D&D General Fixing the Great Weapon Fighting Style

[W'rkncacnter]

also, i don't think it's accurate that all small creatures should have a reduced speed, often, it's smaller creatures that can really scurry around.

smaller creatures appear to scurry around because despite often being slower, they move at a higher ratio of their own size compared to a larger creature. this is also why big things appear to move slower even if they're actually significantly faster then the smaller thing being compared to them. the most accurate way to model this would be a boost to ac and/or dex saves.

Here's an option that could be fun:

Tadaaaaah. Now you can Cleave with a Halberd or a Bastard Sword or even an improvised weapon! Pick up a pew in a church and bash two people over the head with it! And if you -are- using a Greataxe, you get to add your strength modifier to the second target hit.

This greatly increases a great weapon fighter's damage... -if- there are enemies pressed close enough to hit multiple targets. Definitely makes polearms much more attractive, too.

what i was thinking was essentially an alternate action to create an aura that lets you attack any creature within your reach if your choice the first time they enter that reach until your next turn. your solution is probably better and more in line with 5.5 design.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I’m pretty sure my cats run a lot faster than I do, despite being tiny creatures.

 

[Horwath]

I’m pretty sure my cats run a lot faster than I do, despite being tiny creatures.

and it's slower than most of larger feline species, if not all of them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

and it's slower than most of larger feline species, if not all of them.

Sure, but it’s faster than a human, which is the baseline. (A human could probably outrun the domestic cat over a long distance, but movement in D&D isn’t about endurance running).

A cheetah is a small creature in D&D terms, but it can run faster than any other land animal. Considerably faster than a tiger, two ticks bigger with a very similar body shape.

 

[Horwath]

Sure, but it’s faster than a human, which is the baseline. (A human could probably outrun the domestic cat over a long distance, but movement in D&D isn’t about endurance running).

A cheetah is a small creature in D&D terms, but it can run faster than any other land animal.

when I was saying that smaller creatures should be slower as baseline, I was talking about same body type, with more or less same proportions.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

I’m pretty sure my cats run a lot faster than I do, despite being tiny creatures.

hence "often". ants are much slower then humans, for example, but they look faster because they move multiple times their size faster then you do.

cats are just fast.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

when I was saying that smaller creatures should be slower as baseline, I was talking about same body type, with more or less same proportions.

Even so, changing the size changes the speed. Some physics: whist stride is (almost*) directly proportional to L, natural frequency decreases proportional to square root L. I.e. short legs swing faster. And off course, mass is the big factor when it comes to acceleration, and mass increases proportional to L cubed.

An elephant has a slightly higher running speed than an average human (but less than a top athlete), but a human has a much higher acceleration.

And, of course, if you scale up an ant, it doesn’t get faster - it can’t move at all, because it’s legs are not strong enough to lift its body weight.

*using small angle approximation for sine theta.

 

[Silam]

As is so often the case when brainstorming house rules to improve 5e, we end up designing mechanics that are remarkably similar to 3e …

In 3e, a Small creature had a +1 Size bonus to attack rolls and AC, +4 to Hide and -4 on Grapple. And 3/4 the carrying capactiy of a Medium creature. And then roughly the opposite for a Large creature.

Simple, sensible, elegant.

But 5e is simpler though. Pick your poison.

 

[Horwath]

As is so often the case when brainstorming house rules to improve 5e, we end up designing mechanics that are remarkably similar to 3e …

In 3e, a Small creature had a +1 Size bonus to attack rolls and AC, +4 to Hide and -4 on Grapple. And 3/4 the carrying capactiy of a Medium creature. And then roughly the opposite for a Large creature.

Simple, sensible, elegant.

But 5e is simpler though. Pick your poison.

I see +1 to AC and +1 attack as too much.
also why +1 attack? I get that with smaller frame, you are smaller target.

as for stealth, I could see giving +1 bonus, to keep bounds on bounded accuracy
for grapple, disadvantage is good enough, if it's 2 categories difference then it's advantage for bigger and disadvantage from smaller grappler.

as for weapons, again we got too much simplicity, reduction for damage die for all weapons could also work, but banning Heavy weapons seems simpler for small characters.

 

[Silam]

I see +1 to AC and +1 attack as too much.
also why +1 attack? I get that with smaller frame, you are smaller target.

It’s a matter of symmetry. It is as easy for a Small creature to hit another Small creature, as it is for a Medium one to hit another Medium one. If you boosted only AC, it would mean that for some mysterious metaphysical reason, the smaller you become the more you live in a foam-based reality where it is less likely for anything to hurt you, violence is less incentivized as a matter of fact. And then the reverse for bigger creatures that would have a penalty to AC: they are more likely to hurt themselves continuously, violence is a more effective tool to them, etc. There isn’t any reason for these distortions to exist. The differences in combat mechanics should exist in fights involving creatures of distinct sizes, not within the same size category.

as for stealth, I could see giving +1 bonus, to keep bounds on bounded accuracy

Yeah, scores were high in 3e, they’re weak in 5e, so it’s par for the course to tweak these numbers.