D&D General Mechanics you DO want to see return

[NotAYakk]

I quite miss using an action to spend a healing surge/hit dice in combat. Because I dont see hp as meat I dont have any dissonance with the mechanic. I also like the tactical choice to do so.

And healing magic "unlocking" HD in combat.

A 4e inspired variant I've thought about for 5e was:

1. When you roll a HD, it is only expended on a roll of 1-3. (This aligns with 4e "healing surge number")

2. When you are healed by magic (except regeneration effects), you can roll as many HD as the effect rolls dice (min 1). So a L 1 healing word is now 1d4+stat+1HD

3. Everyone gets second wind as an action once between short rests; you can roll up to half of your HD (round down) plus Con mod (once), and it also counts as a dodge. Fighters get it as a bonus action (including the dodge!), and get an extra 1d10+fighter level HP.

4. When you take an extended rest, roll expended HD; they recover on an even roll of 4 or greater. If you have a day of downtime, roll them twice.

5. Short rests are 10 minutes long; if you have time to make an investigation check, you have time to short rest. Catnap takes 30 seconds (5 rounds); it is plausible to even use that in long combat, or in short breaks in combat.

Sally the level 10 fighter (14 con) has 84 HP and 10d10 HD.

Sally takes 70 damage. Sally uses second wind, healing 5d10 HD + 1d10+12, regaining 45 HP (at 54 HP). Of those 5d10, one rolls a 2, and she is down 1 HD.

She takes another 50 damage, and then the Bard uses a level 3 healing word on her. She heals 3d4+3d10+4 for 39 damage (at 43 HP) and burns another HD. The fight finishes with Sally taking 10 more damage.

They take a short rest. She rolls 6d10 HD for 45 HP and is at 78 HP, and loses 3 more HD.

So she is at 5d10 HD left.

 

[Tony Vargas]

1. When you roll a HD, it is only expended on a roll of 1-3.

That's a tad sucky, roll bad, don't get many hps, and loose the resource. Maybe if your roll more than half the die type it's expended? Oh, or is part of the point that you run out of HD faster if you have d6 HD than d12?

Another thing I think works nicely is to roll things like that in combat, and take average (or rounded-up average or even max) out of combat. Adds drama in the action scene, speeds up the bookkeeping between scenes.

 

[NotAYakk]

That's a tad sucky, roll bad, don't get many hps, and loose the resource. Maybe if your roll more than half the die type it's expended? Oh, or is part of the point that you run out of HD faster if you have d6 HD than d12?

Another thing I think works nicely is to roll things like that in combat, and take average (or rounded-up average or even max) out of combat. Adds drama in the action scene, speeds up the bookkeeping between scenes.

Yes, the idea is that 1d6 last 2 rolls on average, 1d12s last 4. Together with "roll half" you get a differing number of uses based on your HD size (4 to 8).

On top of that, HD recovery also works that was (but only even numbers). So an overnight rest heals 3/8 of barb HD but 1/6 of Wizard HD.

A week of rest gives you 14 rolls, enough to get back all HD usually even on a high level wizard (93% of lost d6 HD); you could just add a rule for that.

Also, I could drop "roll lost HD" with "roll all HD, and get back a number equal to the even rolls 4 or greater". That means ~3 days gets back all lost d6s.

 

[Lanefan]

So has anyone done a comparison of this to the mechanics you do not want to see return? Because it seems like there may be a decent amount of overlap.

Yep, overlap there is; and the border will exactly mirror the old school-new school divide. Going strictly by my memory, some examples:

--- level drain. Old-schoolers want this back, new-schoolers never want to see it again.
--- save-or-die. Ditto, more or less.

There are, however, a few bring-'em-backs that quickly leap out as running mostly or completely unopposed, however:

--- lots of requests for strongholds and followers to come back; I don't think anyone's said they never want to see 'em again (or if yes, it's a very small minority)
--- fewer requests for the return of morale rules but I don't recall seeing any opposition to them
--- some requests for one or another variant on negative hit points/different death rules seem thus far unopposed.

