VikingLegion
Explorer
Hi all,
My group hasn't played D&D since 2010, and the last edition any of us have experience with is 3/3.5. Traditionally I've always been the DM, but recently a friend decided he wanted to give it a try, so we all went out and bought the 2024 PHB. We're having a Session Zero next week and I have a few proposals. I'm just wondering if you guys think these are fair, valid ideas. Again, I've always been the DM, and I know when a player is trying to coerce me into approving something overpowered. That's not my intention here, but I'll let you be the judge.
1. ORIGINS SHOULD BE CUSTOMIZABLE. They are too restrictive as written. There are 4 components to an Origin:
a. Ability Score Improvements
b. Starting Feat
c. Skill + Tool Proficiences/ Starting Gear
d. Thematic Fit
It's REALLY hard to get all those things to match up with an initial character concept. We try not to be too much of min/maxers, but I can already see myself and one other player making changes to our storylines/initial concepts just to try to shoehorn ASIs/Feats that are actually going to be useful. I can see where the authors were going with this model - it's very helpful for newer players to give them a starting direction. But our table is mostly vets with multiple decades of experience. Is it asking too much to give the players freedom in those 4 categories? Select your own 3 ability scores, 1 origin feat, tools, etc and come up with a story that makes sense for the DM to approve. That's reasonable, right?
2. ORIGIN FEATS SELECTED AT 4+ GET A +1 ASI
I've read in the PHB that this smaller pool of feats is available at levels after 1, but who is going to take a feat that doesn't give you a stat bump? I don't think it would make any of them overpowered if they were given a +1 ASI that is in line with all the other general feats (but not when you take it at creation). The physically based feats would offer a choice of STR, DEX, CON, and the mental ones would offer INT, WIS, CHA at the DM's discretion based on if it makes sense to offer all 3, a choice of 2, or possibly just 1.
3. ASIs AND EPIC BOON BASED ON TOTAL CHARACTER LEVEL
Having ASIs offered at Class levels 4, 8, 12, and 16 + an Epic Boon offered at Class level 19 seems to massively discourage multi-classing. At best you'll see a 19 in one class with a 1 level dip in another in order to retain access to the Epic Boon. If the player is ok with foregoing their Epic, they are almost forced to make multi splits of 16/4 or 12/8 so as not to lose out on ASI levels. This makes for some problematic combinations that might miss out on specific class features from both classes that might be super important to the character concept. If ASIs/Epic were detached from Classes and something you selected at a Total Character Level, many more interesting combinations would be preserved.
I welcome any and all feedback. Thanks for your time.
My group hasn't played D&D since 2010, and the last edition any of us have experience with is 3/3.5. Traditionally I've always been the DM, but recently a friend decided he wanted to give it a try, so we all went out and bought the 2024 PHB. We're having a Session Zero next week and I have a few proposals. I'm just wondering if you guys think these are fair, valid ideas. Again, I've always been the DM, and I know when a player is trying to coerce me into approving something overpowered. That's not my intention here, but I'll let you be the judge.
1. ORIGINS SHOULD BE CUSTOMIZABLE. They are too restrictive as written. There are 4 components to an Origin:
a. Ability Score Improvements
b. Starting Feat
c. Skill + Tool Proficiences/ Starting Gear
d. Thematic Fit
It's REALLY hard to get all those things to match up with an initial character concept. We try not to be too much of min/maxers, but I can already see myself and one other player making changes to our storylines/initial concepts just to try to shoehorn ASIs/Feats that are actually going to be useful. I can see where the authors were going with this model - it's very helpful for newer players to give them a starting direction. But our table is mostly vets with multiple decades of experience. Is it asking too much to give the players freedom in those 4 categories? Select your own 3 ability scores, 1 origin feat, tools, etc and come up with a story that makes sense for the DM to approve. That's reasonable, right?
2. ORIGIN FEATS SELECTED AT 4+ GET A +1 ASI
I've read in the PHB that this smaller pool of feats is available at levels after 1, but who is going to take a feat that doesn't give you a stat bump? I don't think it would make any of them overpowered if they were given a +1 ASI that is in line with all the other general feats (but not when you take it at creation). The physically based feats would offer a choice of STR, DEX, CON, and the mental ones would offer INT, WIS, CHA at the DM's discretion based on if it makes sense to offer all 3, a choice of 2, or possibly just 1.
3. ASIs AND EPIC BOON BASED ON TOTAL CHARACTER LEVEL
Having ASIs offered at Class levels 4, 8, 12, and 16 + an Epic Boon offered at Class level 19 seems to massively discourage multi-classing. At best you'll see a 19 in one class with a 1 level dip in another in order to retain access to the Epic Boon. If the player is ok with foregoing their Epic, they are almost forced to make multi splits of 16/4 or 12/8 so as not to lose out on ASI levels. This makes for some problematic combinations that might miss out on specific class features from both classes that might be super important to the character concept. If ASIs/Epic were detached from Classes and something you selected at a Total Character Level, many more interesting combinations would be preserved.
I welcome any and all feedback. Thanks for your time.
