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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 9860028" data-attributes="member: 72555">I'm thinking about mechanics to  unfreeze the narrative in D&D.  Ie, some creature's turn comes.  The creature tries to do something, but rolls poorly or the enemies roll well.  Nothing happens.  The next creature goes.That is a frozen narrative - the turn could have been skipped.  Sometimes some resources get spent (so bookkeeping) but the state of the battle doesn't really move.This happens when a pure save-or-suck spell is cast and the target passes the saving throw (or uses legendary resists with no expectation they'll run out), every attack is missed, or similar....For spells, many spells deal half damage on a successful save, or are multiple target (reducing the probability of no-narrative-progress).  Spells with a duration who don't have immediate impact have implied future impact (we hope) so they don't leave the situation utterly unchanged.  Concentration spells that have zone effects usually have an effect when first cast, so even if concentration is broken they do something.Weapon attacks seem to rely on swinging more than once to ensure they impact the narrative.Cantrips (barring EB) have a really bad frozen narrative "miss" problem.  I guess this is balanced by larger narrative impact from spell slots on spell casters, but it sort of feels crappy....Imagine if the Attack action itself had some impact even if you missed, maybe tied to the class, and deferred to level 4-6 to avoid multiclass dip tempations.As a brainstormed list of such ideas:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Apply some condition on a creature even if you miss. Like "unless they damage you back first, you'll get advantage next turn on them" (a pseudo-4e style Mark).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They choose between taking a 5' step back (which you can follow) or granting you advantage (or auto-crit?) on your attack (if it hits).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The swashbuckler "creatures you attack cannot take AOs on you" type thing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You gain a defensive boost against them (your AC is increased by 2-4 against them, or if they attack you back you get to counter-attack as a reaction) until the end of your next turn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You grant a defensive boost to a nearby ally (similar to above).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You gain a spellcasting boost (they have disadvantage against saves of the first spell you cast on them on your next turn)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You gain a legendary resist, or save bonus, against their spells or effects until the end of your next turn.</li> </ul>These aren't all that huge, but they do mean that your "attack" did potentially did something even if it wasn't a hit, the narrative situation changes....In theory we can extend this to cantrips.  But if we ignore the level 1-4 "apprentice" levels, non-warlock spellcasters don't spend that much time using only a cantrip on their turn.Spells themselves can also be tweaked to follow this rule.  Their effect on landing can be reduced if needed for balance reasons.I'm already replacing Legendary Resists with one that causes a status impact on the monster (level of exhaustion is a good one) to make it less "you must cast X spells to win" and make soaking spells more tactically interesting.</blockquote>

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