D&D 5E Extra Reaction or extra Bonus Action?

[Quartz]

Purely theorycrafting here. Which would be more useful to a PC? Would it vary by class?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

My gut says bonus action would be more useful in general, but it would definitely vary by class/subclass.

 

[Horwath]

Bonus action, as you can plan to spend it.

reaction is hoping that a trigger will happen.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Bonus action by far. Doubly so if you're allowed to use the same bonus action more than once in the same turn.

 

[loverdrive]

It hugely depends on the class. Bonus action would be more useful for spellcasters (as there's nothing that prevents you from casting two bonus-action spells per round), but for melee battlemaster reaction would be more useful (it's not like Fighters have much use of BA anyway).

From "game-breaking" perspective, two reactions is way safer -- you'll never see something like two fireballs per round or, idk, six eldrich blasts at lvl 5.

Hm, wait. Hold action.

 

[DND_Reborn]

FWIW we added a new feat:

And have been using it for months. It hasn't hurt anything but allowing things like Rogue two Uncanny Dodges or two OA sneak attacks can be pretty strong.

Of course, as others have said an additional Bonus Action can be very strong/useful for the right build.

 

[Horwath]

FWIW we added a new feat:
View attachment 129799

And have been using it for months. It hasn't hurt anything but allowing things like Rogue two Uncanny Dodges or two OA sneak attacks can be pretty strong.

Of course, as others have said an additional Bonus Action can be very strong/useful for the right build.

nice.
but I would rate is as a half feat IMHO.

 

[DND_Reborn]

nice.
but I would rate is as a half feat IMHO.

Thanks.

I considered it, but having seen it in play for the classes who can most benefit from it, it is pretty strong. My Cleric/Rogue/Wizard being able to use both Shield and get in an OA or use Uncanny Dodge, etc. has been pretty strong.

But, for the sake of discussion, as a half feat would you give +1 to DEX or INT for this?

 

[Stormonu]

That feat is a nice idea. What about scaling it, using proficiency bonus for the number of times you can take reactions, instead of limiting it to two?

 

[DND_Reborn]

That feat is a nice idea. What about scaling it, using proficiency bonus for the number of times you can take reactions, instead of limiting it to two?

I'm not sure it is needed for one thing. I've used two reactions often, but other than more uses of Uncanny Dodge or parrying features, I can't see much use for it.

You could always try it out. If you find three or more reactions per round as being too strong, just cut it back to two again.