D&D 5E Damage Dice for Maneuvers

[Reynard]

I was thinking about how to spice up 5E combat, particularly in light of some of the weapon based maneuvers from BG3. One possible method that came to mind was the idea of trading damage dice for special effects.

NOTE: This idea isn't even half baked yet. I'm not sure the oven is even on or if the ingredients are even mixed yet. So bear with me.

First and foremost, this system would require that damage be normalized between all classes. I would use wizard cantrips as a model. importantly, this means martials would at least have to have the choice of one big multi-die attack or multiple single die attacks. Relatedly, weapons and spells would have to be normalized.

That said, what I am imagining is a scenario in which once a hit is landed and damage is rolled, but before damage is applied, the attacker is able to "burn" one or more of the damage dice rolled for an effect: shove, trip, daze, blind, whatever. there would be a ton of maneuvers, representing "cool moves" and "trick shots" like in cinematic fight scenes. I think you would have to give up your highest damage die and it would have to be a certain value (6? something) but I am not sure. You would have to figure out how much "damage" a trip is worth, or whatever, and build your cost on that paradigm.

Importantly, you would NOT have to spend feats or other character building resources for these maneuvers. They might be classed based or weapon/attack based, or some combination. But the point is to make combat more interesting, so gating them behind a feat chain is a bad idea.

Thoughts?

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I was thinking about how to spice up 5E combat, particularly in light of some of the weapon based maneuvers from BG3. One possible method that came to mind was the idea of trading damage dice for special effects.

NOTE: This idea isn't even half baked yet. I'm not sure the oven is even on or if the ingredients are even mixed yet. So bear with me.

First and foremost, this system would require that damage be normalized between all classes. I would use wizard cantrips as a model. importantly, this means martials would at least have to have the choice of one big multi-die attack or multiple single die attacks. Relatedly, weapons and spells would have to be normalized.

That said, what I am imagining is a scenario in which once a hit is landed and damage is rolled, but before damage is applied, the attacker is able to "burn" one or more of the damage dice rolled for an effect: shove, trip, daze, blind, whatever. there would be a ton of maneuvers, representing "cool moves" and "trick shots" like in cinematic fight scenes. I think you would have to give up your highest damage die and it would have to be a certain value (6? something) but I am not sure. You would have to figure out how much "damage" a trip is worth, or whatever, and build your cost on that paradigm.

Importantly, you would NOT have to spend feats or other character building resources for these maneuvers. They might be classed based or weapon/attack based, or some combination. But the point is to make combat more interesting, so gating them behind a feat chain is a bad idea.

Thoughts?

Sounds like the Rogue's new Cunning Strike ability, but they trade from their pool of sneak attack dice. Have you compared your idea with that?

 

[Reynard]

Sounds like the Rogue's new Cunning Strike ability, but they trade from their pool of sneak attack dice. Have you compared your idea with that?

I have not seen that. Where is it from?

 

[aco175]

There is this thread from a couple months ago.

I could see something with giving up an extra attack to do something as well.

 

[Stormonu]

Personally, I would make special moves consume a Bonus action so they don’t get spammed (like the monks stunning strike or trip/push attacks). Beyond that, I think it can be done by reducing the damage die by one or requiring the attack roll be made without the Proficiency Bonus (Disallowing a special effect with a weapon you aren’t proficient in, and specifically treating Great Weapon and Sharpshooter as special attacks in their own right). Also, I believe there should be some sort of save for the target to avoid the effect. This would give players the ability to spice up combat, but not make the Battlemaster subclass worthless.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I have not seen that. Where is it from?

Playtest packet 6. Level 5 Rogue class ability. It expands at later levels.