D&D (2024) What do you want in the revised DMG?

[DND_Reborn]

I mean, I get what you are saying but let’s break it down a bit: Moving up to 30 feet, for a capable adventurer, might take what… somewhere between 1 to 3 seconds? Is that really important to simulate more granularly in a 6 second round combat system that is largely abstracted to begin with? I guess as an optional “combat movement” rule, some might latch onto it.

Since the first part of cinematic initiative is to understand the initiative rolls just indicate the order in the round, not necessarily any sort of timing factor. We don't like to force the concept that you can move so far on so many initiative counts, etc.

 

[Cadence]

It really makes it more boring. Think about baseball. When a player gets a hit it is exciting, something is happening, because generally hitting percentage is 25-35% (or maybe that is on-base... or the same thing? I am not a baseball fan so perhaps I am wrong?). But, if hitting becomes almost expected, it loses its appeal.

The baseball example makes me think about skill checks. There are sometimes where a d20+standard bonus makes sense for a skill check or contested roll - and others where it seems silly.

A decent in the neighborhood poker player will beat a world class one in a single hand of poker a reasonable percent of the because of the randomness. A high school basketball player might beat a pro once in a while in a game of horse. The chances of the decent local rec league player getting a hit off the Cy Young winner feel pretty small. A decent player on the local high school chess team could probably be spotted a piece by Carlsen and still effectively have no meaningful chance of not losing. Assuming the bonuses for the amateur/pro are the same in each case, I'd like book to have something on how to reflect that when calling for checks. (2d10 or 3d6 instead of d20 for some? Advantage for the better and disadvantage for the worse rated in some cases?).

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Since the first part of cinematic initiative is to understand the initiative rolls just indicate the order in the round, not necessarily any sort of timing factor. We don't like to force the concept that you can move so far on so many initiative counts, etc.

Possibly related question: can a PC split their move between initiatives? So, something like this: move 10’ on first “action” in initiative, attack on second, move 10’ on third, bonus action on 4th, last 10’ on final “action”.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Possibly related question: can a PC split their move between initiatives? So, something like this: move 10’ on first “action” in initiative, attack on second, move 10’ on third, bonus action on 4th, last 10’ on final “action”.

Yes, that is precisely it. Which is why I said:

4. Repeat until you run out of actions. (Movement--which can be broken up, Action, Bonus action).

Each time you move using any of your remaining speed, it is your Action for that initiative.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The baseball example makes me think about skill checks. There are sometimes where a d20+standard bonus makes sense for a skill check or contested roll - and others where it seems silly.

A decent in the neighborhood poker player will beat a world class one in a single hand of poker a reasonable percent of the because of the randomness. A high school basketball player might beat a pro once in a while in a game of horse. The chances of the decent local rec league player getting a hit off the Cy Young winner feel pretty small. A decent player on the local high school chess team could probably be spotted a piece by Carlsen and still effectively have no meaningful chance of not losing. Assuming the bonuses for the amateur/pro are the same in each case, I'd like book to have something on how to reflect that when calling for checks. (2d10 or 3d6 instead of d20 for some? Advantage for the better and disadvantage for the worse rated in some cases?).

On a related note: we have adopted using 2d10 instead of d20 for everything except initiative.

This makes having bonuses more important than the swingy luck of a d20.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Yes, that is precisely it. Which is why I said:


Each time you move using any of your remaining speed, it is your Action for that initiative.

Ah yes. Now it is clear.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

It really makes it more boring. Think about baseball. When a player gets a hit it is exciting, something is happening, because generally hitting percentage is 25-35% (or maybe that is on-base... or the same thing? I am not a baseball fan so perhaps I am wrong?). But, if hitting becomes almost expected, it loses its appeal.

Of course, but now let's think about (American) football. A quarterback who only completes 25-35% of their passes will quickly lose their appeal and end up finding another job. Meanwhile, one hitting 65% of their passes has likely secured their starting position for years to come. So... yeah... to each their own.

 

[Cadence]

Of course, but now let's think about (American) football. A quarterback who only completes 25-35% of their passes will quickly lose their appeal and end up finding another job. Meanwhile, one hitting 65% of their passes has likely secured their starting position for years to come. So... yeah... to each their own.

The pitcher's success rate is 1- the batters'. Same for QB vs pass defense. So don't even need to switch sports, just which part of the team you root for most.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@Swarmkeeper and @Cadence

Sure, I know many people probably prefer hitting more, but for the reasons I expressed, it makes it boring. I don't like something that is easier, personally, and I don't need a feeling of "routine success" to make me feel good about my characters or playing the game.

 

[Blue]

What I really want in revised but still 5e books is plentiful sidebars from the designers discussing why they put in certain rules, the effects of changing them, and alternates that they looked at and why they didn't choose them. 13th Age, a d20 from lead designers of 4e and 3e, does a great job of this, including points where the two designers disagreed and why they picked the final rules. It makes it so much more friendly to hack, gives insight to players and DMs alike about what the rules are evoking, and gives you some knobs to tweak like 5e was originally promised to have.