D&D General D5e HP - divide by 5?

[Stormonu]

I've noticed something... the "base" amount of damage/healing in D&D is 5.

Cantrip is usually a d8, d10 damage - about five.
A regular attack is about double that - the stat bonus is usually about +4, +5, the weapon dice is usually about a d8, d10.
Aid: 5
Cure wounds: about double that
Goodberry: 10 hp
GWM: -5 to hit, +10 to damage

I propose to call this a "pip" of damage. So a cantrip is a pip of damage, but at level 5 it becomes 2 pips. A warrior making an attack is 2 pips, but at level 5 they have 2 attacks. A warlock's agonizing blast, by adding stat bonus to the damage, turns their cantrip to 2 pips damage, making it roughly equivalent to a warrior's attack. FIreball is 8d6... ie about 6d8, or 6 pips of damage. Spiritual guardian is 3d8 or 3 pips of damage.

I think seeing the "foundation" of the damage math in 5e is useful to help assess balance, character build, strategies etc. How much is +2 damage from duelist fighting style worth? about half a pip.

What I'm wondering is if a simpler version of D&D would be possible, with smaller numbers - divide things by 5. A lot of granularity would be lost, but it would be faster...

Doing a study to reduce character HP, attack damage and monster HP and attack damage into "pips" would help me. I've long been frustrated since 3E about hp bloat and analyzing it level by level would help me a lot in tweaking fights so they're less of a slog in those games where I want to insinuate a fight, but not have it dominate the night's game - so that I can focus on the RP or story and downplay the combat aspects.

 

[Retros_x]

I basically use steps of 5 for enemy HP. I have squared paper for my notes and for enemy HP i make a border around for enemy HP divided by 5. When players do damage I just cross a square for each DMG of 5. Damage of *5+1 gets rounded down, *5+4 gets rounded up. *5+3 I decide just per rule of cool if I round up or down.

It makes hp tracking much easier for me thanks to the underlying math you explained.

 

[Ancalagon]

I basically use steps of 5 for enemy HP. I have squared paper for my notes and for enemy HP i make a border around for enemy HP divided by 5. When players do damage I just cross a square for each DMG of 5. Damage of *5+1 gets rounded down, *5+4 gets rounded up. *5+3 I decide just per rule of cool if I round up or down.

It makes hp tracking much easier for me thanks to the underlying math you explained.

The fun thing about sharing gaming ideas is that - if you are lucky a bit - while the general reaction is not always enthusiastic, there is is (if you are lucky) a person or two for whom the idea is just right. Glad I could help you out