D&D 5E toHit Weapon Attack Magic Attack Bonuses

[ren1999]

Here are my suggestions for toHit bonuses. The play test is calling it Magical Attack Bonus and Weapon Bonus for now. It's just a fancy way of saying that there were be higher level bonuses to hit which do not apply to ability bonuses the way 4th edition did.

I happen to like the way 4th edition added level to every ability bonus. 1/2 level was a bit high in 4th edition. I would scale it down so that natural ability bonuses and class level are about equal in bonuses toHit.

toHit bonus can not exceed +10
Sources of toHit bonuses
+1 level 5 weapon proficiency
+2 level 10 improved weapon proficiency
+3 level 15 greater weapon proficiency
+4 level 20 specialized weapon proficiency
+5 level 25
+6 level 30
+1 str 10
+5 str 20 natural humanoid max
+10 str 30 magical beast max
+1 1st to 5th level campaign treasure magic weapon
+2 6th to 10th level campaign treasure magic weapon
+3 11th to 15th level campaign treasure magic weapon
+4 16th to 20th level campaign treasure magic weapon
+5 21st to 25th level campaign treasure magic weapon
+6 26th to 30th level campaign treasure magic weapon
----------------- skill check bonus
trained skill bonus +3
ability bonus +2 max humanoid/+3 max magical beast
level-up skill bonuses +3

I'm also thinking of a sparser model in which ability modifiers are lower as to make class level just as important as natural ability.

This is what it would look like.

ToHit Bonuses max out at +9

Possible sources of ToHit Bonuses

+1 to hit at 10th to 19th Level
+2 to hit at 20th to 29th level
+3 to hit at 30th level

+1 to hit with a Strength of 10 to 19
+2 to hit with a Strength of 20 to 29
+3 to hit with a Strength of 30

+1 to hit with a magical weapon+1 found in a 1st to 9th level campaign
+2 to hit with a magical weapon+2 found in a 10th to 19th level campaign
+3 to hit with a magical weapon+3 found in a 20th to 30th level campaign.

 

[Stormonu]

On paper, that looks very well thought out. In actual play, I think you'd have a player revolt.

I'd like to see ability bonuses cap out at +3 at attribute 18, and even a +1 bonus not kick in without a 13+ in an attribute.

Mayhaps level grants a +1 bonus to certain things for every 4 levels. Fighters might apply this bonus to attacks. Wizards and Clerics to saving throws against their spells. Rogues might get the bonus towards skills.

For skills, I'd like to see a flat bonus be dropped for proficiency in favor of Advantage with the skill.

As far as total bonuses go, I want to get away from the 3E/4E treadmill of as you improve, so does the opposition. If you get bonus, it should be just that - you have better chance of success. Like the thief skills of 1E/2E, as you go up in level, you simply become more and more consistantly successful. With "consistantly" being the key word.

 

[kerleth]

I am 100% behind getting away from the "treadmill" as you put it stormonu. That said, just because you have standardized bonuses doesn't mean you have to have escalating DC, AC, etc.
The idea that different classes grant the "level bonus" to different things is a good one. Provided that there is also plenty of room for customization within each class, as well as hybridization between them. (Of course customization doesn't could be through abilities, not by shifting numbers around).

Ren, I like the numbers in your first, less sparse version better. Except for the magic items. I would prefer magic items to be abilities, not bonuses in most instances. Sometimes a bonus can be flavorful as long as it's not overdone, but they have to be used correctly.

I noticed at the beginning that 5E's flat math system seemed like it would work a lot better using a 2d10 or 3d6 model. However, I doubt the official rules will move away from the d20 or the 3E and 4E style ability scores.