D&D 5E (2014) Doing 5ed without classes.

[darjr]

You could steal a bit from Knave. Make one class. Make heretofore previous class abilities rolled into magic items or boons that must me quested for.

 

[Stormonu]

Savage Worlds is to me, the way to do a classless system that's close to the current game.

If you made current D&D a classless system where you pick things al a carte, you'd have to have a good bit of system mastery to keep from making ineffective characters, and the system would be ripe for abuse worse than 2E's player option books. I don't recommend it for actual D&D.

 

[Umbran]

Folks should recognize that this is a thread necro from 2015. Those original posters are unlikely to engage.

 

[Stoutstien]

You're running to the issue real quick that modern DND has almost zero consideration for feature cost logic and is more focused on troupe/character concepts than balanced.

It's doable but by the time you're done it would not look anything like 5e.

 

[zedturtle]

You're running to the issue real quick that modern DND has almost zero consideration for feature cost logic and is more focused on troupe/character concepts than balanced.

It's doable but by the time you're done it would not look anything like 5e.

This is a very common problem, but 5e =/= D&D. The core rules (take a number, add it to a d20 roll, compare to another number, get effects based on whether it is higher or lower, and maybe by how much higher or lower it is) don't have to support D&D-alikes, but can be used as a base for a lot of games.

To the original point (even though I realise it's a necro) – we only have one class (the Hero) for BEOWULF, so it's essentially classless. Differentiation comes from subclass and feats and things are built such that things should be more or less balanced (it helps that there's only a smidge of magic, so no spellcasters).

 

[Krachek]

For a low magic adventure we can use what a call the Thug template Base on the NpC in the MM.

point buy 25.
choose a good and a bad save.
choose 2 skills.
hit dice d8
proficient in light armor and simple weapon.

gain a feat at level 1,2,3,5,6,7. That must be a feat!
Gain usual ASI at level 4.
Gain extra attack at level 5.
Thug don’t gain level past 7!

 

[TwoSix]

For a low magic adventure we can use what a call the Thug template Base on the NpC in the MM.

point buy 25.
choose a good and a bad save.
choose 2 skills.
hit dice d8
proficient in light armor and simple weapon.

gain a feat at level 1,2,3,5,6,7. That must be a feat!
Gain usual ASI at level 4.
Gain extra attack at level 5.
Thug don’t gain level past 7!

That's pretty close to how I'm doing my classless 5e game. 3 feats at level 1, then 1 feat every level past that. No extra attack, but you can get feats at level 5+ that approximate it, depending on your concept.

 

[Loren the GM]

There is a pretty good DM's Guild product that presents a classless 5e: Classless 5e by DiBastet - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

 

[DarkCrisis]

Branch out to other RPGs. They have what you want and it's very worth it to try other things

 

[Buzzqw]

on my system (classless) characters are build with these rules:

OBSS has no classes. At each level player can decide to improve the score of Weapon Proficiency or Magic Proficiency. With the first you hit better, with the second you cast spells. It is the Feats that build the character's abilities, the class.

Magical Proficiency:
The higher the MP score, the more spells you can cast and the harder it is to resist the spell.
Having a high MP score leads to knowing more magic lists even if in a very superficial way.

Weapon Proficiency:
Every time you give Weapon Proficiency a point, you can assign a point to a list of weapons, i.e. a homogeneous set of weapons. You can learn more lists of weapons and therefore know many different types of weapons or specialize in certain "families" (swords, axes, clubs ..) acquiring with experience more and more spectacular skills with use.

Skills:
The skills (knowledge, athletics, cheating...) are not chosen at the first level, but a profession is chosen and this grants 4 skills, then the player chooses a fifth from the background.
The higher the value of the skill, the faster it is usually to carry out the action of interest.
As you level up your skill scores can be increased or new skills taken.

Feat:
Since the character has no class, choose the ability (Feat) to build it. There are over 120 Skills to choose from, many can be taken multiple times to "unlock" further extraordinary abilities. Skills are taken at all levels except 5, 10, 15, 20 level.
Skills increase saving throws. Each time you take a skill you increase your saving throw scores, this is the only way to increase your saving throws.
Ability increases (ASI) are taken through skills.


Combat:
....
- multiple attacks take the value of the roll to hit and for each roll after the first then subtract 5. So if you have +12 on the roll to hit make one attack at +12, one at +7 and one at +2, if it is negative you can't do it. In practice, the number of attacks depends on your skill rather than just on the level.....

and a lot more.. example of text taken from TUS/OBSS-in-short.txt at master · buzzqw/TUS

BHH