D&D 5E Mike Mearls's Tweets

[Jeff Carlsen]

I know it's fiddly, but what if critical hits were caused when you beat the targets AC by 5? This way, strength becomes a factor in damage without having to add strength to damage.

 

[El Mahdi]

I know it's fiddly, but what if critical hits were caused when you beat the targets AC by 5? This way, strength becomes a factor in damage without having to add strength to damage.

Yeah, it might be a bit fiddly but I think it would be cool. It's kind of like how some others in the thread recommended just adding strength (continuing to add strength) to any critical hit damage.

Another way, even though it's not D&D per se, is to simply add the margin of success from the attack roll (difference between the D20 attack roll plus modifiers and the targets A/C) to a base damage die roll (without any other modifiers). You can then tailor the game to almost anything you want by just changing the base die used: variable dice based on different weapons (weapon differentiation), base die based on class and level, increasing base die with level or non-increasing die for grittier game throughout all levels, etc. One consideration though, would be the higher the base damage die, the less impactful the attack roll result to the potential total.

I've toyed with doing this in my games for quite a while, I just haven't gotten it to a workable form yet. I like it though because it could kill two birds with one stone: you get modifiers contributing to damage, and you get the accuracy of the attack roll influencing the damage outcome (something D&D doesn't currently have). The way D&D has always worked, you can roll massively well on your attack roll, but still be short of a critical, and then roll the minimum on your damage roll. That's always been a bit of a letdown for me.

 

[Greg K]

I know it's fiddly, but what if critical hits were caused when you beat the targets AC by 5? This way, strength becomes a factor in damage without having to add strength to damage.

I always liked the PO:Combat and Tactics version: Natural 18 or higher and hit by 5 or more. I wish 3e had gone with it as the basis (possibly, using weapon threat range in place of a Natural 18) instead of the combination of natural 20 and confirmation roll.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Mike Mearls "not sure" if Mystara races will have PC stats at launch, says "we have a lot of races to cover."

This is cool(ish) news(ish). The idea of including races from a setting that hasn't seen print in 16 years isn't a straight "lol no."

Makes you wonder: just how many is "a lot?"

If you just look at all the PHB races, you have Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and 4e-Eladrin (which I imagine is going to be replaced by an elf subrace, so that's 9). They're already talking about Dragonlance Draconians and Minotaurs.

 

[fjw70]

Mike Mearls "not sure" if Mystara races will have PC stats at launch, says "we have a lot of races to cover."

This is cool(ish) news(ish). The idea of including races from a setting that hasn't seen print in 16 years isn't a straight "lol no."

Makes you wonder: just how many is "a lot?"

If you just look at all the PHB races, you have Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and 4e-Eladrin (which I imagine is going to be replaced by an elf subrace, so that's 9). They're already talking about Dragonlance Draconians and Minotaurs.

What are the Mystara races?

 

[Remathilis]

Lupins, Rakasta, and Tortles. Rakasta are in the playtest packet as monsters, courtesy of Isle of Dread.

 

[fjw70]

Lupins, Rakasta, and Tortles. Rakasta are in the playtest packet as monsters, courtesy of Isle of Dread.

Thanks. I wasn't aware they were PCs races for Mystara.

 

[Howndawg]

Thanks. I wasn't aware they were PCs races for Mystara.

Actually, there were oodles of them. The Broken Lands had rules for playing all manner of savage humaoids like orcs and trolls, the Creature Crucible series covered fey, undersea races, lycanthropes, and flying races, The Hollow World setting added even more races, not to mention those that appeared in the Princess Ark series.