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How freely can a setting mess with core D&D mechanics?
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<blockquote data-quote="Coroc" data-source="post: 7857127" data-attributes="member: 6895991"><p>Very good topic, check out how I fought with my homebrew darksun conversion trying to be true to 2e flair so far. It covers things like weapon out of worse material, halfgiants, defiling and it really gave me headaches to find solutions which do not clash with 5e core mechanic.</p><p></p><p>I cannot tell you at which point the core mechanic absolutely breaks but I can tell you which things do not break the core mechanic:</p><p></p><p>Restriction of race, class/subclass, alignment and any combination of these do not break anything at all since they are pure fluff.</p><p></p><p>Restriction of equipment does not break anything if you still have viable options e.g. you need some decent weapon and armor for your fighter or you have to take that into account when building mobs and encounters.</p><p></p><p>Restriction of spells above 5th level should not break anything, it might shift the class balance a bit though, I would not recommend it for lower levels than 6th and up. Especially spells which allow magical movement and shenanigans can be cancelled without problem.</p><p></p><p>Otoh Restriction of spells as such does not break anything, if you cover the basics. Means there should eventually be some cure wounds spell for your cleric, but it is not needed that he can cast heat metal.</p><p>Again even if some will not believe me spells are fluff also, not basic mechanics.</p><p></p><p>Now some of the difficult things:</p><p></p><p>Environmental stuff like weather conditions, planar specialities etc. older editions used to cover this with a busload of pus and minus modifiers. You cannot do that with 5e. It does indeed break the mechanics and the flow of the game.</p><p>So what to do here? There is no fix rule that I would recommend but the following is what I would do:</p><p>Is something really hefty let us say a sandstorm or a blizzard then you can apply disadvantage to some of the characters actions but do not forget every advantage from what source ever cancels that one out in 5e. and disad is like a -5 which might not be the level at which you wanted to rate some nuisance.</p><p>So work around these things, e.g. Party is under a constant bane (-1d4 on attack etc) for some shadowplane.</p><p>Or : nonmagic weapons do -1d4 damage here or not getting a short rest in some shelter every 4 hours gives exhaustion</p><p></p><p>With DL as far as I can remember they had no cleric spells in the beginning but the blue crystal staff which worked like a spell store of cleric spells with charges recharging daily. You can absolutely have a cleric who got no spells at the beginning have such an artifact instead until he gets some spells the normal way without breaking 5e. You only have to adjust the artifact so it is not to powerful.</p><p></p><p>Dragonmarks / wild psionics instead of feats? no problems</p><p></p><p>Moon magic? easy, this one shouts for advantage/disadvantage for saves, spell attacks etc. np at all here because it is a temprory condition.</p><p></p><p>Cannot think about more atm. hope that helps</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Coroc, post: 7857127, member: 6895991"] Very good topic, check out how I fought with my homebrew darksun conversion trying to be true to 2e flair so far. It covers things like weapon out of worse material, halfgiants, defiling and it really gave me headaches to find solutions which do not clash with 5e core mechanic. I cannot tell you at which point the core mechanic absolutely breaks but I can tell you which things do not break the core mechanic: Restriction of race, class/subclass, alignment and any combination of these do not break anything at all since they are pure fluff. Restriction of equipment does not break anything if you still have viable options e.g. you need some decent weapon and armor for your fighter or you have to take that into account when building mobs and encounters. Restriction of spells above 5th level should not break anything, it might shift the class balance a bit though, I would not recommend it for lower levels than 6th and up. Especially spells which allow magical movement and shenanigans can be cancelled without problem. Otoh Restriction of spells as such does not break anything, if you cover the basics. Means there should eventually be some cure wounds spell for your cleric, but it is not needed that he can cast heat metal. Again even if some will not believe me spells are fluff also, not basic mechanics. Now some of the difficult things: Environmental stuff like weather conditions, planar specialities etc. older editions used to cover this with a busload of pus and minus modifiers. You cannot do that with 5e. It does indeed break the mechanics and the flow of the game. So what to do here? There is no fix rule that I would recommend but the following is what I would do: Is something really hefty let us say a sandstorm or a blizzard then you can apply disadvantage to some of the characters actions but do not forget every advantage from what source ever cancels that one out in 5e. and disad is like a -5 which might not be the level at which you wanted to rate some nuisance. So work around these things, e.g. Party is under a constant bane (-1d4 on attack etc) for some shadowplane. Or : nonmagic weapons do -1d4 damage here or not getting a short rest in some shelter every 4 hours gives exhaustion With DL as far as I can remember they had no cleric spells in the beginning but the blue crystal staff which worked like a spell store of cleric spells with charges recharging daily. You can absolutely have a cleric who got no spells at the beginning have such an artifact instead until he gets some spells the normal way without breaking 5e. You only have to adjust the artifact so it is not to powerful. Dragonmarks / wild psionics instead of feats? no problems Moon magic? easy, this one shouts for advantage/disadvantage for saves, spell attacks etc. np at all here because it is a temprory condition. Cannot think about more atm. hope that helps [/QUOTE]
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