D&D 5E I am thinking of eliminating reactions.

[Wiseblood]

Reactions/AoO’s and readied actions all seem to contribute to interrupting the flow of a round. This interruption is creating confusion about who’s turn is next. This sometimes means people miss a turn even when paying attention. I haven’t liked AoO’s since third edition because they are cumbersome and insipid. I feel like countering spells is a worthwhile endeavor. How would you handle countering?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Just say that a spellcaster can only counter one spell in a round. Whether or not you want to call that "extra" action a Reaction or not is up to you.

Personally... I'd rather figure out why people can't seem to remember whose turn it was when someone used a Reaction, rather than try and re-jigger all the rules to take Reactions out of the game. It'd be much easier to fix one single thing that really shouldn't be all that difficult in the first place-- versus re-working to eliminate an entire game system that dozens of features and abilities are built to use.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Huh. I've never seen this problem.

How do you track turn order? We use the old "cards hanging over the DM's screen" method and it seems to work just fine. Sure, sometimes we mess things up, but I don't think it's because of reactions. Usually players are so eager for their turn that if the DM makes a mistake they're all over it.

I suspect electronic devices at the table are a bigger cause of initiative-order mistakes.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Interesting. We haven't had any issues with confusion about readied actions or other stuff. Can you offer an example? What is going on that people would miss their turn?

I wouldn't get rid of these things unless you find no alternative, as it would require a lot of tweaking.

Many features use your reaction, besides Counterspell and Shield, others such as Uncanny Dodge, Skirmisher, and Arcane Deflection (five reactions my current character has!).

Removing OA would hurt classes and feats which incorporate OA as a key feature.

Removing Ready would prevent and complicate situations where one creature is prepared to act depending on another's.

What is making Countering hard? You spend a 3rd or higher level slot to prevent an enemy caster from completing their spell. Is it the time for the extra die roll and figuring out what DC is needed? In that case maybe Countering could instead impost a penalty against the incoming spell, perhaps making it miss, or offering a bonus to the saving throw for the target(s)?

 

[Wiseblood]

They are all literal interruptions. I am not afraid of dumping a rule I think is trash even if it means more work. Everyone gets a turn sounds fair doesn’t it. Counter spell isn’t problematic I consider it good which is why I wanted to keep it.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Maybe you can track initiative better.

 

[Jer]

A lot of folks are trying to argue against your premise, but I'll go the other way.

I feel like countering spells is a worthwhile endeavor. How would you handle countering?

My answer is to argue against THIS premise instead and say "I wouldn't". If you're going to remove the ability of martial characters to act outside of their turn then you should bite the bullet and do it for everyone and just eliminate counterspell as well. Removing counterspell puts the wizards on equal footing with everyone else if you drop everyone's reactions, and that's a good thing, so just lose it.

ETA: But if you want to keep counterspells in and lose reactions for everyone else, then just say "spellcasters are more awesome than everyone else and so they get to cast counterspells outside of their turn". Spellcasting is already it's own thing separate from making melee/ranged attacks with weapons, so you don't need much justification to do it. (This is all assuming you have buy-in from your players of course.)

 

[DND_Reborn]

They are all literal interruptions. I am not afraid of dumping a rule I think is trash even if it means more work. Everyone gets a turn sounds fair doesn’t it. Counter spell isn’t problematic I consider it good which is why I wanted to keep it.

Yes, that is the point of reactions, as interruptions. But even with them, everyone still gets a turn you know. It isn't like my reaction is preventing another's turn in initiative.

So, how would you handle spells like Shield? All the other reactions my character has? Uncanny Dodge, Arcane Deflection, and Skirmisker? How would you rewrite those?

While I can mostly understand the issues with Ready, and other threads have discussed how it can cause confusion, I don't see how other reaction features are causing such an issue, especially if you are in favor of keeping Countering.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Reactions/AoO’s and readied actions all seem to contribute to interrupting the flow of a round. This interruption is creating confusion about who’s turn is next. This sometimes means people miss a turn even when paying attention. I haven’t liked AoO’s since third edition because they are cumbersome and insipid. I feel like countering spells is a worthwhile endeavor. How would you handle countering?

If you understand how to track initiative better I think it will solve your issues. If you find tracking initiative difficult use a physical aid.

 

[Arnwolf666]

Never had this problem. But whatever works for your group do.