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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
I've introduced my 5th ed group to AD&D 2E
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8706715" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>The trouble is those charts don't really work that well with the amount of circumstantial modifiers you'll see from flanking, charging, long range, etc. One guy casts bless or prayer and they're all wrong for everyone. I know they're useful, and I know they suck when you level up or find a new weapon (or get to the level where you typically face things with negative AC) because I used them, too.</p><p></p><p>They don't exist on 5e character sheets because... you really don't need them. Nearly always, you take your ability modifier, base bonus, and any permanent passive bonus and write "+X" on your sheet and it stays that way for 2-4 levels. Then your attack is adding just that number and the die roll together. Usually your circumstantial bonuses are either advantage or bonus dice, so it's difficult to forget them and you're always adding (barring rare exceptions like Bane). The only common flat bonus in the game is cover and firing into melee, both which could easily be replaced with a d4 (and arguably should be). You never feel like you have to think about confusing ideas like "bonuses subtract and penalties add".</p><p></p><p>You also never have a scheme where <em>rolling</em> lower is better like with ability checks adding further confusion. Just having a scheme of "higher is always better" is a remarkable level of simplification that eliminates a significant amount of mental overhead. You don't go from needing to roll an ability check with a +4 bonus to get <em>under</em> a 10 to rolling an attack with a +2 charging bonus and <em>higher is better</em> but your target number is on scale where <em>lower</em> is better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8706715, member: 6777737"] The trouble is those charts don't really work that well with the amount of circumstantial modifiers you'll see from flanking, charging, long range, etc. One guy casts bless or prayer and they're all wrong for everyone. I know they're useful, and I know they suck when you level up or find a new weapon (or get to the level where you typically face things with negative AC) because I used them, too. They don't exist on 5e character sheets because... you really don't need them. Nearly always, you take your ability modifier, base bonus, and any permanent passive bonus and write "+X" on your sheet and it stays that way for 2-4 levels. Then your attack is adding just that number and the die roll together. Usually your circumstantial bonuses are either advantage or bonus dice, so it's difficult to forget them and you're always adding (barring rare exceptions like Bane). The only common flat bonus in the game is cover and firing into melee, both which could easily be replaced with a d4 (and arguably should be). You never feel like you have to think about confusing ideas like "bonuses subtract and penalties add". You also never have a scheme where [I]rolling[/I] lower is better like with ability checks adding further confusion. Just having a scheme of "higher is always better" is a remarkable level of simplification that eliminates a significant amount of mental overhead. You don't go from needing to roll an ability check with a +4 bonus to get [I]under[/I] a 10 to rolling an attack with a +2 charging bonus and [I]higher is better[/I] but your target number is on scale where [I]lower[/I] is better. [/QUOTE]
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I've introduced my 5th ed group to AD&D 2E
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