 

[Gradine]

Yep, overlap there is; and the border will exactly mirror the old school-new school divide. Going strictly by my memory, some examples:

--- level drain. Old-schoolers want this back, new-schoolers never want to see it again.
--- save-or-die. Ditto, more or less.

I mean, I guess it depends on whether you mean fans of the old school vs the new school or whether you mean actual longevity in the hobby. If the former, I would agree. As for the latter; well, I myself am only a single data point, but I grew up on level drain and save or die and would be happy to never see them return to the game.

There are, however, a few bring-'em-backs that quickly leap out as running mostly or completely unopposed, however:

--- lots of requests for strongholds and followers to come back; I don't think anyone's said they never want to see 'em again (or if yes, it's a very small minority)
--- fewer requests for the return of morale rules but I don't recall seeing any opposition to them
--- some requests for one or another variant on negative hit points/different death rules seem thus far unopposed.

I mean, again, I am only a single data point, but you can put me down for "please leave 5e death rules the way they are, thank you." Not that I'm strictly opposed to negative HP or any other previous editions' way of handling death; I just happen to think 5e does it better.

 

[Lanefan]

I mean, I guess it depends on whether you mean fans of the old school vs the new school or whether you mean actual longevity in the hobby.

Yes, I meant old/new school by outlook and preference, not by sheer age.

 

[Oofta]

Yep, overlap there is; and the border will exactly mirror the old school-new school divide. Going strictly by my memory, some examples:

--- level drain. Old-schoolers want this back, new-schoolers never want to see it again.
--- save-or-die. Ditto, more or less.

There are, however, a few bring-'em-backs that quickly leap out as running mostly or completely unopposed, however:

--- lots of requests for strongholds and followers to come back; I don't think anyone's said they never want to see 'em again (or if yes, it's a very small minority)
--- fewer requests for the return of morale rules but I don't recall seeing any opposition to them
--- some requests for one or another variant on negative hit points/different death rules seem thus far unopposed.

All I can do is chime in and say that I never cared much for level drain and save-or-die rules even back when they were the rules. Level drain was just annoying and going from perfectly fine mid-to-high level character to dead because of a bad roll wasn't my idea of fun. Negative HP is the same way, it never made much sense when it was -10 no matter how many HP you had because high level PCs were far more likely to die by going negative than low level because the damage being dished out was so much higher.

I will agree that I'd like to see some options for strongholds and mass combats. Just not sure how much of a demand there is for them considering the levels most people play. We already have morale rules in the DMG.

 

[Monayuris]

I want to see more support for DMs in the Monster Manual.

I want Morale scores for monsters. Also bring back % in liar, and descriptions of a typical lair for each monster.

I also miss treasure types, I like thatdifferent monsters who’ll have different style hoards.

Stuff like this helps DMs when they have to improvise.

 

[Lanefan]

I want to see more support for DMs in the Monster Manual.

I want Morale scores for monsters. Also bring back % in liar, and descriptions of a typical lair for each monster.

I also miss treasure types, I like thatdifferent monsters who’ll have different style hoards.

Stuff like this helps DMs when they have to improvise.

I've never used treasure types in my life, but I agree with the rest of this. A lair description doesn't have to be anything long and flowery, just a couple of lines will do. Even the 1e Monster Manual, for all its other flaws, usually had enough to give a sense of how and where a creature lived.

 

[cbwjm]

I actually prefer the 5e version of level drain that reduces maximum hit points. Long term it won't be an issue, but short term could be rather harrowing until the PCs find a place to rest.

3e wasn't too bad either, I think, been a while since I looked at them so some of this might be wrong but I seem to recall you had temporary level loss which could be removed later with spells and/or fortitude saves. I can't recall if the level loss became permanent if you failed to remove them though or if they just hung around until you fixed them.