1.) The Ranger can change his favored enemy and favored terrain after one week. A higher level ability let's him do so after a long rest
2.) Skills have graded levels of success / failures. These aren't based on rolling a natural one or 20. They are based on how much the target number for the skill is made by. For example, a character who makes his Stealth roll target number can not only keep himself hidden, he can give bonuses to other characters' stealth rolls.
3.) Saving throws are unified with to-hit rolls. Instead of a Reflex saving throw, a caster casting fireball rolls a to-hit to target the square he wants to center the fireball on. Characters in that area of effect all have a "Reflex DC," which is a specific target number the caster must roll higher than to effect with the fireball.
4.) Cover one of the things that can affect a target number (for example, cover vs. a fireball). Cover can exist for Will saves (for example, a character (e.g. Paladin, Bard, Cleric, Battle Commander - Fighter, etc. providing cover vs. will saves just by his presence).
5.) a.) Every magic item provides both a benefit and a detriment. These detriments are designed to be meaningful to all character concepts. They could range from "fear of milk" to "a penalty to to-hit rolls and perception rolls in bright light" to "you start growing scales, causing extreme reactions in anyone who sees you." Magic items are rare and powerful, but also cursed. Magic items grow in power (both benefits and detriments) as the character gains levels.
b.) Plain old +1 and +2 weapons aren't magical, they are masterwork. By the way, this does mean that +1 and +2 weapons will work in an anti-magic area, which means they remain desired even by higher level characters.
6.) A complete redesign of the Warlock. Their magic would be much more similar to Call of Cthulhu. As they level, they gain insanities. These start out being trivial, but get more significant as the character reaches higher level. The insanities are rolled on several tables based on the level of the insanity and what the pact is made with (Fey, Devil, Great Old One, etc.) Warlocks are motivated somehow to collect relics. These relics would be useless to non-warlocks and they aren't magical, but they do affect Warlock spells, making them more powerful. The relics are historically significant in the game world and they are rare.
I do agree Warlock could use some changes, with the first change being whatever they need to do to make its combat less about eldritch blast. Also the eldritch invocations imo need to be more unique and not have so many "You cast this spell that already exists, but with maybe some minor alterations" types of invocations. And maybe not have so many invocations related to eldritch blast either. Those modifications really ought to be their own separate thing. What I'm aiming for is actual choice with the invocations and cantrips, and more interesting choice overall.
Furthermore, Pact of the Blade really needs an improvement (so it can be an attractive option for anyone who isn't a Hexblade), and I'd even hazard to say that the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation should just be built into the Pact of the Tome. I don't really know why that is something they thought needed to be separate from the pact boon.
Also for the love of all that is sacred, please allow the warlock patron subclasses to auto-gain their expanded spells. And while we're at it, can we give warlocks spells like planar ally? This spell is perfect for the theme the class is going for.
Regarding point 3 - giving casters the ability to roll their own attacks instead of relying on saves - this was present in 4e. Rather than have AC and a set of saves, you had four defences: AC, Reflex, Willpower, and Fortitude. It was one of 4e’s many superior elements that got lost due to general unpopularity, and Wizards’ decision to just ignore everything 4e did, rather than try and keep anything that might have actually been a solid change for the game.
Granted, it will never happen - too much is built upon the mediocrity that is the save system that such a major change would greatly impact the backwards compatibility 5.5e is designed to have.
Regarding point 3 - giving casters the ability to roll their own attacks instead of relying on saves - this was present in 4e. Rather than have AC and a set of saves, you had four defences: AC, Reflex, Willpower, and Fortitude. It was one of 4e’s many superior elements that got lost due to general unpopularity, and Wizards’ decision to just ignore everything 4e did, rather than try and keep anything that might have actually been a solid change for the game.
Granted, it will never happen - too much is built upon the mediocrity that is the save system that such a major change would greatly impact the backwards compatibility 5.5e is designed to have.
Wasn't cantrips being free spells you can cast and ritual casting something that was brought over from 4e?
Number 2 already exists. Chapter 8 of the DMG > using ability scores > resolution and consequences.
Magic items with drawbacks kind of exist as artifacts, and many cursed items. The problem is the benefits really need to outweigh the drawbacks or no one will use the item. It ends up taking artifact-level power to make the trade off worth it.
