. Quests is the official term I guess, but the idea is something like “Twitch plays DnD” where you have a singular PC going through the adventure. It was during one of these that I got frustrated once more with the movement rules, and decided to do something about it.

So, as you likely know, the way running away from someone in combat works is that it doesn’t. If you move 30 ft, it is incredibly likely the enemy moves 30 ft, and you end up back in the same position (relatively speaking) that you started in. If an enemy runs away and was 20 ft away when they started running, you are either guaranteed to catch them, or guaranteed that they will always be 20 ft away. This just… isn’t how this works narratively in any case.

So, my solution is incredibly rough, devised mid-stream but I think it works well enough to be put into further consideration for this martial business.

Pushing Yourself: As a Free Action on your turn you may roll an Athletics (Str) or Athletics (Dex) to push beyond your normal limits. Consult the chart for results

10 to 15 -> No change in speed
15 to 20 -> +5 ft of speed for the turn
20 to 25 -> +10 ft of speed for the turn
Ect

If you roll a 1, 2 or 3 on the die or your total result is less than 10, you gain a level of exhaustion (using the OD&D exhaustion mechanic) until you can take a 5 minute breather (usually after combat has ended)

You can do this a number of times equal to you con mod for free, refreshing at the end of a fight or scene. After that, activating this ability automatically gives you a level of exhaustion. If you would reach 10 levels of exhaustion from pushing yourself, you collapse and are unable to move for 5 minutes, gaining a permanent level of exhaustion until you take a long rest.


So, does this help martials? I think so, it gives options for movement that didn’t otherwise exist. However, it is a general movement ability as I have conceived it. You could make a rule that martial characters get additional free uses, or that they get advantage on the check, to make this more powerful for them than for casters.

---

I’ve also looked into the Jumping Rules. Overall, the jumping rules suck, and there are a few reasons for that, I don’t like that they end up with odd jump amounts, and I actually did like the One DnD idea of having a jump action because of some things I’ve had players do in the past. Additionally, One DnD did a thing that opened some design space for me. They took away the Champion’s remarkable athlete. I had actually rewritten that ability before to include jumping into. So, if I synthesize everything, here is what I’m thinking about.

• Whenever you jump, if you do not move at least 10 ft before jumping, your distance is halved.
• While moving, you can jump a 5 ft gap without an action, treating the area as difficult terrain
• You may take an action to make either a long jump or a high jump, jumping in this manner does not use movement. Without rolling, a character may make a long jump of up to 10 ft. A DC 15 Athletics (STR) or Acrobatics (Dex) check constitutes a jump of 15 ft, DC 20 a 20 ft jump, ect. Without rolling, a character may make a high jump of up to 5 ft, a DC 15 constitutes a 10 ft high jump, a DC 20 constitutes a 15 ft high jump, ect. If both your hands are free, you may reach above you to a ledge that is (your height x 1.5) ft above your jump. IE If a 5 ft character makes a 10 ft jump, they can reach a ledge that is 17.5 ft above them.

Now, woah woah, before people get upset about nerfing, then you add part II

I’m thinking 5th level give Fighters, Rogues, Monks, Barbarians, Paladins, and Rangers the following ability (maybe with some class specific language or features)

Remarkable Physique: Your training and dedication have made you a truly remarkable specimen of athleticism. When you jump, all jump distances are doubled. Additionally, you may long jump or high jump as a bonus action, instead of an action.

I also have a feat called Athlete, that has a few things in it. The important bits for jumping will actually need re-written, but I think I can have them say something like

Spring-Heeled: You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet. You can add your proficiency bonus to jumping checks one more time (note: phrasing is to allow stacking with expertise), and increase your high jump distance by 5 ft and your long jump distance by five times your proficiency bonus, after any modifiers.

Combine all this together? And you can have a level 17 martial who makes a normal, no check, jump of 50 ft. If they put their back into it? You could have a long jump of 80 ft. As a bonus action. While, at the same time, the wizard’s and other casters are going to be unable to make similar leaps without magic.


Potential Problem: Bonus action Dashes. I know. The way that these rules end up stacking together, it becomes very likely that someone with the feat is going to be better off jumping than using a bonus action dash, and everyone is getting to bonus action jump when not everyone is getting to bonus action dash. I said it before, these rules are rough and I haven’t figured out all the interactions yet.

