D&D 5E What Single Thing Would You Add

[Ixal]

Skillpoints.
Profiency doesn't do it for me.

 

[ART!]

Skillpoints.
Profiency doesn't do it for me.

There's so few skills in 5E that this makes a lot of sense. The complexity it would add is very low.

 

[Oofta]

Skillpoints.
Profiency doesn't do it for me.

Seems like this could be simple house rule. You get the same number of points as proficiency would give you and let people spread them around however they want. I'd probably limit points you can spend on any single skill to double your proficiency for balance.

So if at 1st level you'd normally get 5 proficiencies between class and background, you have 10 points to spend at 1st level because your proficiency bonus is +2. At 5th level you'd get 5 more skill points and so on.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yea, but I read @jgsugden's post as advocating for getting a specifically GM-chosen boon in place of feats, based on the narrative of the game. Personally, I love that idea; it moves character growth out of the metagame and into the narrative space, which I think is very rewarding.

but with great risk for example boons which do not really help, things that disagree with the characters, the dm flat out not giving sufficient numbers of them or even giving too many to one player.

your idea is not bad but would have to be done super carefully.

 

[Asisreo]

it would also need lots of blood themed spells, I would put money on it ending up the edgy caster.

It needn't be edgy, though its a common trope. It would be similar to the necromancer, dealing with forces people usually aren't comfortable with for obvious reasons.

Spell selection would probably be a mix between warlock and sorcerer. We can easily flavor spells to have blood in them but some unique and viable blood/lifeleech spells could be fun. Something like:

Lifedrain
1st-level
Comp: V, M, S
Action
Range: 30ft

The target makes a constitution saving throw and takes 2d4 necrotic damage on failure or half as much on a success. You heal HP equal to half the damage taken.

At higher levels. For each spell slot level above 1st-level, increase the damage by 1d4

Leech
3rd-level
Comp: V, M, S
Action
Conc. 1 min
Range: 30ft

Choose a creature within range. That creature must make a constitution saving throw or be effected by the spell. At the start of the target's turn, the target takes 4d6 damage and you heal HP equal to the damage dealt. The target makes a Constitution Save at the end of their turn, ending the spell on a success.

At higher levels. For each spell slot level higher than 3, increase the damage by 1d6.


Puppeteer
5th-level
Comp: V, S
Action
Range: 300ft
Conc. 10 min

Choose a creature within range, that creature makes a charisma saving throw. If the creature is a humanoid, it makes the saving throw with disadvantage. On a failure, the creature takes 6d10 damage and falls unconscious. If this damage kills the creature, the effects act on its corpse. You can move the target in realistic ways as long as you're within range. You can use your bonus action to use the creature's action on your turn. If the creature takes damage or the spell ends, it wakes up. If the creature is further than the range of the spell during its duration or if the creature awakens early, the spell ends on the creature.

 

[Mind of tempest]

needs more spells but good so far.

it will be called edgy no matter what you do I am sorry it is just calling anything blood works like that.

 

[Sjappo]

I'm cheating.

Trained only skills (easily implemented).
Loose the ability scores and use modifiers only.

 

[Blue]

No. Especially since character sheets had what the number was next to each weapon. So it was really easy. If you rolled a 15, and your THAC0 for that weapon (which had already factored in any modifiers) was 14, then you hit AC -1. It wasn't any more math, since the math was done up front to get the individual THAC0 for that weapon type. The only math was subtracting your roll from the THAC0 number. That's it. You didn't have the "I rolled a 14, +2 for strength, +1 for weapon, +4 for BAB, so I hit.....(14+2+1+4 is 21)...AC 21!"

Let's assume people are able to write down with the math on both sides instead of the example you gave where that was reserved for THAC0. With that both cases are rolling a die and working out a number. But one is addition and uses the intuitive case of higher AC = better, much like everything else, and a unified mechanic of d20+mod >= DC, and the other uses subtraction including to negative numbers (slower than addition), a non-intuitive lower=better that doesn't match anything, and does nto follow aunified mechanic.

Sorry, THAC0 loses by every difference there.

Here's an study (and there are plenty) about addition being easier than subtraction.

Fluency in subtraction compared with addition

Two studies were conducted to understand why subtraction with fluency is harder than addition. In Study I, 33 kindergartners were individually asked t…

www.sciencedirect.com

 

[Sacrosanct]

Let's assume people are able to write down with the math on both sides instead of the example you gave where that was reserved for THAC0. With that both cases are rolling a die and working out a number. But one is addition and uses the intuitive case of higher AC = better, much like everything else, and a unified mechanic of d20+mod >= DC, and the other uses subtraction including to negative numbers (slower than addition), a non-intuitive lower=better that doesn't match anything, and does nto follow aunified mechanic.

Sorry, THAC0 loses by every difference there.

Here's an study (and there are plenty) about addition being easier than subtraction.

Fluency in subtraction compared with addition

Two studies were conducted to understand why subtraction with fluency is harder than addition. In Study I, 33 kindergartners were individually asked t…

www.sciencedirect.com

We can't have a discussion if you ignore all those other things I said, like how THAC0 was capped in a 20 digit range and ascending AC isn't, for example. Another example is that one step of subtraction is generally easier than four or more steps of addition. It does not "lose in every difference". It's contextual. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's not. I already listed out in detail several examples. If you choose to ignore that part it's not my fault.

 

[jmartkdr2]

We can't have a discussion if you ignore all those other things I said, like how THAC0 was capped in a 20 digit range and ascending AC isn't, for example. Another example is that one step of subtraction is generally easier than four or more steps of addition. It does not "lose in every difference". It's contextual. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's not. I already listed out in detail several examples. If you choose to ignore that part it's not my fault.

None of your complaints about ascending AC are universal to that method though - in fact, none of them apply to 5e near as I can tell. (AC's stop at 25, you only need to add once, the only difference is addition vs subtraction.)

So saying THAC0 is better and would be an improvement, the context is "compared to what people are currently doing" - not compared to the worst-case version of another setup. You're comparing apple pie to rotten oranges and saying apples are better.