Asmor
First Post
One of the things that I've found is that, particularly as you start getting to higher levels where buffs start piling on, all the various bonuses and penalties can really bog things down.
What I propose is limiting every number on your character sheet to a maximum of two temporary bonuses and two temporary penalties. These bonuses and penalties are as follows:
Conditional: Bonuses or penalties which occur from something about you changing (i.e. the strength bonus of Bull's Strength would give a +2 conditional modifier to melee attacks and damage, Mage Armor would apply a +4 conditional bonus to AC).
Situational: Bonuses or penalties which occur from the current combat situation... For example, having high ground would provide a situational bonus on attacks, and being prone would provide a situational penalty on attacks.
In each case, you only take the greatest conditional bonus, the greatest conditional penalty, the greatest situational bonus, and the greatest situational penalty. All other modifiers are ignored.
The biggest problem with this system that I see is that it creates two seemingly balanced... inbalances. Some things are suddenly more powerful, like Mage Armor since it's no longer an armor bonus and it stacks with your full plate. On the other hand, buffs in general get a big hit. Many buffs work by giving a small bonus (+1 or +2) with a relatively obscure type, the idea being that you stack together multiple of them. However now you're not able to get more than a total of +2.
Here's my suggestion on fixing this. In the first case (Mage Armor and its ilk), any effect which temporarily grants a traditionally "permanent" bonus (i.e. armor, natural armor, etc) is still changed to a conditional bonus, but it is errated to not stack with its original bonus type. For example, Mage Armor grants a +4 conditional bonus which does not stack with armor bonuses.
Second, any effect which grants a more obscure, temporary bonus should have its bonus increased to compensate. Since this is mostly about buffs, let's just say that any of these spells have their bonus changed the the spell level. For example, the 5th level spell Righteous Might has its +2 enhancement to natural armor changed to a +5 conditional bonus to AC (note that this doesn't fall under the first case, since the normal bonus does stack with Natural Armor, not overlaps it).
What I propose is limiting every number on your character sheet to a maximum of two temporary bonuses and two temporary penalties. These bonuses and penalties are as follows:
Conditional: Bonuses or penalties which occur from something about you changing (i.e. the strength bonus of Bull's Strength would give a +2 conditional modifier to melee attacks and damage, Mage Armor would apply a +4 conditional bonus to AC).
Situational: Bonuses or penalties which occur from the current combat situation... For example, having high ground would provide a situational bonus on attacks, and being prone would provide a situational penalty on attacks.
In each case, you only take the greatest conditional bonus, the greatest conditional penalty, the greatest situational bonus, and the greatest situational penalty. All other modifiers are ignored.
The biggest problem with this system that I see is that it creates two seemingly balanced... inbalances. Some things are suddenly more powerful, like Mage Armor since it's no longer an armor bonus and it stacks with your full plate. On the other hand, buffs in general get a big hit. Many buffs work by giving a small bonus (+1 or +2) with a relatively obscure type, the idea being that you stack together multiple of them. However now you're not able to get more than a total of +2.
Here's my suggestion on fixing this. In the first case (Mage Armor and its ilk), any effect which temporarily grants a traditionally "permanent" bonus (i.e. armor, natural armor, etc) is still changed to a conditional bonus, but it is errated to not stack with its original bonus type. For example, Mage Armor grants a +4 conditional bonus which does not stack with armor bonuses.
Second, any effect which grants a more obscure, temporary bonus should have its bonus increased to compensate. Since this is mostly about buffs, let's just say that any of these spells have their bonus changed the the spell level. For example, the 5th level spell Righteous Might has its +2 enhancement to natural armor changed to a +5 conditional bonus to AC (note that this doesn't fall under the first case, since the normal bonus does stack with Natural Armor, not overlaps it).
