D&D 5E Parts of 5th Edition That Are Worth Stealing

[CleverNickName]

I really liked advantage/disadvantage as a mechanic and imported it into Pathfinder... and almost immediately removed it.

Basically, it works really well if you're rolling one thing at a time. So it was fine for skill checks and low-level attacks, but as soon as players got multiple attacks, it fell apart.

The same thing happened in the playtest with multiple attack enemies or large quantities of enemies, so I should have seen it coming. Back when swarming dire rats gained advantage... the die rolls were thick on the floor that day.

That said, it might work okay in an E6 campaign or any low-level campaign... but I don't think I'd even use it there. I'm definitely an anti-convert.

That is really good to know. Thanks for sharing.

I have been looking for ways to improve the speed of combat, and one of the things I am considering was the removal of multiple attacks per round (for both players and monsters alike). Perhaps adv/dis would work a lot better under a system like BECM, where characters didn't get more and more attacks per round as their levels increased?

 

[Kinak]

That is really good to know. Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. Glad my experience turned out handy for someone!

I have been looking for ways to improve the speed of combat, and one of the things I am considering was the removal of multiple attacks per round (for both players and monsters alike). Perhaps adv/dis would work a lot better under a system like BECM, where characters didn't get more and more attacks per round as their levels increased?

I've actually collapsed down the monster math in my game and it helps a ton. Each monster has one attack (barring something like cleave) and all damage is 3d6+X. Totally worth it.

Advantage/disadvantage works much better for that, but sort of... misses the magic of it to me. The players would really have to be collapsed down to one attack for it to help and that'd require a major rework of Pathfinder. I'd consider switching 5e back to damage multiplier rather than multiple attacks, but iterative attacks are just tricky.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[ren1999]

The Reaction is great. I try to give all monsters a Reaction.
Reaction spells. I know trigger and opportunity are similar.
No stat score above 30.
No single bonus above around 5.
Advantage/Disadvantage
Resistance is half damage.

My quick conversion of Pathfinder and 4E..

Any stat above 30 becomes 30.
Any humanoid abi score above 20 becomes 20.
Any single bonus above 5 becomes +5
Level bonus is removed and the proficiency bonus from the basic rules replaces it.
recalculate hit points using hit dice+(current con mod x level)
Seperate powers into 2 actions such as attack 1 action trip 1 action.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I'm really happy with 5E so far, but I'm not sure what would be a good steal other than dis/ad. Basic didn't have a whole bunch of new mechanics that we haven't already seen.

Concentration and Attunement might be useful if you're not already happy with the magic/mundane balance in your rules.

The idea of one hour short rests may or may not be useful to your campaign.

Maybe some class abilities might be worth a second look. The priest's capstone is cool, for example, though it's been done lots of times before.

If you're not already happy with your skill system, then proficiencies could be fun.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I'm glad someone mentioned attunement - I wouldn't have thought of it because I'd long since stolen it from RQII - but if you're seeing it for the first time in 5e, it's worth considering. Makes magic items a little more interesting. Combine it with the magic item quirks from 13A, and you've got a the RP opportunities of a minor-league artifact in every item.

 

[vecna00]

If I didn't end up converting to the new edition, I was at least going to start using the spellcasting ability modifiers for all attacks using spells.

Though would have been terribly unbalanced at times

 

[Starfox]

I stole bounded accuracy for my 4e game.

How did you do that? Did you simply remove the +1/2 level bonus?

We tought about doing this back in the 4E days, but never got around to it.

 

[Ebony Dragon]

I really liked advantage/disadvantage as a mechanic and imported it into Pathfinder... and almost immediately removed it.

My group is planning to steal the adv/dis rules for an E6 Pathfinder game starting later this year. I hope it works out better than it did for you!

 

[Halivar]

My group is planning to steal the adv/dis rules for an E6 Pathfinder game starting later this year. I hope it works out better than it did for you!

With only a handful of classes having the BAB for iterative attacks, you should have a better time with it than Kinak did.

BUT you may have to do something about TWF. 5E leaves the multi-attacks untouched there, but if you're concerned about dice-apalooza you may want to think about it.