D&D 5E Player Flavour, Skills, & Money Sinks

[TerraDave]

Taking a bunch of time to learn a proficiency or language is already in the DMG, along with some other additional downtime activities. You could add skills and I guess spells, for a cost. I would not do expertise or mastery, could really break the game.

You could also do a more general training rule. E.g. 6 months and 100 gp per level for each level, or a "wine, women, and song" rule where you can spend gold for XP over time, a variation on the 1E rule where you got XP for finding gold.

 

[TornadoCreator]

No. you are trying to take a round peg and fit it into a square hole. 5e is not going to be for everyone and judging by this post it is not for you. Honestly, I'd go to a game that better serves your needs out of the box.

Why? This is a natural progression of a rule already in the game, as training for tool proficiencies for 250gp during downtime is actually a RAW rule... I've just extended it to include other things you can have proficiency in, and imposed a longer XP progression. How on earth is that "trying to take a round peg and fit it into a square hole"?

 

[TornadoCreator]

Fighters are masters of combat. First, every character now already has the same proficiency bonus for weapon use and now you want to tell the fighter that he/she can only be proficient in a single weapon?

Certainly wouldn't play a fighter under these rules when a rogue is just as martially trained as the fighter and has other abilities too.

So the Heavy Armour Proficiency, Shield Proficiency, High Hit Dice, Fighting Style, Second Wind, Action Surge, Extra Attacks and whatever bonuses you get from your archetype are all pointless in your mind.

You still get ONE martial weapon and ONE simple weapon. That's two weapons... If you're an Elf you're getting Longbow, Longsword, Shortbow, and Shortsword for free; and if you're a Dwarf you're getting Battleaxe, Throwing Axe, Light Hammer, and Warhammer for free. So please, tell me what fighter concept is completely RUINED!!! by this change.

You want a 2 weapn fighter, pick Greatsword or Halberd as your chosen weapon. Want a brutal fighter with a bit of character pick something a bit different like a Flail. It's really not that hard. If it matters that much and you genuinely constantly switch weapons. First of all you still can, you just don't have proficiency in it, but you could always get the Weapon Expert feat which gives you proficiency in four weapons of your choice.

If you still hate this idea fine, but you're blowing it way out of proportion by making out that weapon proficiencies are the ONLY good feature of the fighter and he's just worthless without them. Really? Really?! Melodramatic much?

 

[ExploderWizard]

So the Heavy Armour Proficiency, Shield Proficiency, High Hit Dice, Fighting Style, Second Wind, Action Surge, Extra Attacks and whatever bonuses you get from your archetype are all pointless in your mind.

You still get ONE martial weapon and ONE simple weapon. That's two weapons... If you're an Elf you're getting Longbow, Longsword, Shortbow, and Shortsword for free; and if you're a Dwarf you're getting Battleaxe, Throwing Axe, Light Hammer, and Warhammer for free. So please, tell me what fighter concept is completely RUINED!!! by this change.

You want a 2 weapn fighter, pick Greatsword or Halberd as your chosen weapon. Want a brutal fighter with a bit of character pick something a bit different like a Flail. It's really not that hard. If it matters that much and you genuinely constantly switch weapons. First of all you still can, you just don't have proficiency in it, but you could always get the Weapon Expert feat which gives you proficiency in four weapons of your choice.

If you still hate this idea fine, but you're blowing it way out of proportion by making out that weapon proficiencies are the ONLY good feature of the fighter and he's just worthless without them. Really? Really?! Melodramatic much?

ALL D&D fighters have to be at least as good as the fighter from B/X- that is to say, be able to use any weapon and wear any armor or shield.

The AD&D fighter? FAILED- weapon prof slots

The 4E fighter? FAILED- no plate proficiency

The 5E fighter? PASSED- finally!!! Someone gets fighters!

 

[TornadoCreator]

ALL D&D fighters have to be at least as good as the fighter from B/X- that is to say, be able to use any weapon and wear any armor or shield.

Why?

Why does that define a fighter in your eyes? Surely a fighter is just a fighter; someone who's area of expertise is fighting. If someone only ever fights with a Greataxe or only ever fights with a Rapier are they less of a fighter? No... and there is the Weapon Master feat for people who want to be able to switch weapons regularly.

