[Conan] 5eD&D - no spellcasters in the group

[Emirikol]

I'll probably test out 5e without spellcasters. I'm very interested in trying out the skill system in one of my Hyborian (Conan) campaigns.

In our 3e game (prior to the Mongoose RPG), we had a modified magic game:
* All characters have to start in non-spellcaster; spellcaster careers had to multiclass with non-spellcaster,
* Spells/magic that make your life easy and most "skill-duplicating" spells, environment/food spells are ranked up one "
* +1 and +2 items are considered "masterwork" and non-magical. This actually made DR matter.

Otherwise, Monks and Barbarians turned out to be the most powerful characters in the game. Other characters were too dependent on magical crutches to balance out.

I suspect that this might be even easier with 5e as it is hopefully less dependent on "loot."

Any thoughts from y'all on complications?


jh

 

[Crothian]

I ran a short campaign in Pathfinder that had no spell casters in it. Players could take archetypes for some classes like the Ranger that traded out spells for something else. Healing was an issue at times but over it worked pretty well.

 

[Emirikol]

Other than regional benefits (b/c/ everybody is human), we also granted a LOT more feats (non-magical) and more rapid ability score benefits.

My players really liked the acceleration of feats. I'm not sure how I'll do this in 5e though.


jh

 

[Crothian]

For years in 3e and Pathfinder I have done a feat a level. It has worked really well.

 

[Emirikol]

Feat a level eh? That sounds pretty great. Mine worked out well that way b/c I really never hand out magical items of any kind (in pretty much all my games).

I'll have to eval the 5e rules a bit more to see what will be appropriate for the Conan game ..we dropped time for the playtest after the 3rd packet or so.

Since skills are much more evenly matched, I think that it will be a bit more fun messing with that stuff as well.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Feats in 5e are a lot bigger than feats in PF/3e or 4e (roughly equivalent to a +1 ability score), so doing one per level might be a bit much. Though only maybe -- certainly Conan was a hyperbolic, cinematic badass, so

But the lack of magic items should go well. The assumption of 5e is that the party has NO magic items, so you should be fine (and if you do award one or two, you can bump some numbers around to compensate if you REALLY want to keep the balance the same). And no spells in 5e seem to be required adventuring gear -- the monsters don't seem to assume the party has access to any particular spell.

Sounds like you'll be set to me!

 

[Emirikol]

Good tips and thanks for the heads-up.

In prior editions, I wasn't too much of a stickler for the rules, but there were certain creatures and situations where I had the PCs' weapons bounce off/cut-through/wounds-instantly-heal situations.

In the event of "Can [EDIT] ONLY be hit by non-magical-weapons" does that even exist in 5e?

 

[Neonchameleon]

Feats in 5e are a lot bigger than feats in PF/3e or 4e (roughly equivalent to a +1 ability score)

We've been through this before. +1 to an ability score isn't that much. +1 to strength is in terms of usefulness about equal to +1 to hit - or +1 to Int is about equal to +1 to save DCs. And is Weapon Focus that great a feat in 3.X? In 4E the original Weapon Expertise only became clearly better than almost anything when you hit +2 to hit.

 

[Blackbrrd]

@Neonchameleon
+1 to hit in 4e makes you hit about 10% as often if you would averagely hit on a 11 without the feat. (You go from 10 hits to 11 hits every 20 attacks, a 10% increase). Nearly all combat manoeuvres you do in 4e depends on your to-hit chance, so I would say it's the most important feat, even pre paragon. In 3e, weapon focus isn't that important. Mainly because AC usually don't scale with your to-hit bonus, so the difference is often closer to 5% instead of 10%. (Going from 18 hits to 20 hits every 20 attacks is only a 5.6% increase in to-hit chance). It really depended on how feat starved you were.

Anyway, I think 5e would work great for a Conan-type of game. I think some optional rules for healing/wounds would probably make it feel more like Conan than D&D without magic. It will be pretty interesting to see those rules, a long wait until November though. :/

 

[Neonchameleon]

@Neonchameleon
+1 to hit in 4e makes you hit about 10% as often if you would averagely hit on a 11 without the feat. (You go from 10 hits to 11 hits every 20 attacks, a 10% increase). Nearly all combat manoeuvres you do in 4e depends on your to-hit chance, so I would say it's the most important feat, even pre paragon. In 3e, weapon focus isn't that important. Mainly because AC usually don't scale with your to-hit bonus, so the difference is often closer to 5% instead of 10%. (Going from 18 hits to 20 hits every 20 attacks is only a 5.6% increase in to-hit chance). It really depended on how feat starved you were.

Oh, +1 to hit is a good feat - although I normally hit on about an 8 rather than an 11. But without the Essentials upgrades it wasn't ever my first choice of feats. Off the top of my head the following come before it:

1: One, probably two Multiclass Feats. A trained skill and an extra useful ability.
2: For tanks, Superior Fortitude/Will.
3: For dwarves, Dwarven Weapon Training.
4: For warlocks and rangers, Hidden Sniper. Common CA > +1 to hit.
5: For rogues, Backstabber. +2 damage > +1 to hit.
6: Skill Power. There's some amazing stuff there.
7: For Knights, World Serpent's Grasp.
8: For Bards, Bard of All Trades
9: For most humans, Action Surge. The ability to land a daily come hell or high water is extremely powerful.
10: For anyone relevant (Monks, Avengers, Desert Beserkers) Unarmoured Agility.

There are others.

In practice I normally take Expertise round level 6 or 8.