I could keep everything as action jumps. This would save the truly massive leaps for out of combat utility, and dashing would be best in combat. I’m not too worried of non-athlete feat using people being able to reliably jump 30 ft, because I have the pushing yourself rule. If you can reliably jump 30 ft, then you can reliably dash 35 ft. So it stays close.

You could also add more of the exhaustion style fails to the jumps, I didn’t because normally failing a jump involves falling and taking damage. Which seemed punishment enough for me.

Overall, I was more concerned with showing a framework for increasing the jumps of martials, while keeping casters from accessing truly athletic jumps, than I was the precise numbers. If people have better numbers, I could see myself utilizing those numbers.

One thing I LIKE about these various rules, is that they have the potential to assist in making for more dynamic battlefields. A martial being able to cover a hundred feet in a turn means that they have some mobility potential in BIG maps that can reduce the supremacy of ranged options.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Minor Skill Notes and One DnD Unarmed Strikes​

There were somethings that I obviously want to keep from One DnD, but I wanted to specifically call out the unarmed strikes, because two of those options ALSO show up in my new system. So, if you don’t remember, this is where that stands.

When you make an attack, you can choose to make an unarmed attack instead of a normal one. With the following three options.

Damage: You make an attack roll against the target. Your bonus to hit equals your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, the target takes Bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.

Grapple: The target must succeed on a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (it chooses which),
or it has the Grappled condition. The DC for the saving throw and any escape attempts equals 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. This grapple is possible only if the target is no more than one size larger than you and if you have a hand free to grab it.

- To escape from a grapple takes an Athletics (Str) or Acrobatics (Dex) check, which you make as part of the escape action, or the grappler leaves the range of the grapple

Shove: The target must succeed on a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (it chooses which), or you either push the target 5 feet away or cause it to have the Prone condition. The DC for the saving throw equals 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. This shove is possible only if the target is no more than one size larger than you.

So, shove in particular shows up in a more powerful option in my system, so why keep it here? Well, a few reasons. 1) This allows for non-martials to do it, but more importantly 2) Reliability. The action in my system below from levels 1 thru 8 is going to have about a 50% success rate, on top of the attack needing to land. This shove immediately grants a save and that is that. It may be that it needs adjusted, but I don’t mind having a weaker option that can be relied on for the other classes.


Additionally, I’m considering making the following change to Intimidation, Persuasion and Deception checks, mostly with an eye towards rogues, but it could end up working for anyone.

If you make an intimidation, persuasion, or deception check the DC is either 15, the target’s intelligence, or the target’s wisdom. If the target is proficient in insight, increase the DC by +3. However, if you exceed the DC by 5 or more, the target is considered either frightened or charmed by you (as appropriate to the check and situation) for 1 minute, at which point they can roll a save versus your check result if you are still interacting. (Errata: if you hurt a charmed target or someone they care deeply about, you break the charm effect)

I know some people will see this and immediately worry about Diplomancers, but the key here is to remember what the charm condition DOES. All it does is say the target cannot attack you, and you have advantage on charisma skills against them. That’s it. It doesn’t change what those skills actually accomplish.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Class Changes​

Since I talked about giving the Remarkable Physique ability to martials, let me go ahead and mention a few other changes I’ve been considering.

Not all of these are locked in stone yet, or locked at particular levels, but they do add some flare here and there. These are in addition to the system I will post next.

Barbarians

Sheer Force: You deal double damage to objects and structures (including force constructs). Additionally, your unarmed strikes count as d8 weapons when you are attempting to damage an object, structure, or force construct

This is a pretty basic ability, but it ends up paying dividends. This let’s barbarians SMASH, if you look at the rules in the book, a stone wall has on average 27 hp. A single max damage blow from a barbarian’s fist would be 8+5 = 13 x 2 = 26 meaning they could nearly punch through a stone wall on a single attempt. Even better, you can use this instead of strength athletics rolls for things like busting down doors or shattering manacles. This lets them feel stronger than people like the fighter, because it is pure destruction. I’m thinking level 9 for this, alongside or even just written into the indomitable might ability.