This line is an arbitrary absolutism and does nothing to help determine if the game we're playing is fun or not. I'm asking, would my house rule make for an interesting change to the game or does it fundamentally fail, (for example someone brought up the issue of balance); the Fighter not meeting your arbitrary definition doesn't impact gameplay AT ALL. Elves and Dwarfs gain additional proficiencies, and Humans could take the Weapon Master feat at first level. Fighters who carry many different weapons are still very much viable options.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I hope you limit casters too. You start with one spell and only one school and have to grind out the rest. Lol - this actually sounds like a "free to play" model where you have to pay in microtransactions to get access to the rest of your class.

So put me down in the "bad idea" column as well. If you want to keep everyone level 3 dirt farmers forever go for it, but it's not my cup of tea. I get to play maybe 2x a month for like 4 hours at a time, so dont feel the need to slow down advancement more than it normally does around 5th level.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

You are paying gold AND time so chances are you're not just gaining every proficiency possible. You'll be picking out one, maybe two things you want to be a true specialist in.

As with any rule which turns time or money into character power, the unbalancing effect is going to depend on the specifics of the campaign. It's worth noting that the official rules only allow you to gain proficiency in stuff that doesn't affect game balance - the game would still be roughly balanced if you took a ten year hiatus between adventures and everyone gained proficiency with every tool and language.

 

[Jaelommiss]

I thoroughly and completely disagree with the OP on all points for mostly the same reasons as everyone else.

I would rather than downtime confer benefits that are related to the region or a specific topic. For instance, a wizard spending a month visiting historical sites and studying manuscripts written by past rulers would then gain permanent advantage on history checks while in the region. A druid spending time to study local flora and fauna gets permanent advantage on nature checks in the region, or even can automatically succeed without rolling. The demon hunting ranger mentioned up thread could have advantage on religion checks regarding demons, or, like the druid, could automatically succeed*. Someone researching orc customs and traditions would get advantage on social checks with orcs. Spending time working for a local tailor might grant advantage on sleight of hand checks until local fashion trends change.

My personal favourite is to spend time building social and political power for my character. Sure, you might be stronger, faster, and smarter, but when we're both dead I've got powerful allies willing to bring me back to life (the powergamer in the party was rather upset when that happened. It was glorious).


*When I DM I allow players to automatically succeed on things that would make sense if it relates to their backstory. For example, I have a cured lycanthrope in one of my games. He will automatically pass checks knowledge checks regarding lycanthropes. It helps prevent silly situations like a cleric of Pelor not recognizing Pelor's symbol after failing a religion check.

 

[TornadoCreator]

I hope you limit casters too. You start with one spell and only one school and have to grind out the rest. Lol - this actually sounds like a "free to play" model where you have to pay in microtransactions to get access to the rest of your class.

So put me down in the "bad idea" column as well. If you want to keep everyone level 3 dirt farmers forever go for it, but it's not my cup of tea. I get to play maybe 2x a month for like 4 hours at a time, so dont feel the need to slow down advancement more than it normally does around 5th level.

Aaaah, see, I play every week for about 5-6 hours per game so advancement is far faster for me. I think that likely radically changes my perception on advancement.

As for limting spells knwn by spellcasters, I wasn't planning to, but it could make 5e feel less over-the-top wen it comes to magic. They really did overdo the amount of magic in this game. I might reduce spells known; but as casters don't start with all spells, it's not necessary yet. It seems to work fine as it is.

 

[TornadoCreator]

As with any rule which turns time or money into character power, the unbalancing effect is going to depend on the specifics of the campaign. It's worth noting that the official rules only allow you to gain proficiency in stuff that doesn't affect game balance - the game would still be roughly balanced if you took a ten year hiatus between adventures and everyone gained proficiency with every tool and language.

Maybe I overplay the importance of tools, but you'd be at a MAJOR advantage in my game if you could use all tools. You could do so much more compared to the average person. As for languages, one of my favourite ways to keep the campaign going is to use long dead languages and magical texts written is ciphers. Having a linguist in the party is a good way of getting past some of my more elaborate traps. I also often have travelling happen... and I don't allow "Common" as a language, that's just a cop-out. I play in Forgotten Realms, so depending on where we start I usually have everyone speaking Chondathan. If however you go to Icewind Dale, Thay, Amn, The Underdark, or many other places, you'll want other languages (I also have more than one Dwarven and Elven language too). Having the languages of Demons, Angels, Genies etc. is also a major boon.