D&D 5E House ruling away bonus actions?

[Quickleaf]

I think you'd have to ban multi-classing. I mean, war domain cleric and rogue? Attack, twf attack, bonus action attack, healing word, disengage/dash? At 3rd level? And how would you treat spiritual weapon? Is that limited by the one bonus action attack rule?

I wonder... if you just take a dual-wielding 3rd level fighter in RAW, how might it compare to this. A 3rd level fighter already can... Attack, TWF Attack (adding Str/Dex mod), Action Surge Attack + TWF Attack (adding Str/Dex mod), Second Wind... comparing this as a "going all out option" between the multiclass (with house rule "on") and the fighter (with house rule "off").

Cleric 2 (War) / Rogue 1 = 1d8+3 Attack + 1d6 TWF + 1d6 Sneak Attack + 1d8+3 War Domain war priest use = 22 avg damage ...Healing Word for 5 hp... Dash or Disengage or Hide

Fighter 3 = 1d8+3 Attack + 1d6+3 TWF + Action Surge (1d8+3 Attack + 1d6+3 TWF) = 28 avg damage ...Second Wind for 8 hp

That seems pretty comparable to me, actually.

I guess what I'm wondering is whether there actually would be that much asymmetrical powering up for multiclassed PCs, or if it's more a universal modest powering up for PCs in general.

 

[Clint_L]

The fighter can action surge once. And second wind once. Seems like a bit disingenuous to include it as your point of comparison.

Every round after that the fighter's turn is: 1d8+3 Attack + 1d6+3 TWF

Basically, your proposal incentivizes players to do whatever they can to come up with feat and multi-class combinations that maximize bonus actions every round. I think if it were in the rules it would be incredibly broken, but in your home game, as long as it's fun, that's all that matters. I do think it would kinda suck if you were a player who just wanted to play a single classed barbarian or something.

 

[Quickleaf]

The fighter can action surge once. And second wind once. Seems like a bit disingenuous to include it as your point of comparison.

Geez. Tough audience. Maybe don't lead with assuming deceitful intent next time?

You're correct that the build would have higher spike damage at that level.

An alternative explanation to assuming I'm trying to misrepresent the truth (that's insulting btw) is that you're focusing on one combat in isolation, whereas I'm focusing on a couple combats. Neither of us is wrong. They're just different paradigms of evaluating.

 

[MNblockhead]

Just don't take away our bonuses until AFTER the holidays.

 

[FrogReaver]

My first thought is a Paladin can now blow all the slots on smite spells for an even greater nova than divine smite.

Actually this doesn't work as bonus action spells limited to one.

 

[NotAYakk]

Here a set of rules I don't think you can really abuse:

Two Weapon Fighting is part of the attack action.

Polearm Mastery, Double Scimitars and Monk Martial Arts count as forms of Two Weapon Fighting. Only Monk Marital Arts lets you deal your attribute bonus to damage by default.

All other Bonus Action attacks are limited to once on your turn collectively.

Monk Flurry of Blows grants only 1 attack (note you can do it with Martial Arts now, so this is a wash).

You can only cast one leveled spell per turn. This means no counterspelling if you cast a leveled spell. (This replaces the overly complex BA spellcasting rule).

For other Bonus Actions, you are limited to 1 use per feature on your turn. (Spellcasting is a feature, as is Cunning Action for a rogue, or the Monk's Ki using abilities).

...

I think this is clear and simple.

You can do a Rogue 2/Monk 2/War Cleric 1/Ranger 1 bonus action spaz-fest, but it is mostly a curiosity not all that abusive.

 

[Horwath]

1. TWF, part of Attack action
2. Smite should stay the same as 2014 with limit of 1/turn
3. Flurry should stay as Bonus action as you can have your hands full with weapons/grappling and still make unarmed attacks.
4. PAM is an extra attack with 2Handed weapon, it should be Bonus action.
5. Hunters mark can be a free action cast after you hit with a weapon attack, similar to smite.
6. Spell as Bonus action should stay as Bonus action, but limit of only cantrip+Bonus action spell should be removed.
7. Potions/weapon oils should be Bonus action
8. Shield don/doff, Bonus action
9. You should be able to trade you entire Move for additional Bonus action or trade your Action for 2 Bonus actions.

 

[jmartkdr2]

The balance issue here is definitely the potential for alpha strikes; if you’re not running dungeons you’d need to watch out for pcs spending all of their dailies in three rounds. You can just give the enemies more hp if you find this to be a problem but that can feel a little meta to some people.

I don’t think complicating the action economy is the best way to force players to conserve resources, but in a game that assumes attrition like DnD not using attrition will always potentially cause issues.

 

[Kurotowa]

IMO turning all Bonus Actions into Free Actions is going too far. As seems to be the prevailing sentiment of the thread. Maybe instead of converting all Bonus Actions, make a short list of the Bonus Actions you feel are specifically limiting and change those. It's a more controlled experiment and doesn't throw the door entirely open to every crazy combo.

 

[Quickleaf]

The balance issue here is definitely the potential for alpha strikes; if you’re not running dungeons you’d need to watch out for pcs spending all of their dailies in three rounds. You can just give the enemies more hp if you find this to be a problem but that can feel a little meta to some people.

I don’t think complicating the action economy is the best way to force players to conserve resources, but in a game that assumes attrition like DnD not using attrition will always potentially cause issues.

Yeah, I see that. There's more context that's important – but I realize this is a separate piece from the main thrust of the question I'm posing – so... I want to run a game starting at higher level and basically throwing out the "balanced" encounter in favor of a more old school approach where I throw all kinds of crazy challenges at the PCs and let the players figure it out.

So while I might give a very special solo monster a serious powerup – e.g. if they fight the fiendish chromatic greatwyrm Ephelomon, I would give him 1000+ hit points and some other cool stuff – mostly it'll be facing stacked odds with numbers against them / situations against them. And in that environment, having a 25-33% more powerful alpha strike feels "within tolerance" for me. And by "within tolerance" I mean comparable to or less than a paladin smiting.