D&D 5E DARK SOULS' New 5E Mechanics

Steamforged Games released their first look at the 5E mechanics which will be powering their upcoming Dark Souls tabletop RPG, based on the video game. The game will be available for preorder next week with a release date in March.

Steamforge say they "cut 5E to ribbons before reanimating it", which implies some fairly extensive changes to the system. Here's what they highlighted:

• Position. Position combines 'health' and 'stamina' (two things in the video game). It measure health, but it's also a resource you can spend to boost die rolls or use special abilities. Presumably, this means that hit points have gone by the wayside.
• Bloodied. A mechanic from D&D 4E, a creature is bloodied when it hits half Position. This can trigger bonuses and new abilities.
• Magic. Vancian magic is gone entirely. Instead is a flexible system drawn from the video game. You have attunement slots, and spells take up a number of slots. Some require Position to cast or boost.
• Death. At 0 Position you die. No saves. However you then respawn. But each time you die you lose part of yourself; it's not specified what that means exactly.

https://steamforged.com/blogs/brands/first-look-at-new-mechanics-in-dark-souls™-the-roleplaying-game

 

[Weiley31]

Just to let you guys know an important fact:

The Rotten Ghru Curved Sword does "c" Damage.

Not even Upper Case "C" damage, but a wimpy "c" load of damage.

 

[Shardstone]

I hear that a lot of typos are still in the book. Any confirm?

 

[Weiley31]

Well, not much horrible mistakes so far, from what I've noticed. However: In the Bestiary section, there are a number of Boss Monsters and regular monsters, such as Demons, who are missing the Unyielding Foe Trait. THAT is the trait that allows Bosses and certain "stronger" type monsters act first regardless of their Initiative DC. It's "there" when you see the Initiative DC read "Goes first regardless off" but you wouldn't know that unless you FINALLY come to a Monster/Boss that actually lists Unyielding Foe. And pretty much every single demon starts the Initiative Turn first but lacks mention of the trait.

Also: Yhorm's stat block seems to come first BEFORE his Picture/Box description. Infact, the Boss section goes back and forth on "having the picture of the Boss with the Box text below its image" or "Picture of Boss with no box text, with said box text appearing in the stat block" with a number of bosses.

It's a bit inconsistent.

 

[Weiley31]

Also: Aldric: Devourer of gods is broken. Like all his stats are in the 20's or more, is CR 30, and has about 927 Position(HP basically). And has an attack that will insta-kill a PC if they are below 100 Position. (DC 15 CON to avoid insta-death). Oh, and since he's a godkiller: his damage pierces through Resistances AND Immunities.

Well..............at least Soul of Cinder, which only has 15 in all stats, is CR 30 as well and triples Critical Hits Damage.

 

[Reynard]

The PDF was up on the front page of DTRPG, so I am curious: is there anything worth stealing for a regular 5E game in this book? It is worth the $25 if you aren't going to actually play 5E Dark Souls?

 

[Weiley31]

The PDF was up on the front page of DTRPG, so I am curious: is there anything worth stealing for a regular 5E game in this book? It is worth the $25 if you aren't going to actually play 5E Dark Souls?

The Black Knight Ultra Great Sword so you can have a 2D10 Great sword that you can refluff as a 4E Full Blade, Invoking Memory/Backstory/Drive, once per Long Rest, to gain advantage on a check of your choice/save throw/reroll check or saving throw , and the enemy trait Unyielding Foe so your BBEG/Major Boss fight style monster can Always goes first in the Initiative Order and cannot be surprised.

YMMV for the second part of your question.

 

[Imaculata]

All of this sounds much worse than I expected, and I'm a big fan of the Souls series. Do the rules at least play well?

 

[Davies]

Note: I have never played the games that inspired this, and likely never will.

The Position mechanic is intriguing. Effectively determining your hit points at the start of each encounter makes for a fascinating set of tactical challenges, as well as addressing how the "luck and/or magical factors" that make them up can be highly variable. Having just one pool of resources (instead of hit points, spell points, uses per day/encounter/semester, etc) also simplifies things quite a bit. Having a low number of them outside of combat makes traps and ambushes potentially deadly for everybody.

 

[Imaculata]

Note: I have never played the games that inspired this, and likely never will.

You should give them a try. Elden Ring is just out, and may be the best and most accessible Souls game yet.

 

[Davies]

You should give them a try. Elden Ring is just out, and may be the best and most accessible Souls game yet.

I don't do well with real-time combat. My reaction speed is abysmal and my tactical instincts are worse.