D&D 5E What If?

[TheLoneRanger1979]

Well, this will be just arbitrary.... but what if:

-taking away one thing and giving it to another (+1 attack -1 damage) requires a total of 2 prof. points.
taking away 2 and giving 2 would amount to 4 prof. points and so on;

-changing one weapon property (increased critical range in example) requires 3 prof. points.

-enchanting a weapon requires double the prof. points needed to change it's basic attack/damage values, so +1 enchantment would require +4 prof. points

This should effectively stop the PC from creating +2 and higher enchanted items, but IMO it is a good thing, simply because it doesn't lower the value of loot and dedicated vendors.

Addendum, crafting should still consume resources and gold.

 

[GameOgre]

I like it.

Now how to combine that with good smiths being rare so the party has to travel WAAAAAY out to another kingdom to get a blade made by Wayland the smith!

God now I'm thinking perhaps the idea would work best as not a skill thing but a class thing.

A type of artificer smith class.

 

[TheLoneRanger1979]

That could really work for an NPC, but how do you intend on making it work for a PC? Will it be a secondary character that would travel with the band, guard the camp and maintain the equipment?

 

[Valdier]

Just be aware that a +1 to hit is worth way more than +1/-1 damage.

 

[Dausuul]

I HATE to see a player get all excited about rolling a Nat 20 then remember she has disadvantage and that it means nothing.

Result- House rule in our games a nat 20 is immune to disadvantage for everyone.(players and monsters).

Cool! I like this house rule and will propose it to my group.

For my part: I've always liked the idea that newly introduced characters start at lower level and catch up with the party over time. Bounded accuracy makes this more feasible in 5E than it used to be, but I don't like tracking XP - my group quit doing so during the 3E era. So, a house rule for "start at low level without XP":

XP is not tracked. Instead, there is a "party level," which the DM determines and may advance when s/he sees fit. At the end of each session, if your PC's level is less than the party level, you gain a level. New PCs start at one-half the party level, rounded down (minimum 1).

New PCs have the option to start at level 1 instead of half party level. If you do so, you don't get any mechanical benefit, but you get serious respect... if you survive.

So, let's say the party level is 7 and everyone is 7th level. Bob the Fighter retires and is replaced by Joe the Paladin, who is 3rd level. At the end of Joe's first session, he advances to 4th level. At the end of his second session, he advances to 5th level.

At the end of his third session, the party finishes a quest and the DM declares that the party level is now 8. Since everyone is now lower than the party level, the whole party levels up. Joe becomes 6th level and everyone else becomes 8th. In two more sessions, if the party level doesn't increase again, Joe will have caught up to the party.