I find the idea little intriguing but the administration perhaps might make it annoying difficult to implement. At least when you’re now used to using the DDI character builder to keep things semi-close to accurate.
Oh and this system would require that all 1/2 level bonuses be dropped across the board. This has a unique bonus in that reduces the skill inflation which I’d like to see.
I’m honestly not sure if it plays out or not. On the surface it’s certainly interesting to consider because it allows the DM a lot more flexibility in what gear they hand out without breaking the combat power curve. If a character only has 4 magic items at level 5, if two of them have very limited combat applications or worse no combat applications at all then that character is working from a reduced power base.
With the +1 across the board of this proposed system every 5 levels then the PC’s could use a regular old sword and still have their Headband of Insight and be almost as combat powerful because they’re at +1 to hit, +1 damage, +1 to defenses and +1 to skills. Â A magic longsword might grant them some encounter or daily bonus power but it wouldn’t break the bank so to speak in terms of power crafting.
Anyway here’s the original post
This is kinda like aiming at a low magic campaign, but not exactly. I don’t care if PCs glow in the dark from magical radiation. What I care is that if PCs don’t have their funny toys, they can still grab improvised weapons and face level-appropriate challenges.
The idea here is that skill matters more than enchantment. Joe kobold with a vorpal sword is still a kobold, and Jane super-adventurer with her bare hands is still a super-adventurer.
Also, I want to try decoupling the world economy (GP) from the magic item economy (+6 magic swords). And decoupling both from the cost paid for rituals. Not exactly getting rid of magic item markets, just making it clear that the value of a flaming weapon can’t be easially measured in bags of rice. Or castings of tenser’s floating disk.
So, 4 changes:
1) remove the 1/2 level bonus to everything, for both monsters and PCs It causes monsters to become prematurely obsolete, and I don’t like that. It also creates a “you must be this heroic to fight the dragon” effect, and I really don’t like that (Also, I blame it for the vast numbers of kobolds in 1st level adventures. Without the 1/2 level bonus to monsters, the are more monsters that a 1st level party can face)
2) Remove numeric magic item bonuses. ALL OF THEM (Yes, there will be compensation). Powers and effects still stay – Your vorpal sword still takes your on-crit damage to 1d12 instead of 1d6 (see later), and you still get exploding damage dice out of it, but it’s a +1 or a +6 weapon depending on who is actually using it.
3) Every level, (Including 1st), PCs may pick one of the following bonuses:
i) +1 to all attacks
ii) +1 AC
iii) +1 to Ref, Will and Fort
iv) +1 to damage, +1d6 extra damage on a crit
v) +1 to all skills
A PC can pick a given bonus no more than once every 5 levels – Equivalently, they must pick each bonus at least once every five levels.
Just to make sure that’s understood, there are five bonuses. You get each one *once* every five (5) levels.
For simplicity’s sake, when a power gives its attack bonus as Stat + n, but lacks the weapon/implement keywords, the +n overlaps with your to-hit bonus, rather than stacking.
When using a magic item with an effect that scales by enhancement bonus, the effect instead scales with the relevant character bonus (AC bonus for magic armor, Ref/Will/Fort for a magic cloak, Damage/crit for a weapon)
So, for instance, if a PC has a flaming sword, and is level 15, with a +3/+3d6 damage bonus, then their critical hits will do an extra 3d6 fire damage (instead of the regular 3d6 normal damage), and the weapon’s daily power will do 2d6 fire damage, ongoing 10.
4) Heroic bonus: : At levels 5, 15, 25, add +1 to all attacks, damage defenses and AC. Double this AC bonus in heavy armor.
This replaces masterworking, assorted “item bonuses to defense”, weapon expertise, Weapon focus, all those silly “+1 damage to two energy types (if you meet our random pre-requisites)” and may be expanded to cover anything else that turns out to not scale properly with levels.
(I want to replace weapon focus not so much because I’m hostile to PCs specializing in a favored weapon, but because it is a boring way to specialize. Compared to feats like Heavy Blade Opportunity, weapon focus is just dull.)
And while I’m at contemplating house rules, two wild ideas that I’ve had, but never gotten a chance to examine in detail:
1) Basic attacks are move actions, not standard. I miss full attacks and the idea that standing still has actual advantages. I have no idea how much benefit this gives monsters compared to PCs, and finding out would require careful contemplation of the monster manual.
2) Bell curve rolls. I’d need to do some serious number crunching on this one. But the basic idea: Roll 3d20, take middle.
For crits:
1 die showing a threat is minor crit: Triggers “on a critical” effects. (if the attack hits)
2 threats is a significant crit: As regular rule crits, max base damage and trigger “on-crit” effects.
3 threats is a major crit: Max base damage, Max “on-crit” damage, trigger on-crit effects.
(Minor crits are actually more common this way. I like this; Having weapons distinguished *only* by crit effect, which happens 1 attack roll in 20, and not necessarily the attack roll you want is, I feel, a bad idea. Having them happen more often helps a little.)
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