Another thing I would do is give a few uses of the new Primal Knowledge ability outside of needing to use Rage. I’ve discussed this before, but rage is vital to making Barbarians effective, and using one for a skill check feels bad. I don’t know the number yet, but I’m tempted to just go with prof uses or con uses per day, in addition to rage.

I’ve thought about giving Barbarians a fighting style at 5th level. They really need one.

Finally, they need something at 11th level. The idea of Brutal Critical is fun, but it is far too unreliable. I’ve been considering something like this to slot in in addition to the critical:

Punish the Weak: Whenever you hit a creature that does not have its full hitpoints with an attack roll, you may deal an additional 1d6 damage.

It is a bit weaker than the paladin’s improved divine smite, which I think puts it about where it needs to be. I considered it only working while raging… but barbarians need SOME abilities that don’t rely on rage to be effective.

Rogues

I didn’t think Rogue’s needed a lot, but an interesting idea came to me during some of the recent discussions. The rogue’s archetype ends up being… strange. Sneak attack is a conceit, traps are… their own problem, and so it ends up coming down to stealth. Which doesn’t feel like quite enough. Especially considering how caster’s can affect stealth.

But… what are some high level rogue archetypes? Well… Batman, or, in other words, a ninja. And in both cases, these types of characters iconically use items. Smoke bombs, flash bangs, ect.

So, I think I want to move the Thief’s Fast Hand ability to the general rogue, and give them a tool choice beyond thieves’ tools. I might even remove thieves’ tools and fold them into Tinker’s Tools, because Tinker’s Tools fit better. This would make rogues one of the only item using classes, the other one being the artificer.

And, I’ve spent a LOT of time working with crafting rules, so I have a wide variety of alchemical items for rogue’s to utilize. This then creates the ability for them to non-magically copy some of the things caster’s do. Need to blind a crowd of enemies? Throw down a flash bang and dart away in the confusion. Need to slow down the guards? Throw down a web grenade and trap them.

There is, however, a potential problem. And that is the damage. Because these rules also come with much more potent fires and acids, and launching those as a bonus action could be too strong. However, there is also a secondary restraint here. A caster recovers their resources on a rest. A rogue using alchemical items… doesn’t recover them. You spend gold, spend time to craft the item, and then once you use it, you need to buy the materials and craft the item again. Can you buy a few ready-made items? Sure, but not the top-line stuff. I did this before with a character I made who was a thief, so I know the concept has legs.

Additionally, around level 15 I want to give them this ability

Trickster’s Guile: When you attempt to hide, so long as there is a location within 60 ft of you (that you are aware of) that you can hide within, you are considered hidden no matter the creature’s senses and appear within that location. You may do this three times, regaining all uses on a short rest

Actually… no, not 15th level. This should replace the level 18 Stroke of Luck ability. This should be a rogue capstone. I’ve always found Stroke of Luck boring and this is just a much more exciting and dynamic ability. If you want to make it still based on the rogue’s stealth, you can make them hidden with their passive Stealth score, which will still be massive.


Paladins, Rangers and Monks: I’m… skipping these. I don’t think there is much to be done for Paladins, Rangers I think are in an amazing position now except for their level 11 ability (which I need to math out, they may not NEED a level 11 damage boost ability) and for monks, well, Monks I’ve done a complete rework on before, but I want to see what One DnD does to them before I start trying to rework them again.

Fighters

It is kind of amusing, I’ve got this entire system coming up in the last post, but for fighter’s I only really have two things that I feel like they really need.

• They need a bonus to out-of-combat abilities.
• There are a few things that I wanted to put in the system, but didn’t make sense, so I spiraled them into a separate ability.

And that is the core of what I’m doing for now. I might have been able to push further and harder, but I wanted to wait for now, get a feel for what all I DO have, because as you look at the whole, more and more things are already working in favor of these fighters.

So, I’m thinking around level 3 they get this ability

Practical Knowledge: When not honing your skill with a blade, or caring for your armor, you spend time with people. You listen to the fishmonger, the retired mercenary, the streetsweeper, the pickpocket, and you incorporate their knowledge and knacks into your own view of the world. Pick one of the following options, if one of these does not describe your character, you may work with your DM to craft a similar option by picking four skill checks (skills, tools, or initiative).

