D&D General What are the coolest/most innovative mechanics D&D could take from other games?

[billd91]

Shields must be badass, if you trade a potential third attack to defend with one.

Since it's costing you an action, you're really going to want to make sure you're maximizing its utility. And that means taking a lot more shield feats, particularly if they work in conjunction with a raised shield. While it's kind of annoying to have to burn an action every turn just get the shield's bonus to AC, the way you're going to want to build around that really does help differentiate fighting styles - at least between the sword and boarders and everyone else.

 

[Haplo781]

Well, if you also have a shield block feat, you can also take a reaction to intercept incoming damage with it. So you may end up buying replacement shields a lot until you get one with higher hardness.

Wait, you have to track your shield's HP?

Hard pass.

 

[billd91]

Wait, you have to track your shield's HP?

Hard pass.

Oh, the equipment upgrade/customization game in PF2 is extensive. It's one of the factors keeping me from delving into that edition too much.

 

[Haplo781]

Oh, the equipment upgrade/customization game in PF2 is extensive. It's one of the factors keeping me from delving into that edition too much.

I'll just stick to 4e thanks.

 

[edosan]

I was just writing in my game report on Five Torches Deep that this is basically how proficiencies work. There isn't a fixed list of them; they are descriptive and free-form and it's up to the player to come up with plans that take advantage of them, and then up to the GM to adjudicate. I really like it.

I mean, 5e skills are actually supposed to work that way, too, except that there's a fixed list of them shared by all classes, for reasons I don't understand.

Ever since I read the 13th Age books I thought that's how you should do skills.

 

[Andvari]

Oddly enough having to spend an action on a shield can feel liberating because it makes your turn a lot simpler. Attack twice and raise your shield or move, attack and raise your shield. Makes a group of monsters easier and quicker to go through as GM. If a monster has the Shield Block feat (use a reaction to have the shield take the damage if you are hit) I just remove it and increase their AC by 1. I'm not going to track shield HP for 6 hobgoblins, sorry.

In general I cut out monster abilities that are unlikely to be used or have little impact. Makes the stat blocks easier to read as well.

 

[Haplo781]

Ever since I read the 13th Age books I thought that's how you should do skills.

I rather like the way Cortex handles traits, in that you can gain a bonus whenever they might be applicable in a beneficial way ("I'll add my d10 SILVER TONGUE to this roll as I fast-talk the guard") or you can invoke them in a detrimental manner and gain a plot point ("My SILVER TONGUE has made the princess infatuated with me - now she's insisting on accompanying us on the mission!")

 

[Bill Zebub]

Ever since I read the 13th Age books I thought that's how you should do skills.

I'm embarrassed that I can't remember what system this is, but I was reading an RPG recently (I'm always on the lookout for RPGs for kids) in which there are no classes or skills. Instead you think of nouns/roles that describe who you are, and then you allocate some points (8?) across those things. So, for example, you could say, "I'm a pirate (5), a scholar (2), and a lover (1)."

Then whenever you declare an action you describe how it fits into one of your rolls, and that's how many d6 you roll.

I haven't actually played it but I thought it sounded like a really fun way to make characters.

"I'm a drunk (5), a klutz (2), and a bomb disposal technician (1)."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sharing as asked by @dave2008

Logan Bonner's adventure in Dungeon #200, Blood Money, was a heist.

In order to make the heist be possible in D&D, and not just turn into combat the first time someone failed a roll or two (which happens all the time with D&D's high RNG, binary pass/fail and low threshold for rolling), Bonner added a mechanic, the name of which escapes me, but which I'll call "Preparation points".

Basically, the better you prepared for the heist (scouting, talking to people, gathering equipment, planning, infiltrating beforehand and so on), which included stuff the DM had pre-listed, but also stuff the DM judged as smart, the more "Preparation points" you got. Once the heist started, you could then spend those preparation points to negate/re-roll fluffed rolls, or to assert minor but potentially important bits of fiction, like "I stashed a crowbar here" or "I remembered to bring an extra 100' of rope" even though they weren't previously the case (so long as they were potentially possible and reasonable).

This worked extremely well to make the heist actually functional, and to not devolve into combat early on because someone missed a check. I'd be great to see D&D pick up a similar mechanic where appropriate.

That mechanic is in a modern RPG, although which escapes me. Scum & Villainy, maybe?

EDIT: It's Timewatch, @Piratecat's Gumshoe time travel RPG! In that, you can spend points (as I recall) to have previously prepared for a given situation that comes up, which makes sense for both heist and time travel stories.

 

[Weiley31]

I've forgotten, does the escalation die apply to both PCs and monsters or just PCs?

IIRC, it ONLY applies to PCs in "normal" 13th Age.

However, in 13th Age: Glonrantha, there are certain Chaos monsters that can straight up turn the Escalation Die AGAINST the PCs.