D&D 5E What Single Thing Would You Eliminate

[Dausuul]

Ability scores.

Get rid of them. Completely. Increase proficiency bonus to include the expected modifier from a maxed-out primary stat. Whenever you pick up a d20--for a skill check, attack roll, whatever--you are either rolling 1d20 plus proficiency bonus, or 1d20 with no modifier at all.

This would require a fair bit of work to strip out ability scores from other areas (e.g., taking saving throws back to Fort/Ref/Will, figuring out weapon damage modifiers, calculating AC), but the end result would be a much cleaner ruleset, with a shallower learning curve, and a much wider space for character concepts that work mechanically.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Most of spellcasting players of options.

 

[Maxperson]

Just a thread for "how would you change 5E" -- expect the explicit rule is that you only get to alter it by elimination, and you can only eliminate one element (although that may be broadly defined, as you will see in my example ).

For my part, I think I would get rid of non-human PC races. All of them. Maybe it is my players but no one I know actually plays a non human in a decidedly alien way. It's all rubber foreheads and free minor crunch enhancements. I think he world I would build in D&D would be much better with only human PCs, AND the image in my head of the PCs would likely be closer to what they are supposed to be from the players' perspectives.

What ONE THING would you remove from 5E?

I would get rid of the daily encounter quota. Of course, that would require a complete re-working of encounter balance and creature design, but hey!

 

[aco175]

Multiclassing. Does not seem to work well at my table and nobody has tried it. Others may work fine for though.

 

[MarkB]

Alignment. I'd prefer my players to be role-playing a person, not a morality axis.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Ability scores.

Get rid of them. Completely. Increase proficiency bonus to include the expected modifier from a maxed-out primary stat. Whenever you pick up a d20--for a skill check, attack roll, whatever--you are either rolling 1d20 plus proficiency bonus, or 1d20 with no modifier at all.

This would require a fair bit of work to strip out ability scores from other areas (e.g., taking saving throws back to Fort/Ref/Will, figuring out weapon damage modifiers, calculating AC), but the end result would be a much cleaner ruleset, with a shallower learning curve, and a much wider space for character concepts that work mechanically.

Less work than you'd think: just change proficiency to a 5-11 scale, use half proficiency for things that currently use ability mods without a d20, and you're technically good to go.

You'd still have vestigial ability score in the saves, and they would be super-swingy, but that's not necessarily a broken system. Switching to F/R/W with a slower non-proficient progress might be better, but that's more work.

 

[Reynard]

I would get rid of the daily encounter quota. Of course, that would require a complete re-working of encounter balance and creature design, but hey!

Does anyone actually use the daily encounter quota?

 

[Maxperson]

Does anyone actually use the daily encounter quota?

If you don't, the PCs just blow through the encounters. The game is designed for its use and it really throws things off if you don't.

My group has tried making a long rest 7 days, and that helped since I can spread those encounters out over a 7 day period, making the encounters feel more organic rather than clumped up, but it was unsatisfying to the players who have played for a long time and want a long rest to be overnight. A long rest when the DM says so was even less satisfying for the players, since getting abilities back at irregular intervals makes no in game sense. But rushing all the encounters together is immensely unsatisfying to me. I want to be able to challenge the group with a single encounter or maybe a few encounters.

It's a big enough deal that if I can't figure out a good way to do it, the next 5e campaign might be my last. I've already told my players that I'm thinking about going back to 3e over this issue. And that's a real shame, because by and large I love 5e and am still buying books.

 

[RobJN]

Gonzo XP for monsters. Put the XP back into the recovery of treasure.

 

[payn]

Ideas, bonds, flaws never seen this used. Just takes extra space on the character sheet.