D&D 5E Critiquing the System

[Horwath]

Bow could be fixed to strength.

1d4; min str 8
1d6; min str 10
1d8; min str 12
1d10;min str 14
1d12; min str 18
2d6; min str 20

if you do not have required minimum strength you have disadvantage on attack roll and deal minimum damage. Dex normally applies to attack and damage rolls.

This gives also options for very strong characters to have somewhat competitive ranged damage in comparison to dex characters.

20 str & 12 dex. +1 attack, 2d6+1 damage
12 str & 20 dex. +5 attack, 1d8+5 damage

not great, but better that to rely on 30ft range 1d6+5 damage javelins

 

[The Glen]

For bows steal a rule from armor, each bow has a minimum STR requirement to avoid a penalty. Just like Odysseus where his bow required a high strength just to be strung, much less fired.

My biggest problem was the strong feeling that the battlemaster should have been the baseline rather than a subclass. Just like RC or 3rd where fighters learned new maneuvers as they leveled up. You get so many uses of each maneuver per combat because after that the enemy recognizes your tell.

Also bring back weapon mastery levels not just for weapons but fighting styles as well. Every so many levels you learn new skills or can increase a fighting style. More damage, tie extra attacks into weapon mastery and fighting styles could do things like attacking with a second weapon as part if the main attack instead of a bonus action at a certain level.

 

[Oofta]

I don't have a problem with shortbows being dex based, but longbows should be strength based.

Well, ideally it would be a bit of both but D&D doesn't really work that way and I'm not sure it's worth house ruling that much.

 

[toucanbuzz]

I don't have a problem with shortbows being dex based, but longbows should be strength based.

Well, ideally it would be a bit of both but D&D doesn't really work that way and I'm not sure it's worth house ruling that much.

I've pondered bows after reading up on medieval bows and warfare (e.g. why a crossbow vs. longbow). By the end, even a shortbow requires over 100 pounds of pull. There was a shipwreck with a career archer who had deformities from pulling the bow so often.

However, then there's the Lord of the Rings elf who pulls his bow all day long but clearly isn't as muscular. So, by the end, maybe we have elven style bows that somehow bypass physics and historical bows, and you can pick

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I've pondered bows after reading up on medieval bows and warfare (e.g. why a crossbow vs. longbow). By the end, even a shortbow requires over 100 pounds of pull. There was a shipwreck with a career archer who had deformities from pulling the bow so often.

However, then there's the Lord of the Rings elf who pulls his bow all day long but clearly isn't as muscular. So, by the end, maybe we have elven style bows that somehow bypass physics and historical bows, and you can pick

Or Legolas has scrawny elf muscles that are surprising powerful, despite the lack in sinew and visible veins.

 

[Oofta]

I've pondered bows after reading up on medieval bows and warfare (e.g. why a crossbow vs. longbow). By the end, even a shortbow requires over 100 pounds of pull. There was a shipwreck with a career archer who had deformities from pulling the bow so often.

However, then there's the Lord of the Rings elf who pulls his bow all day long but clearly isn't as muscular. So, by the end, maybe we have elven style bows that somehow bypass physics and historical bows, and you can pick

But Legolas is an elf, and as we all know elves are just like humans only better in every way.

For my home campaign I allow bows that rely on strength. I've thought about limiting the bonus to attack and damage to some multiplier of the strength mod. For example strength mod X 2 minimum 1 so to get +5 damage you'd need a 16 strength.

But ... eh. It's a magical world and I guess longbows are really modern composite bows or something? It's a pretty common trope in a lot of fiction that bows are great for people that aren't that strong even if it isn't realistic.

 

[Leatherhead]

Expertise . It borks the math, and creates incongruities.
Bonus Action Attacks. They should have never existed to begin with. Bonus actions should be for class features and the like.

 

[Einlanzer0]

Bow could be fixed to strength.

1d4; min str 8
1d6; min str 10
1d8; min str 12
1d10;min str 14
1d12; min str 18
2d6; min str 20

if you do not have required minimum strength you have disadvantage on attack roll and deal minimum damage. Dex normally applies to attack and damage rolls.

This gives also options for very strong characters to have somewhat competitive ranged damage in comparison to dex characters.

20 str & 12 dex. +1 attack, 2d6+1 damage
12 str & 20 dex. +5 attack, 1d8+5 damage

not great, but better that to rely on 30ft range 1d6+5 damage javelins

This is pretty much what I do. Instead of using fiddly encumbrance rules, I expanded the "minimum strength" system from armor to weapons. So, while a Longbow still relies on Dex for attack rolls and damage, you cannot be proficient in Longbow with an 8 strength.

 

[Athelstaine]

I really like the game engine. It allows me to do more Role play v/s Roll play from a DM'ing perspective. My biggest complaint is actually the classes in of themselves. For myself, I enjoy running/playing lower power games. Just being a guy that does heroic thing to become the hero of the kingdom.

To me playing 5e, is like playing a super's game in a fantasy setting. Other than that I don't have any issues with the game that I can't deal with. I would like a more robust skill system though.

 

[Tony Vargas]

cantrip that scales with extra blasts based on level without forseeing that it would be the "take a level of Fighter for one of these feats" type thing they were obviously trying to avoid by making all of the other extra attack abilities based on your level in the class granting them

Not really important, but: my impression is not that they were trying to keep extra attack down for fear it'd be OP, as trying to make the 2nd & 3rd Extra Attack a Unique Fighter Thing. Since, in the playtest, one thing that'd come up was that they'd give a playtest fighter something nice (like MDDs), but, the next iteration would see other classes getting it, too.
That clearly happened with Extra Attack - inevitable, really - so, to keep a Ranger/Barbarian/Paladin getting as many Extra Attacks as a fighter...