• Ambush Leader: Stealth, acrobatics, Initiative, and Survival
• Commander: Intimidation, Persuasion, Performance, Insight
• Tactical Officer: History, Investigation, Insight, Perception
• Charlatan: Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Deception, Disguise Kit
• Siege-Breaker: Athletics, History, Intimidation, Land Vehicles

A number of times equal to your proficiency modifier per day, you may roll your proficiency die and add it to a check from your list, as you add the know-how you have gathered to your work. You may choose to use this ability after rolling, but before knowing the result.

And that… that would basically shore up the weakness fighter’s have in the skill game. Just like that. It isn’t as good as expertise, because it is unreliable and you don’t get it often, twice per day at low levels, but it gives you something that may occasionally be clutch in securing a win.

Additionally, I was thinking around 7th level, giving them access to stances. I considered 13th level, but I think that’s a bit too high. And stances are very simple.

Battle Stance: On your turn you may choose to enter a battle stance, you concentrate on the stance as though you were concentrating on a spell. If your concentration is broken, you cannot enter another stance for the rest of the combat. If you willingly end a stance on your turn, you may enter another stance during your next turn (you cannot do this the turn you enter a stance).

• Rooted Iron: While you are in this stance every space within reach of a melee weapon you are wielding is considered difficult terrain. If an enemy attempts to pass your space, they must make an athletics (str) or acrobatics (dex) check against your save DC. On a failure, their movement is reduced to zero. If they fail by 5 or more, you can shove them back 5 ft.
• Gleaming Silver: While you are in this stance, when you miss with an attack roll, you deal damage to the target equal to the ability modifier of the attack. This damage cannot be increased by other abilities.
• Bulwark of Will: While you are in this stance, whenever an adjacent ally would be hit by an attack, you can redirect that attack to you instead. Adjacent allies treat you as half cover for dexterity saving throws
• Sky Flash: While you are in this stance, your movement speed is reduced to 5 ft, however, you may re-roll one missed ranged attack. Additionally, your range increases by 10 times your fighter level.
• Coursing River: While you are in this stance, your movement speed is increased by 10 ft, non-magical difficult terrain cannot impede your movement, and magical difficult terrain can be ignored with a successful Dex Save vs the spell DC. Additionally, you have advantage against any effect which would impede movement such as grapple, restrain, slow, or paralyze.

I think it would be possible to make more of these. I mostly wanted to avoid anything that would increase damage directly, and also address weakpoints in the fighter strategies (like the lack of ability to control movement or focus attacks on the fighter)

 

[Chaosmancer]

Combat Arts​

So… this is it. The big one. Again, I want to reiterate that this is rough and it doesn’t go as far as it possibly could. However, I want to do this as much as a proof of concept as anything else. Because it is fairly easy to add to this system, so if you want to make this more, it is easy enough to start doing so.

Now, I’m going to start with the basics of the rules, offer alternates, and then post the homebrewery list of the moves and finish with discussing thoughts, none potential problems, ect.

To activate a Combat Art, a character declares their intent to use the art when they make an attack. You can activate an art on any attack you make. When you use an art, instead of using your flat proficiency bonus, you roll a proficiency die as per the DMG rules. To remind people that is

Levels 1 thru 4 : 1d4
Levels 5 thru 8 : 1d6
Levels 9 thru 12 : 1d8
Levels 13 thru 16 : 1d10
Levels 17 thru 20 : 1d12

A basic combat art only successfully activates if the prof die rolls a 3 or higher
An advanced combat art only successfully activates if the prof die rolls a 5 or better

Starting at level 1, you pick a number of combat arts that you meet the prerequisites for based on your class to be trained. You may use an untrained art that you meet the prerequisites for by downgrading the die one step. This means that before level 5 you cannot use an untrained art.

You can retrain a combat art on a level up.

Alternate: If you do not want access to all untrained arts, then simply limit the player to only being able to use only their trained arts.

Alternate: If you don’t want to have the player able to use their abilities on every attack, you can give them a pool of dice that refresh every time they roll initiative.

