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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 6340784" data-attributes="member: 50987">My game table hates having multiple attacks at higher levels.  Which is unusual, because every other gaming group that I have been the DM for absolutely loved them.  The most common complaint is that combat is already very slow, and adding two, three, four, or five attack rolls to the melee fighters only exacerbates the problem.So I proposed the following work-around, and we tried it out for a few gaming sessions.  It playtests fairly well, so I thought I would share it here.  (We have tested it under 3.5E and Pathfinder.)-----Characters do not gain multiple attacks at higher levels.  Instead, they gain bonus damage.  The implication is that characters do not "get faster" with their weapons as they gain levels, but learn to "hit harder" with them instead.The Rule: any time that a character would get an extra attack with a weapon, he doesn't.  Instead, that weapon makes 1 attack that deals an extra 5 points of damage.  This is an untyped bonus that stacks with all others.  The character must be using the full attack option to get this bonus damage.  In the event of a critical hit, this extra damage is not multiplied.If the full attack option would normally allow a weapon to make 3 attacks, instead the character makes 1 attack that deals +10 damage on a hit.If the full attack option would normally allow a weapon to make 4 attacks, instead the character makes 1 attack that deals +15 damage on a hit.And so on.Example 1Huxley is a 6th level fighter.  Normally he would get two attacks on account of his high base attack bonus, when using the Full Attack action.  Under this house rule, he instead makes a single attack at his highest BAT, and deals +5 damage if it hits.Example 2Huxley takes the Two Weapon Fighting feat.  When fighting with two weapons, he would normally be able to make two attacks with the primary weapon and a second with the off-hand weapon.  The primary weapon is made at the normal bonus (taking the normal penalty for two-weapon fighting), and deals +5 damage.  The attack with his off-hand is not an "extra" attack, and therefore is made normally (also taking the usual penalties for fighting with two weapons, and dealing the normal damage on a hit.)Example 3Huxley is now a 20th level fighter, and he has optimized his number of attacks per round.  He has the Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, and Greater Two Weapon Fighting feats, and he has purchased himself a set of matching scimitars of speed.  His high base attack bonus and the haste effect would allow him to make 5 attacks with his primary weapon, and his feats would allow him to make three attacks with his off-hand weapon.  Instead, under this house rule, he makes one attack with the primary weapon at +20 damage, and one attack with his secondary weapon at +10 damage.Example 4Keyodai is a 20th level monk.  When she uses her flurry of blows ability, she would normally get to make 5 different attack rolls.  Instead, under this house rule, she makes a single attack roll that deals +20 damage (4 extra attacks x 5 damage per attack = 20 extra damage).Example 5Fafnir is an ancient red dragon.  When he makes a full attack, he gets to attack with his bite, his claws, his wings, and his tail.  But since he never attacks more than once with each of these "weapons", he doesn't get the benefit of bonus damage under this house rule.Example 6Fafmor casts haste upon himself.  Now he is allowed to make an extra attack as a partial action, and he decides to make an extra tail slap.  Under this house rule he still only makes one attack per "weapon", but his tail slap now deals +5 damage.-----Things We Have Observed1.  There are a lot fewer dice rolls now.  Our high-level ranger once had to roll a fistful of color-coded dice in every battle, then sort them by color and different attack rolls, then determine how many of which weapons managed to hit.  Some players really enjoy the process, but mine do not.  Under this rule, the player only needs to track two d20 rolls at the very most.2.  Targets are more important.  The afforementioned ranger doesn't get the option of making several attacks against an assortment of creatures within range, and no longer has the burden of choosing the order in which he targets them.  Depending on your campaign and your play style, this might not be a good thing...but for my TWF ranger, it was a huge relief.3.  Fighters deal damage more reliably.  At high levels, extra attacks are often worthless because they are penalized so heavily (that 4th attack is made at -15, for example).  This house rule makes combat less "swingy" for multiple attacks, allowing the fighter to do more damage on average.  Again: depending on your campaign and play style, this might not be such a good thing.4.  High-level combat is faster.  We run a combat-heavy campaign with 6 players, and our gaming sessions are 5 hours long.  Before using this house rule, we would normally only get 3 or 4 encounters per gaming session before we ran out of time.  Now, we average about 5 or 6.-----Has anyone ever used a similar house rule for multiple attacks?  I'd be interested in hearing your feedback.</blockquote>

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