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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jaeger" data-source="post: 8376356" data-attributes="member: 27996">If I was to Streamline 5e D&D…I like lots of stuff I have seen in the thread already, so there will be duplicates on my wish list:Roll d6's for a 3-18 range to get the modifier at character creation. Use the modifier for the rest of the game…I like systems where the players have to make relevant choices for their characters. This is something I’d like to see D&D fully embrace. And I believe that it can be done while still being easier for newbies to learn than current 5e.Actions:Remove bonus action, everything uses an Action, Free Action or Reaction. You can’t use more than one free action per round. Dual wielding – use your Reaction. Lots of stuff that were bonus action dependent they can now just do with ‘activating’ or if it is a physical extra action – they now need to spend their reaction for it. Get rid of the idea of ‘use all your movement’. You can now only use “up to x movement”. Players ruminating how to maximize every 5’ they have slows the game down…I like the idea of universal ranges:All weapon and spell distances to roughly 5 (melee), 10 (reach), 30 (move, throw), 60 Missile, etc…Monster more like 4e stat blocks - no having to look up spells or abilities, it’s all in the stat block.Ditch inspiration. Roll it into Hit Dice. Now the PC’s have to make risk / reward choices to get advantage on a roll now vs. having HD to heal later. One meta mechanic only please…Ditch skills. Go with 13th age/Barbarians of Lemuria style Backgrounds/Careers as Skills. 4-5 per PC.Proficiency is now a type of skill specialization that give adv/disadv. It is now separate from Trained Abilities like: Weapon, Armor, and Language training. BAB for Melee and Missile attacks makes a comeback.An encumbrance system that matters – A simple, straightforward, slot-based system that has the PC’s make real choices on what they can actually carry. Bulk and weight of an item are part of its Enc value now.These are reflected on the character sheets. PBtA games are so much better at this than current D&D.Saying “track encumbrance” and the player askes: “Ok, what is the best way to do that?” The response: “Here is a blank sheet of paper, you sort it…” Is the reason why enc is complete handwavium for most D&D players. Treat them as the subsystems they are, and have the rule referenced on a player facing character sheet that lets them easily engage with the systems of the game.Spell level and Character level are now synced. Ditch cantrips known – they are now extra spell slots. And a spell slot is a spell slot – no “level” spell slots. You spend spell slots to cast your spells: lvl 1 spell = 1 spell slot to cast. Lvl 3 spell = 3 spell slots to cast, etc… Yes. The entire spell lists would need to be reorganized and rethought from the ground up. But it would be far more straightforward for newbies.Distinct types of spell lists like PF. Mage (Trad Blast and cast), Drudic (Nature stuff), Sorcery (Summoning things), Miracles (Cleric powers). The classes primarily learn and focus on the spells of their class, but make an in-game way to learn a few spells from others.A robust and straightforward downtime mechanic, with an easy reference sheet, i.e. blades n the dark. “Wasting time” healing up goes away. There are things like trained abilities, Crafting, and learning new spells that can only be done through downtime. Make engaging in down time actions very desirable for players to reference in play. No more handwavium!Bring back the dungeon and wilderness exploration timings from B/X. Import a form of the journey rules from AiME for standard A to B non-exploration travel. Any class ability or spell that gives PC’s a “skip” button on these things is excommunicated from the rules! Did I mention straightforward reference sheets for the PC’s and GM’s?Feats are gone. Subclasses are gone. Multiclass gone.Class abilities: IMHO one of the more iffy parts of the game. It adds complexity but you actually make no meaningful choices for character progression after 3rd level. Added complexity with less PC choices is not good design IMHO.I think that this can be smoothed out without going to the total featapalooza direction that PF has gone in.As you advance you choose class abilities from three tiers: At level 1 you choose one option from 3-5 choices, Lvl 2-5 you choose from 5-7 options. From Lvl 6 on - open ended from 20 options. Per class. You do not get to select from a previous tier of options when you move past it in level. This makes for characters of the same class all having options without being duplicates of each other in the same party.Most PCs will end up with 8-10 abilities on a 1-20 level spread. With this system a player’s choices are expanded gradually without overwhelming them with all the options available on the early levels. And yes, character abilities will need to be re-made from the ground up for each class.These are the Cliff-Notes and I can expound on how they can work in play.In the wailing and gnashing of teeth category:There is one adjustment I’d make that many D&D fans would have serious issues with:Now that I have made HD the game meta mechanic – we can ease up on the built-in meta mechanic that is HP bloat.The ‘sweet spot’ for most D&D games seems to be lvls 4-10. I’d simply tune for that sweet spot for 20 levels of play.Stop all HP progression at lvl 5. All other level increases occur normally. So the characters get more powerful, yet still retain a certain vulnerability to threats.This flattens the math making it things far more streamlined as the designers no longer have to deal with the scaling issues that HP inflation has always brought to the game.And of course, I would have some rules for the PC’s to create traps for the bigger and tougher monsters in the MM.</blockquote>

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