Alternate: You may attempt to combine two basic arts into a single move, this move will be counted as an advanced untrained art.

The number of arts per class, divided at levels 1/5/9/13/17 (when the prof die increases)

Fighter: 3/6/9/12/15 combat arts
Barbarian: 2/4/6/8/10 combat arts
Rogue: 2/4/6/8/10 combat arts
Monk: 2/4/6/8/10 combat arts
Ranger: 1/2/3/4/5 combat arts
Paladin: 1/2/3/4/5 combat arts

* If you want to give this system to subclasses like the Sword Bard or War cleric, use the Ranger/Paladin progression.

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/JlOFH5Pf8KpN

Let me know if the homebrewery looks weird for you. I opened it in Chrome to fix it, but it was doing some odd things with the spacing.

Potential Problems/Concerns: But what about the Battlemaster!

This is a legitimate question that I did consider. Because, in some ways, this is just a modified maneuver system for all martial and half-martial classes. The first thing to note is I absolutely avoided any bonuses to damage, and tried to avoid any pure bonuses to accuracy. Yes, some of these status effects can also increase accuracy, but it isn’t their sole purpose. This helps not too terribly upset the balance in terms of damage alone.

For battlemaster’s then? Well, the solution I kind of like is to lean into them being the masters of this system. Whereas everyone else must roll the prof die to see if their trained combat art activates, Battle Masters could activate it with their flat bonus, making them far more reliable. Then you can keep their dice and have them used solely to increase damage.

This does mean there are a few maneuvers that don’t get ported over. Mainly this is precision attack and the warlord style support manuevers. I think it would be better to have the warlord style abilities moved and improved into a subclass, rather than trying to keep stretching the battlemaster to cover them. And losing out on precision attack… I find myself not too worried about it, because the variable die of the combat arts can also increase accuracy, it is just a bit more dynamic.

Finally, by making this system at-will and leveled, this helps prevent the battlemaster’s biggest drawbacks, running out of dice after a single fight and not having good choices past level 7 or so. And there are other things you can try, such as having battlemasters capable of ignoring the pre-reqs of the Combat Arts, or allowing them to swap arts on a long rest. So, overall, I don’t think Battlemasters will end up hurting too much.

Second Complaint!: This is too complicated!

Then don’t use it. I’ve simply added the system. If you don’t want to utilize it, you don’t have to. There is nothing inherently wrong with just making normal attacks with static proficiency and never once using one of these maneuvers. You are self-nerfing, but that is a legitimate choice.

Third!: You didn’t include a way to do [X] what if I want to do [X]!

Well, if there is something that a player wants to do that doesn’t quite fit an art that I’ve made, then you can simply treat it as an untrained art. If you feel like it should be an art option, then you can simply make it and plug it in. I did a lot of research into various maneuver systems, 4e, and homebrews like LaserLlama’s exploits trying to cover all the bases I could. I obviously could have missed something. I also have a few abilities that are… basically other class features. Such as the Aerial Manuever. In the case of these, I fall back to the Battlemaster concept. These are combat arts that those classes can activate at-will, making them the best at them, while the other classes are merely roughly copying what they can do.

Bonus Complaint: Your names suck!

Probably, would love some good name suggestions, because a few of these are way too basic.

And that… is that. I look forward to a fruitful discussion, which I am sure will be wide-ranging due to the sheer number of things I was changing.

 

[Yaarel]

Fixing Strength and Lifting​

"Weightlifting" needs to be a skill.

People can learn to lift more, carry, and pull more, by means of training. Weight training is a literal reallife skill.

The Strength ability is more about aptitude. Some people have a talent for athletics and weightlifting. Strength can add its bonus to the Strength (Weightlifting) Check, but it is the skill that does heavy lifting.

Then, things like whether one is biped or a quadruped, whether one is Small or Large, whether one has Powerful Build − all these things modify the SKILL. But they never modify the Strength ability score.


In my own games, there are two Strength skills: Athletics and Weightlifting.

Athletics is for all body stunts, including jumping, falling, climbing, and balancing. They are all Strength checks. In the same way that Strength makes sword swings accurate, it also makes catching oneself from falling more accurate. Athletics is the go-to for all "swashbuckling" flavor, and represents agility and mobility.

