D&D General Eliminating the whiff factor

[Puddles]

This sounds like a great idea, especially for large tables where it takes a while for players to get their turn. I would key it off reactions. Doing so, means the player/DM has a choice to make. They can use their reaction when an enemy misses an attack, but of course doing so would mean they couldn’t make other reaction such as opportunity attacks until their next turn.

I would have 2 different reactions, 1 to counter a missed melee attack, and 1 to close the distance from a missed ranged attack. I would start with the following:

Counter
When a melee attack misses, the target creature can use its reaction to counter. If it does so, the attacking creature takes 1d4 bludgeoning damage.

Close Ground
When a ranged attack misses, the target creature can use its reaction to close ground. If it does so, the target creature can move up to 5ft but must finish that move closer to the attacking creature.

 

[Lanefan]

Counter
When a melee attack misses, the target creature can use its reaction to counter. If it does so, the attacking creature takes 1d4 bludgeoning damage.

Interesting idea but it brings to mind a rather ludicrous visual: a heavy fighter in very good armour, standing completely still while 15 Kobolds beat themselves to death 1d4 at a time from trying to hit her....

You sure that's what you want?

 

[Norton]

This sounds like a great idea, especially for large tables where it takes a while for players to get their turn. I would key it off reactions. Doing so, means the player/DM has a choice to make. They can use their reaction when an enemy misses an attack, but of course doing so would mean they couldn’t make other reaction such as opportunity attacks until their next turn.

I would have 2 different reactions, 1 to counter a missed melee attack, and 1 to close the distance from a missed ranged attack. I would start with the following:

Counter
When a melee attack misses, the target creature can use its reaction to counter. If it does so, the attacking creature takes 1d4 bludgeoning damage.

Close Ground
When a ranged attack misses, the target creature can use its reaction to close ground. If it does so, the target creature can move up to 5ft but must finish that move closer to the attacking creature.

I think this is worth a play test. Keying off reactions is also similar to a Twitter conversation I was reading that suggested the same idea for flanking, which in its present form creates a "conga line" on the grid and can be a little board game-y, bypassing other tactics due to something that is a little too effective to ignore.

 

[Puddles]

Interesting idea but it brings to mind a rather ludicrous visual: a heavy fighter in very good armour, standing completely still while 15 Kobolds beat themselves to death 1d4 at a time from trying to hit her....

You sure that's what you want?

The idea is the target creature is dishing out well timed ripostes, so it would be a dude tanked out in heavy armour delivering swift retribution every time a kobold dares make a strike. Which is a more badass mental image if you ask me.

 

[guachi]

Try playing a game where a turn of combat doesn't take 10 or 15 minutes. OD&D takes about 1 minute per turn of combat, so if you miss, you will get another chance soon.

The last thing I want is for 5e turns to take even longer. Fast turns means faster, more exciting combat. It keeps players engaged instead of zoning out.

 

[Composer99]

Worlds Without Number has a concept called shock that is, in effect, auto-damage:

Some melee attacks inflict Shock, the inevitable harm that is done when an unarmored target is assailed by something sharp in melee range.

Shock for a weapon is listed in points of damage and the maximum AC affected. Thus “Shock 2/15” means that 2 points of damage are done to any target with AC 15 or less. More heavily-armored targets are immune to the weapon’s Shock.

The Warrior (the WWN equivalent of the fighter) adds half their level, rounded up, to damage from their attacks, as well as to Shock damage.

In essence, the attack roll is no longer about whether or not you hit at all, but whether or not you score a decisive blow, with sufficiently weak creatures susceptible to being instantly killed anyway because you're just that good at killing.

The WWN Warrior also has what amounts to a once-per-encounter ability to either convert one of their misses into a hit or to convert a hit against them into a miss, using that game's reaction-equivalent.

 

[jmartkdr2]

13th Age does damage on a miss - 1 point per level, where basic attacks do 1dX per level. So the closest would be 1 point of damage per weapon damage die on a miss.

It's worth noting that this rule doesn't really make 13th Age more fun. 13th Age combat is a lot more fun than 5e, but mostly because you never really use basic attacks and the escalation die does a better job at attacking the core problem (misses aren't fun, even with a booby prize) by making misses highly unlikely in the later part of combat.

So I would say: try adding an Escalation Die. It may solve the problem with a lot less balance issues. Combat Rules – 13th Age SRD

To keep the fights roughly balanced, increase enemy ACs by 1.

 

[aco175]

I saw in another thread a few weeks ago something about fighter dealing strength modifier damage on a miss. May be cool to have each class have something unique instead of everyone having the same thing.

I'm a fan of missing once in a while since you roll dice and sometimes you just miss and need move on.

 

[Dausuul]

In a game with as many attacks as D&D, this would almost certainly slow things down too much... but if it wouldn't, one idea would be to allow "echoing" attacks, escalating the stakes each time.

If you attack and miss, the target can attack you back.
If it misses, you can try again, and if you hit, you double the damage dice (as if scoring a crit).
If you miss again, it can try again, and it also gets to double the damage dice.
If it misses again, you can try again for triple dice... and so on, until somebody either scores a hit or passes up their turn to counter-attack.