I wouldn’t mind a return to the multiple defense scores of earlier editions, but it got pretty complicated (that is, it could be complicated for new and/or casual players, which really goes against the current design philosophy) and it wasn’t really more fun.
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1.) The Ranger can change his favored enemy and favored terrain after one week. A higher level ability let's him do so after a long rest
2.) Skills have graded levels of success / failures. These aren't based on rolling a natural one or 20. They are based on how much the target number for the skill is made by. For example, a character who makes his Stealth roll target number can not only keep himself hidden, he can give bonuses to other characters' stealth rolls.
3.) Saving throws are unified with to-hit rolls. Instead of a Reflex saving throw, a caster casting fireball rolls a to-hit to target the square he wants to center the fireball on. Characters in that area of effect all have a "Reflex DC," which is a specific target number the caster must roll higher than to effect with the fireball.
4.) Cover one of the things that can affect a target number (for example, cover vs. a fireball). Cover can exist for Will saves (for example, a character (e.g. Paladin, Bard, Cleric, Battle Commander - Fighter, etc. providing cover vs. will saves just by his presence).
5.) a.) Every magic item provides both a benefit and a detriment. These detriments are designed to be meaningful to all character concepts. They could range from "fear of milk" to "a penalty to to-hit rolls and perception rolls in bright light" to "you start growing scales, causing extreme reactions in anyone who sees you." Magic items are rare and powerful, but also cursed. Magic items grow in power (both benefits and detriments) as the character gains levels.
b.) Plain old +1 and +2 weapons aren't magical, they are masterwork. By the way, this does mean that +1 and +2 weapons will work in an anti-magic area, which means they remain desired even by higher level characters.
6.) A complete redesign of the Warlock. Their magic would be much more similar to Call of Cthulhu. As they level, they gain insanities. These start out being trivial, but get more significant as the character reaches higher level. The insanities are rolled on several tables based on the level of the insanity and what the pact is made with (Fey, Devil, Great Old One, etc.) Warlocks are motivated somehow to collect relics. These relics would be useless to non-warlocks and they aren't magical, but they do affect Warlock spells, making them more powerful. The relics are historically significant in the game world and they are rare.
I do agree Warlock could use some changes, with the first change being whatever they need to do to make its combat less about eldritch blast. Also the eldritch invocations imo need to be more unique and not have so many "You cast this spell that already exists, but with maybe some minor alterations" types of invocations. And maybe not have so many invocations related to eldritch blast either. Those modifications really ought to be their own separate thing. What I'm aiming for is actual choice with the invocations and cantrips, and more interesting choice overall.
Furthermore, Pact of the Blade really needs an improvement (so it can be an attractive option for anyone who isn't a Hexblade), and I'd even hazard to say that the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation should just be built into the Pact of the Tome. I don't really know why that is something they thought needed to be separate from the pact boon.
Also for the love of all that is sacred, please allow the warlock patron subclasses to auto-gain their expanded spells. And while we're at it, can we give warlocks spells like planar ally? This spell is perfect for the theme the class is going for.
Regarding point 3 - giving casters the ability to roll their own attacks instead of relying on saves - this was present in 4e. Rather than have AC and a set of saves, you had four defences: AC, Reflex, Willpower, and Fortitude. It was one of 4e’s many superior elements that got lost due to general unpopularity, and Wizards’ decision to just ignore everything 4e did, rather than try and keep anything that might have actually been a solid change for the game.
Granted, it will never happen - too much is built upon the mediocrity that is the save system that such a major change would greatly impact the backwards compatibility 5.5e is designed to have.
Wasn't cantrips being free spells you can cast and ritual casting something that was brought over from 4e?
Number 2 already exists. Chapter 8 of the DMG > using ability scores > resolution and consequences.
Magic items with drawbacks kind of exist as artifacts, and many cursed items. The problem is the benefits really need to outweigh the drawbacks or no one will use the item. It ends up taking artifact-level power to make the trade off worth it.
I wouldn’t mind a return to the multiple defense scores of earlier editions, but it got pretty complicated (that is, it could be complicated for new and/or casual players, which really goes against the current design philosophy) and it wasn’t really more fun.