There is no need to make swashbuckling flavor Multi-Ability-Dependent. Strength + Athletics is everything for the agile archetype.


Weightlifting is for the brute that lifts, heaves, breaks, and bends. The Weightlifting skill establishes how much one can lift. The Strength (Weightlifting) Checks benefit from both the Strength ability bonus and the Proficiency skill bonus. Meanwhile circumstances can grant Advantage, and so on.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

i actually really like that strength rule. and, funnily enough, the DC for a strength 16 character to lift 1,024 pounds is the exact same DC to lift a 1,000 pound portcullis listed in level up's dungeon delver's guide (although that's an objective DC based on the weight of the object, not a subjective DC relative to the lifter's strength). i might steal that.

i think the easiest way to limit jumping would be to simply say that jumping solely for movement (i.e. not for a specific jumping-related purpose) is indistinguishable from using your speed. it's kind of cheating, but it lets you have cool jumping rules without having people just bunny hop all over the field. i mean, either that or you can just let people go hog wild and describe jumping for movement as fantastical bounding (e.g. grog from the vox machina show). either would probably work fine depending on what kind of game you want, honestly.

the only thing i really have to say about the arts system (other then the fact that the number of arts read like they dart up by 2-3 for the full martials at the specified levels, which is...weird) is i'm iffy on the exact usage of the proficiency die. like, i understand why it's here - you're using it to limit what is otherwise a completely at-will maneuver system - but i don't know how i feel about forcing it to replace your attack's proficiency bonus. like, i'm not entirely certain why it couldn't be rolled separately from the attack. other then that...yes, this is certainly a maneuver system. it has maneuvers.

as an aside, i've been wondering about if this replacement for the fighter's/barbarian's/monk's extra attack would be any good:

Heroic Action

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. You can replace any number of these attacks with the Dash, Don or Doff a Shield, Escape a Grapple, or Use an Object actions.

i wrote this with the assumption it would be run in o5e or level up - if you were going to run it in OneDND, i'd 100% add Jump to the list of actions that can replace an attack. the star of the show here is obviously dash - being able to dash and attack (or dash 2-3 times and attack for higher level fighters) in a turn just like that is pretty spicy. don/doff a shield and use an object are here mainly to allow better action economy RAW and escape a grapple is here because...well, honestly because we basically already run escape a grapple as replacing an attack in the games i play in, but it helps sell the idea that you're really getting stronger then a caster could ever hope to be. if i went ahead with this i'd also probably combine flurry of blows and step of the wind such that flurry of blows attacks can also be used to dash/jump and gives you the additional step of the wind effects, if only so fighters can't get more dashes then a monk (although if i ran this in level up, it wouldn't be a problem since monks/adepts can get a third attack and fighters never get a fourth!).

my biggest concern would be making cunning action look weak, but maybe rogues could get a mid-level feature to let them use a cunning action on top of any bonus action they take on their turn (including another cunning action)? that'd certainly fix the potential issue of cunning action seeming weak by comparison.

In my own games, there are two Strength skills: Athletics and Weightlifting.

Athletics is for all body stunts, including jumping, falling, climbing, and balancing. They are all Strength checks. In the same way that Strength makes sword swings accurate, it also makes catching oneself from falling more accurate. Athletics is the go-to for all "swashbuckling" flavor, and represents agility and mobility.

Weightlifting is for the brute that lifts, heaves, breaks, and bends.

...wait, if athletics covers balancing and falling, then what does acrobatics do?

 

[Yaarel]

...wait, if athletics covers balancing and falling, then what does acrobatics do?

Athletics swallows Acrobatics whole in one gulp.

By contrast, the Dexterity ability is about cautious precision, manual piloting, and "fine motor" skills. It has nothing to do with body stunts and "gross motor" skills.



What high Strength looks like:

What high Dexterity looks like:

 

[W'rkncacnter]

What high Dexterity looks like:

an aside, but see, this is hilarious, because bows actually require a ton of muscle to use properly and consistently - or in other words, it would be entirely appropriate to class them as strength weapons.

as for the rest of the post...huh. alright then.