Einlanzer0
Explorer
Please do not waste your energy trying to convince me that any of my concepts are bad, because everyone has their own. I'm simply concerned with corrective balance.
Races
In addition to normal racial bonuses, all small races receive -4 Str and Con, +2 Dex (I know this is a hard sell, but I simply do not like the idea that small races are not disadvantaged in straightforward skirmishes with larger creatures, and should be pushed into playing to their strengths rather than being interchangeable with medium sized races)
All small races can move through spaces with larger creatures, whether hostile or not, and always have advantage on hide checks vs larger races
Halfling Nimbleness imposes disdvantage to opportunity attacks made against them by larger creatures
Gnomes have Fey Ancestry as elves do
Classes
Clerics have an optional variant, the Theologian (I won't post all the deets here, but essentially they sacrifice weapon/armor proficiency for expanded spellcasting)
Rangers use the UA variant (see PDF)
Fighters have a replacement 20th level ability - Veteran Warrior - all weapon attacks gain extra 1d4 damage. Once per turn, you can impose disadvantage on any attack that targets your AC, Str, Dex, or Con
Attributes/Skills
Intelligence and Wisdom have slightly remixed skill lineups
Intelligence - Arcana, Culture, Mechanics, Medicine. Note: Investigation is baked into the individual knowledge skills. Most uses of Investigation in the standard rules fall under Mechanics, but they might apply to the other skills.
Wisdom - Composure, Insight, Nurturing, Perception, Survival. Note: Nurturing includes both animal handling and long-term care of any form. Composure is a new skill used mostly in social interactions and to stave off madness/horror
All three of the mental attributes play somewhat expanded roles to help put them on par with the physical attributes in general usefulness:
Intelligence is used to determine Tactical Points, which are useful for all characters.
Wisdom checks (both as saving throws and skill uses) are easily the most common in the game, which puts Wisdom on par with Constitution as a supporting stat
Charisma is now used as part of the Inspiration mechanic, and will also play some role in factions and piety
Other Mechanics
Falling Damage varies based on factors like ground type, weight, and HD. DM reserves the right to adjudicate on a situation-by-situation basis.
Alternate Encumbrance rule is used. Only 1/2 of the weight of any body armor is applied to encumbrance, since the weight is evenly distributed across the body.
Items sized for small races have 2/3 the listed weight, which means small races should be able to carry about the same amount of gear as medium races even with lower strength.
Inspiriation grants d6 bonus die instead of automatic advantage/disadvantage. Only the DM can award inspiration, however, when Inspiration is used by any player, allies within 30ft can roll d20 + original player's Cha mod at DC 15. On success, they become inspired. Inspiration is still binary. It can be saved, but can only be gained once per day by any individual player.
Hero Points are reflavored into Tactical Points. Characters have 2+int mod TP, which recover at 1/2 per day, like HD. TP grants advantage/disadvantage to any one d20 roll and can be spent as a bonus action or reaction
Races
In addition to normal racial bonuses, all small races receive -4 Str and Con, +2 Dex (I know this is a hard sell, but I simply do not like the idea that small races are not disadvantaged in straightforward skirmishes with larger creatures, and should be pushed into playing to their strengths rather than being interchangeable with medium sized races)
All small races can move through spaces with larger creatures, whether hostile or not, and always have advantage on hide checks vs larger races
Halfling Nimbleness imposes disdvantage to opportunity attacks made against them by larger creatures
Gnomes have Fey Ancestry as elves do
Classes
Clerics have an optional variant, the Theologian (I won't post all the deets here, but essentially they sacrifice weapon/armor proficiency for expanded spellcasting)
Rangers use the UA variant (see PDF)
Fighters have a replacement 20th level ability - Veteran Warrior - all weapon attacks gain extra 1d4 damage. Once per turn, you can impose disadvantage on any attack that targets your AC, Str, Dex, or Con
Attributes/Skills
Intelligence and Wisdom have slightly remixed skill lineups
Intelligence - Arcana, Culture, Mechanics, Medicine. Note: Investigation is baked into the individual knowledge skills. Most uses of Investigation in the standard rules fall under Mechanics, but they might apply to the other skills.
Wisdom - Composure, Insight, Nurturing, Perception, Survival. Note: Nurturing includes both animal handling and long-term care of any form. Composure is a new skill used mostly in social interactions and to stave off madness/horror
All three of the mental attributes play somewhat expanded roles to help put them on par with the physical attributes in general usefulness:
Intelligence is used to determine Tactical Points, which are useful for all characters.
Wisdom checks (both as saving throws and skill uses) are easily the most common in the game, which puts Wisdom on par with Constitution as a supporting stat
Charisma is now used as part of the Inspiration mechanic, and will also play some role in factions and piety
Other Mechanics
Falling Damage varies based on factors like ground type, weight, and HD. DM reserves the right to adjudicate on a situation-by-situation basis.
Alternate Encumbrance rule is used. Only 1/2 of the weight of any body armor is applied to encumbrance, since the weight is evenly distributed across the body.
Items sized for small races have 2/3 the listed weight, which means small races should be able to carry about the same amount of gear as medium races even with lower strength.
Inspiriation grants d6 bonus die instead of automatic advantage/disadvantage. Only the DM can award inspiration, however, when Inspiration is used by any player, allies within 30ft can roll d20 + original player's Cha mod at DC 15. On success, they become inspired. Inspiration is still binary. It can be saved, but can only be gained once per day by any individual player.
Hero Points are reflavored into Tactical Points. Characters have 2+int mod TP, which recover at 1/2 per day, like HD. TP grants advantage/disadvantage to any one d20 roll and can be spent as a bonus action or reaction