Homebrew Feedback Request: Hope/Fear mechanic for 5e

[OB1]

Interesting, I didn't think of pairing the dice like that. And you're forced to pick based on highest/lowest total, on advantage you can't choose to take the lower total if it gives you a hope?


I'd think that 'isn't in doubt' means 'even with the lowest roll possible will succeed', like picking a DC20 lock with a +11 bonus and any roll below 10 counts as a 10. Do you mean something like 'easy enough that no one would need to make a roll to do it' or 'easy enough that no one proficient would need to make a roll to do it' instead? You said earlier that someone with a +8 making a DC 10 roll would count as 'outcome isn't in doubt'.

The thing that seems weird to me is that it seems like this can produce 'the better a PC is at their skills, the fewer hope/fear rolls they make' which I'm not sure is what you want. And it might lead to 'have the second best guy try this stuff, we'll just deal with a failure but farm more hope' which again seems like an odd thing to encourage mechanically.

I’d let players choose the lower on advantage if they want the hope. For disadvantage they have to take the lower.

I see where your concern is with skills, but it just isn’t an issue I see when I run games. Highly skilled players get plenty of meaningful rolls, they are just attempting more difficult things with higher stakes.

 

[Reynard]

I don't quite understand what the GM is supposed to do with Fear outside of combat that they are penalized for not using it. Can you explain?

Also, adding d6s to damage is vastly more effective than adding d6s to d20 checks. Expect players to save their Hope for combat.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

Yeah, I thought you probably weren't running into problems with the 'no roll' skill rolls but I figured it was worth pointing out, if nothing else for people who might adopt the system. The 'lower roll but hope' on advantage is a nice touch.

 

[OB1]

I don't quite understand what the GM is supposed to do with Fear outside of combat that they are penalized for not using it. Can you explain?

Also, adding d6s to damage is vastly more effective than adding d6s to d20 checks. Expect players to save their Hope for combat.

DM can use them for NPC skill checks and skill contests with PCs (perception, stealth, insight, deception, etc) just like players can.

Adding a d6 to a stealth roll to avoid a needless combat far outweighs adding a d6 to a damage roll.

 

[Milieu]

Consider looking at the Luck and Doom metacurrencies from Tales of the Valiant. They play somewhat similar roles but are more straight-forward to bring in to 5e because ToV is a lot more like 5e. But even if you prefer to switch to 2d10 and stick closer to Daggerheart, they might be worth taking some bits from:

LUCK
Every PC has a special resource called Luck. You use Luck to influence the result of any check.

GAINING LUCK
When you create your character, start with 0 Luck. You gain Luck in the following ways:

• Once per turn, when you fail to hit with an attack roll or fail a save, gain 1 Luck.
• The GM can award 1 Luck as a reward for a clever idea, excellent roleplaying, or pursuing an interesting—rather than optimal—choice.
• The GM can award any amount of Luck to one or more PCs for surviving difficult encounters or achieving story goals (in addition to XP or other rewards).

LOSING LUCK
You can have a maximum of 5 Luck at one time. If you already have 5 Luck and gain more, you must immediately roll a d4 and reset your Luck total to the number rolled.

SPENDING LUCK
You spend Luck to add a 1-for-1 bonus to any check you make. For example, if you have 4 Luck, and roll a 13 on the die, you can spend 2 Luck to make your result a 15 (leaving you with 2 Luck for later). Alternatively, immediately after you make a check (attack, ability check, or save), you can spend 3 Luck to reroll a d20 used for the check.Luck can’t stop a critical miss on a 1 or create a critical hit by adding up to 20. Note that Luck gained from a failed attack or save can’t be used to enhance the same roll that generated the Luck—you only accrue Luck after you officially fail the roll!

Doom accrues at the start of an encounter, from 1 to 6 points depending on the difficulty of the encounter. (Optionally, you gain additional Doom if, on the way to the encounter, the PCs fail checks to disarm traps by 5 or more, allow an enemy to get away and report their presence, or take a long rest in a time-sensitive situation.) Doom can be used to:

• give a creature advantage on an attack roll
• give a PC disadvantage on a save
• recharge a monster's special ability (1/encounter)
• automatically succeed on a save (1/encounter)
• automatically succeed on an attack roll (1/encounter)
• move a creature half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks

Mike Shay calls his tweaked version of Doom "Dreadful Blessings" and he has a blog post about how he uses them.

 

[Reynard]

The most interesting and important thing about Fear is that it empowers the GM to DO STUFF. Giving the GM bonuses kind of misses the point.

 

[OB1]

The most interesting and important thing about Fear is that it empowers the GM to DO STUFF. Giving the GM bonuses kind of misses the point.

See that’s where I think Daggerheart has it wrong. As a DM I can already do all the stuff I want.