Xeviat
Dungeon Mistress, she/her
Hi everyone. I've been watching a lot of Web DM over on YouTube, and one particular episode got me thinking, and not in the direction I think they were intending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7oV4qhh2l0&index=36&list=PLNnRdBIGJX6y5znfAbYHxeBNbGflyh6Pv. There, they discuss the importance of, or really for them, the lack of importance of game balance. I wholeheartedly disagree, especially about combat balance. But, I do believe I play the game in a fundamentally different way than they do. I've seen imbalances make the game not fun for certain players, whether that was the Ranger player who built what seemed to be a sound concept but was out-shinned in combat by the Barbarian, the Wizard who's player delighted in wrecking every encounter with "creative" uses of spells, or the player who took "Improved Grapple" and was shocked it didn't make his Str 14 character an uber grappler (all of these were from 3E).
I haven't counted pages, or words really, but I'd venture to say that a sizable portion of the PHB rules are for combat resolution. Large swaths of the spells are combat spells, whether offensive or defensive. A significant portion of class abilities are combat. The Combat Chapter it self is almost as long as the "Using Ability Scores" (which have combat usage) and the "Adventuring" chapters put together.
Now, I'm not advocating for "perfect balance". 4E attempted that, an while I liked it, most of my players didn't, so I acquiesce. But, ensuring different options in the game are of comparable utility is still something I care about. I want the Sorcerer to be comparable to the Wizard. I want the Champion Fighter to be comparable to the Battle Master and Eldritch Knight. I want spell-casters to not out-shine the non-casters.
And that's where I am today. I had a quick idea that I think could make some headway in making the non-casters compare more to the spell-casters. And it's based around Extra Attack.
The Grapple and Shove, and other maneuvers, are considered "attacks". You can mix them up with your attacks when you have Extra Attack. Arguably, you can mix them up with Two-Weapon Fighting too (I'd say yes, the rules are unclear to me). But what if you could do a little more? What if Extra Attack didn't just give you an extra attack when you take the attack action. What if Extra Attack gave you an extra, limited, action? What if Attack, Dodge (Parry), and Help were interchangeable? A 5th level Fighter could make one attack and then help an ally, or dodge (parry) with one attack and attack their enemy with another. What if they could use that extra "action" for Dash? What if they could use it for Hide or other skill checks that require actions?
Spell-casters have spells that allow them to circumvent skills, or at least mimic them. Knock, Charm Person, Fly. But what if non-casters were just "better" at these mundane things.
This is a half-baked thought at best, but I think it's on the right direction. I'd sure like it if my imposing warrior could intimidate someone with one "attack" and attack with the other, without having to jump through a hoop to have a subclass give me that, or a feat.
What do you think?
I haven't counted pages, or words really, but I'd venture to say that a sizable portion of the PHB rules are for combat resolution. Large swaths of the spells are combat spells, whether offensive or defensive. A significant portion of class abilities are combat. The Combat Chapter it self is almost as long as the "Using Ability Scores" (which have combat usage) and the "Adventuring" chapters put together.
Now, I'm not advocating for "perfect balance". 4E attempted that, an while I liked it, most of my players didn't, so I acquiesce. But, ensuring different options in the game are of comparable utility is still something I care about. I want the Sorcerer to be comparable to the Wizard. I want the Champion Fighter to be comparable to the Battle Master and Eldritch Knight. I want spell-casters to not out-shine the non-casters.
And that's where I am today. I had a quick idea that I think could make some headway in making the non-casters compare more to the spell-casters. And it's based around Extra Attack.
The Grapple and Shove, and other maneuvers, are considered "attacks". You can mix them up with your attacks when you have Extra Attack. Arguably, you can mix them up with Two-Weapon Fighting too (I'd say yes, the rules are unclear to me). But what if you could do a little more? What if Extra Attack didn't just give you an extra attack when you take the attack action. What if Extra Attack gave you an extra, limited, action? What if Attack, Dodge (Parry), and Help were interchangeable? A 5th level Fighter could make one attack and then help an ally, or dodge (parry) with one attack and attack their enemy with another. What if they could use that extra "action" for Dash? What if they could use it for Hide or other skill checks that require actions?
Spell-casters have spells that allow them to circumvent skills, or at least mimic them. Knock, Charm Person, Fly. But what if non-casters were just "better" at these mundane things.
This is a half-baked thought at best, but I think it's on the right direction. I'd sure like it if my imposing warrior could intimidate someone with one "attack" and attack with the other, without having to jump through a hoop to have a subclass give me that, or a feat.
What do you think?
