D&D General Redesigning DnD 5e with no Bonus Actions

[Christian Hoffer]

Lol! Yeah I looked you up, sorry to hear that happened to you btw. Hope you’re off to bigger and better things!

Well, I'm writing for EN World now, so I'd say that's a bit better!

 

[SteveC]

Back when we first started 5E my group didn't have everyone with Bonus Actions, they were sort of unusual to see. At this point, I think everyone wants to have something to do with their Bonus Action each round. Times have changed.

 

[Retreater]

Have any of the 5e variants (Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, Nimble 5e, etc) done away with Bonus Actions?

 

[billd91]

i would take out bonus actions, and then i'd add a new action to the game called a 'lesser action' which is similar to a standard action but which only a certain set of abilities and spells can be used with it.

So... same thing? How is this distinct from bonus actions now?

 

[billd91]

Back when we first started 5E my group didn't have everyone with Bonus Actions, they were sort of unusual to see. At this point, I think everyone wants to have something to do with their Bonus Action each round. Times have changed.

And this is why I don't think a 3 action economy improves things or an action + lesser action economy . No matter what action economy gets set up, you're going to have players who want to use ALL of them as often as they can. If they don't, it's like leaving money on the table. Nobody wants to do that. Hence, everyone in combat makes sure to make their multiple attacks in PF2, even if the growing penalty makes it unlikely for the 2nd and even 3rd attacks to hit.

 

[billd91]

Mike Mearls declared that Bonus Actions in 5e were “hot garbage,” apparently he doesn’t use them in his game. https://bsky.app/profile/mearls.bsky.social/post/3lecpus652s26

Just as a fun thought experiment: how would you redesign 5e so it didn’t have Bonus Actions?

Edit: updated the link to the direct source
Edit 2: updated again to the blue sky link cause I don’t like X

Um, the display text may show the Bluesky url, but the link itself actually currently still takes you to Twitter. So something in the coding still needs to be edited.

 

[cbwjm]

I also tend to think bonus actions are kind of trash, since they put limiters on cool concepts, but since they're in the game I just have to put up with them.

If I was going to remove them, I'd probably do it slowly over time, take them out of the attack action (dual wielding? Make an attack with that offhand weapon when you make an attack with your main weapon), cunning action might cause problems, but it might also just be "you can do one of these things without using your action". Rage would be free.

 

[TheRottenPixie]

Um, the display text may show the Bluesky url, but the link itself actually currently still takes you to Twitter. So something in the coding still needs to be edited.

Ah damn thanks for letting me know. Will try to fix it on my end.

 

[Dausuul]

Mike Mearls declared that Bonus Actions in 5e were “hot garbage,” apparently he doesn’t use them in his game. https://bsky.app/profile/mearls.bsky.social/post/3lecpus652s26

Just as a fun thought experiment: how would you redesign 5e so it didn’t have Bonus Actions?

Edit: updated the link to the direct source
Edit 2: updated again to the blue sky link cause I don’t like X

I would follow Mearls's idea and merge most bonus actions into regular actions. So barbarian rage is an action that also gives you a full round of attacks. Rogues get an extra action each round, which must be Dash, Disengage, or Dodge. Et cetera.

This would reduce the design space some.
For instance, a spell like Misty Step would be severely limited (it would have to enumerate specific actions you could take on that turn)... unless it was folded into the reaction mechanic, which risks turning the reaction into the new bonus action and perpetuating the issue. I'd probably end up rethinking those spells/abilities from the ground up.

 

[TheRottenPixie]

Have any of the 5e variants (Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, Nimble 5e, etc) done away with Bonus Actions?

Nimble has adopted a 3 action system.