D&D 5E Fix 5e.... in one sentence

[TerraDave]

All, if you don't want to participate in the exercise I understand, but there are plenty of other threads for just general "I would fix X" comments. I would appreciate it if people stuck to the spirit of the OP.

Understand how ENWorld threads actually work.

 

[OB1]

This one I've been using for the current campaign I'm running. The Fighter loves it, as does the rest of the party!

Indomitable​

Beginning at 9th level, once per long rest, you can choose to succeed on a saving throw that you failed.

You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 13th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level.

 

[overgeeked]

Short rest: you can take a short rest as an action.

Long rest: require 7 days of peaceful relaxation in a friendly settlement.

 

[schneeland]

This edition was a mistake, we're restarting from B/X (OD&D is acceptable, too ).

More seriously, it'll probably be something like:
There are two types of actions: slow actions and fast actions. Slow actions encompass complex activities, such as making an attack or casting a spell. Fast actions are used for simpler activities like movement, drawing or sheathing a weapon, or quaffing a potion. All fast actions can be executed as slow actions. By default, characters have one fast and one slow action per turn. Unspent actions can be used to react to actions of enemies or other characters affecting the character.

Still a pretty big change for D&D5, just not as big as the first option

 

[King Brad]

This gets wonky with high dice attacks. For example Inflict Wounds with a first level slot is a spell attack for 3d10 damage. 30+3d10 would guarantee instant-kill via negatives below HP maximum every 1st level character.

But think about it with a paladin, who can see that they crit to then add a big divine smite to have all of the dice do max damage plus a roll, on top of the crit damage. Or a rogue who thanks to Tasha's Steady Aim is getting ore crits as well - sneak attack are dice, they would be max + roll again in a crit as well.

I use this rule with a paladin and a rogue in the party. Enemies do it too and typically have more HP to spare and higher average damage. Everyone in my game loves it because when a crit happens, the game changes.

 

[King Brad]

Rests & Recovery
You can take a Breather, which lasts 1 minute of uninterrupted rest which allows you to roll a number of HD equal to your proficiency modifier and recover HP. -OR- A Healing Surge is when you use an action to spend 1 HD and recover HP equal to the result of the die + Con mod.
A Short Rest is an hour or longer of recovery.
A Long Rest Must be spent in a safe location away from any likely threats.

 

[Bolares]

Metric over Imperial.

 

[overgeeked]

Metric over Imperial.

Old English money system over decimalisation.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Oh gods, not this raising it's head again. There's multiple threads why (a) exhaustion in specific is the worst choice for this because getting a level of it gives non-combat-primany penalties and makes you want to make everything combat -- the wrong penalty for going down in combat, and (b) the characters most likely to go down are front liners, often who make character choices to protect others. So penalties longer then the combat scene are penalizing someone for team play and sacrifice that we instead should be encouraging.

Basically, it's the wrong mechanical choice and the wrong design choice. Like, the exact opposite direction we want on both of those aspects. Yes, Exhaustion is an underused tool that's easy to reach for. But giving it any consideration in terms of mechanics or play shows it's not just the wrong tool for the job, it gives the opposite effects of what we want. Give some other penalty, that makes people hurt not want to get into combat, and doesn't penalize a standard and selfless mode of play (tanking) past the scene that it occurred in.

I actually kinda like PF2's answer here: every time you get dropped, you have one fewer death save failure before death. You start needing four fails, but if you get back up, the next time you need three fails, then two, one, and if you get dropped a fifth time that day you're just dead. This resets on a long rest, and there are other ways with feats and stuff.

(Dying - Conditions - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database for a more thorough description). It makes getting dropped once not a big deal, but getting dropped often a bad thing.

 

[Blue]

I actually kinda like PF2's answer here: every time you get dropped, you have one fewer death save failure before death. You start needing four fails, but if you get back up, the next time you need three fails, then two, one, and if you get dropped a fifth time that day you're just dead. This resets on a long rest, and there are other ways with feats and stuff.

(Dying - Conditions - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database for a more thorough description). It makes getting dropped once not a big deal, but getting dropped often a bad thing.

Like it. There are a lot of solutions to whack-a-mole popping back up if your table doesn't like it. It's just that Exhaustion is the wrong tool.

(Plus one has to remember that combat is often a significant amount of time, and making players sit out and not play is one of the worst penalties in the game short of taking away their character completely.)