D&D 5E Revisiting Score, Mod Caps

[ren1999]

For a long time I fought for many standard actions per turn. Thanks to your reasoning, I scaled it all back and it makes for a fun game.

I do not know what the final "bounded accuracy" will be this summer. But this is how I would have it.

rolling a 1 is always a miss
rolling a 20 is always a hit
all ability stats for humanoids and monsters
ability scores max at 20 for humanoids?
30 for beasts???
ability modifiers max at +5 for humanoids
+10 for beasts???
magic bonuses max +5
magic penalties max -5
situation modifiers max at +5 and -5
modifiers to any roll maxes at +15
level maxes at 20
armor class maxes at 20 +5 for magic +5 for dex??
damage maxes at 5d4, 5d6, 5d8, 5d10, 5d12, 5d20 +15 mod damage
spells and feats per encounter max at 5???
actions max at 2 standard, 2 off-hand, 2 reactions per turn.
hp max for a Dedicated Martial class max at 12+3 to 20con score+19d12+19*5con mod

Any suggestions on capping?

If I want to put a Kobold in a 20th level adventure, I just create a 17th level Kobold using the same rules for character creation above.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I wish ability scores would be 3-18 for adventurers (without aid of magic) and up to 30 for monsters to help bounded accurary. Right now, PC's AC & attacks are too high for monsters and between raising monsters statistics or reducing PCs one, i prefer the latter.

It was mentioned in a Legends & Lore or D&D Next Q&A but it wasn't implemented in the playtest (yet).

 

[Sadras]

hp max for a Dedicated Martial class max at 12+3 to 20con score+19d12+19*5con mod

We have implemented a HD cap based on the size of the creature.
Hit Dice cap at 6th level for medium sized creatures, but breaking it down this is how it works

1/2 Hit Dice - Diminutive
1 Hit Dice - Tiny
3 Hit Dice - Small
6 Hit Dice - Medium
10 Hit Dice - Large
15 Hit Dice - Huge
21 Hit Dice - Gargantuan
28 Hit Dice - Colossal

Of course the type of d of the HD depends on the beast/class.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I have suggested in the past that, for me, strength caps based on racial size make sense to me.

If M races cap at 20, I'm fine with Small capping at 15, Tiny at 10, Large at 25, bigger than that at 30.

(I'm just throwing our a straightforward linear cap; I haven't tested it, and there are other ways to achieve it; and I'm not expecting it would even be implemented).

It's not "fair", but when I play a small race I know it strains my suspension of disbelief to have super-high strengths ("We can't move this rock without the halfling pushing too" is funny but, for me, intrusive.)

 

[Lokiare]

I wish they'd throw the ability score maximums out the window and let the game have an organic cap like in 2E. In 2E even if you used a wish spell, a manual that increased a score, and other magic items, you could only raise a score by about 5 points total and none of ways stacked.

If in 5E the only way to permanently increase a score is through the trade off of feats, then the max will come out organically. Fighters might be able to increase one score by a max of 14. That is a lot, maybe they need to remove some of the fighters feats and give them other options at certain levels.

However organically if they had a lower number then they could build the max in using the combination of features that are available:

16 + (race)+2 + (feats) + 14 = 32 (+11).

 

[Plaguescarred]

Early in development ability scores ranged from 3-25 like AD&D. Was liking it.

 

[ren1999]

I read all the comments and like the hit dice based on size idea coupled with the 1d4, 1d8 based on the monster type. I will test that idea out.

The idea of the halfling wielding a two-handed weapon and doing the same damage as a half-Orc is also bad. Their must be a solution with an incentive to still play a halfling.

I too think that ability scores 3-18 allow for the possibly of ability scores being too high and unrealistic for new adventurers. There is no need for ability advancement if your scores are too high.

I will look into that. Maybe a new ability rolling system that yields average scores with the same scale 3 to 20 for humanoids?

 

[ren1999]

Idea. You exchange 1d6 for each ability roll to learn a new spell, feat or skill.​

You then roll a 2d6 for each ability score.
each level-Up, you can increase one ability score by+2, or learn a new spell, skill or feat, or gain proficiency in a spell, skill or feat.

Another option, roll 3d4 for each ability.
Pick a monster or character's primary ability and roll 4d4 for that ability.