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Helping melee combat to be more competitive to ranged.
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6980533" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>As for me, I have identified a few critical abilites/features/rules that shift the balance.</p><p></p><p><strong>a. Being able to negate penalties for when a foe runs up to you and attacks you in melee</strong></p><p>Specifically: the part of Crossbow Expertise saying you no longer get disadvantage when in melee</p><p></p><p>As long as foes can threaten your ability to keep fighting with ranged attacks, this might all by itself be just enough to discourage these builds. Of course, as the thread has shown, all you need to do is effortlessly draw a rapier, so this isn't really a huge difference. More like making a statement.</p><p></p><p>Running a no-feats game is the easiest solution. Specifically banning the Crossbow Expert feat is also rather straight-forward. However, I will personally probably try to salvage the feat by changing it, but that's much harder to pull off.</p><p></p><p><strong>b. Not getting to add Dexterity to ranged damage</strong> </p><p>In 3rd edition, archers add no ability bonus to damage. Of course, the game offered "compound" bows that had a strength requirement (such as Strength 16) - if you met that requirement, you got to add a bonus to your damage (such as +3 for this example bow). In practice, it all boils down to archers adding their Strength to damage (for bows, not crossbows).</p><p></p><p>This is a much more fundamental change; one that I personally believe will once and for all shift the balance back towards melee. Of course, 5E is a simple game and so all this minutae with compound bows is too much detail, IMO. I'd suggest making the following very simple rules tweak:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll—</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">to the damage.</p><p><em>-- Player's Handbook, page 196</em></p><p></p><p>to </p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">When attacking with a weapon, you add your Strength ability modifier to the damage.</p><p></p><p>Simple, huh? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">That's all you need to change. Since specific trumps general, no other rules change is needed to still accommodate finesse weapons:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="font-size: 9px"><strong>Finesse.</strong> When making an attack with a finesse</p></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="font-size: 9px">weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or</p></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="font-size: 9px">Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You</p></span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="font-size: 9px">must use the same modifier for both rolls.</p><p><em>-- Player's Handbook, page 147</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">The end result is that if your hero is using a rapier, she can still add Dexterity to damage. If you throw a dagger, you can still add Dexterity to damage. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">The only change is for ranged weapons. Since they aren't finesse weapons, they now add Strength to damage instead of Dexterity. Effectively all ranged weapons are "compound". To me this is simple and easy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">Also, it ensures ranged weapons will always come second to a true hero. They are still useful when you can't get to your foe, and when the foe charges you from the distance (exactly as useful as in 3rd edition in fact); but like a proper fantasy hero, you will always want to get close and personal if given a choice <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">To me, this "saves" D&D from becoming a "modern" game where cover and movement take precedence over brawn and guts. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">Not coincidentally, it also saves many Monster Manual stat blocks from being obsolete, since now strategies that prevent monsters from closing to melee also prevent heroes from making their best attacks.</span></p><p></p><p>One final note: the classic Archer is not banned in any way - she just needs to focus on both Strength and Dexterity, that's all. Considering how powerful range still is, this is definitely a proper cost in my mind.</p><p></p><p>No longer is Dexterity the über-stat above all others.</p><p></p><p>Regards <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 6980533, member: 12731"] As for me, I have identified a few critical abilites/features/rules that shift the balance. [B]a. Being able to negate penalties for when a foe runs up to you and attacks you in melee[/B] Specifically: the part of Crossbow Expertise saying you no longer get disadvantage when in melee As long as foes can threaten your ability to keep fighting with ranged attacks, this might all by itself be just enough to discourage these builds. Of course, as the thread has shown, all you need to do is effortlessly draw a rapier, so this isn't really a huge difference. More like making a statement. Running a no-feats game is the easiest solution. Specifically banning the Crossbow Expert feat is also rather straight-forward. However, I will personally probably try to salvage the feat by changing it, but that's much harder to pull off. [B]b. Not getting to add Dexterity to ranged damage[/B] In 3rd edition, archers add no ability bonus to damage. Of course, the game offered "compound" bows that had a strength requirement (such as Strength 16) - if you met that requirement, you got to add a bonus to your damage (such as +3 for this example bow). In practice, it all boils down to archers adding their Strength to damage (for bows, not crossbows). This is a much more fundamental change; one that I personally believe will once and for all shift the balance back towards melee. Of course, 5E is a simple game and so all this minutae with compound bows is too much detail, IMO. I'd suggest making the following very simple rules tweak: [INDENT]When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll— to the damage.[/INDENT] [I]-- Player's Handbook, page 196[/I] to [INDENT]When attacking with a weapon, you add your Strength ability modifier to the damage.[/INDENT] Simple, huh? [SIZE=1]That's all you need to change. Since specific trumps general, no other rules change is needed to still accommodate finesse weapons: [INDENT][B]Finesse.[/B] When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.[/INDENT] [I]-- Player's Handbook, page 147[/I] The end result is that if your hero is using a rapier, she can still add Dexterity to damage. If you throw a dagger, you can still add Dexterity to damage. The only change is for ranged weapons. Since they aren't finesse weapons, they now add Strength to damage instead of Dexterity. Effectively all ranged weapons are "compound". To me this is simple and easy. Also, it ensures ranged weapons will always come second to a true hero. They are still useful when you can't get to your foe, and when the foe charges you from the distance (exactly as useful as in 3rd edition in fact); but like a proper fantasy hero, you will always want to get close and personal if given a choice :) To me, this "saves" D&D from becoming a "modern" game where cover and movement take precedence over brawn and guts. Not coincidentally, it also saves many Monster Manual stat blocks from being obsolete, since now strategies that prevent monsters from closing to melee also prevent heroes from making their best attacks.[/SIZE] One final note: the classic Archer is not banned in any way - she just needs to focus on both Strength and Dexterity, that's all. Considering how powerful range still is, this is definitely a proper cost in my mind. No longer is Dexterity the über-stat above all others. Regards :) [/QUOTE]
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