Thanks for putting this together. I agree with the problems identified, but not necessarily the solutions.
Note, the below might seem nitpicky,
but that's because I'm pointing the things out that I'm disagreeing with, not all the great stuff that I do agree with.
I’m not sure that’s a good suggestion so here again… Feel free to correct/help me to find something better.
I guess a +”x” bonus to every D20, in every situation whatever the check could be something that keep D&D’s balance safe while at the same time would increase our % to hit an average of +15%.
This could be a good way to customize our experience.
From a +0 for a more authentic D&D experience to a +5 to increase our overall % to hit by +25% in any situations if needed.
I would suggest giving the option to lowering DC instead of you having a random +5 bonus, etc. Should provide the same results without breaking the logs/calculations.
It can be a separate difficulty slider (kind of Kingdom Management in Kingmaker - lower difficulty = lower DC). We can theoretically do that for AC too, but I would prefer having that baked into enemy difficulty.
Maybe backstab could still be an advantage, but maybe it could be toned down a little bit… Why not something like that.
- You move behind your enemy
- The enemy use his AOO (if possible)
- You attack with an advantage
- Dexterity / Strength saving throw for the enemy against a specific DD (15 in normal game mode).
If he fails, you deal 100% damages (resistances could decrease the damages)
If he succeeds, you deal 50% damages (resistances could decrease the damages)
I agree with the toning down, but I don't agree with the solution. Adding so many different components into this (saving throw, 50% damage), will still throw a lot of 5E's core balance out of wack and introduce more RNG. You're essentially trading hit RNG for damage RNG. There'll also be weird situations where you end up hoping an enemy backstabs you instead of attacking you from the front.
It'd be much easier to just give a +2 hit bonus for flanking and just call it a day.
This is a summary of actions that could lead to (new) bonuses / advantages.
- Help from a friend: bonus action = +10% to hit
The "Help from a Friend" Bonus Action is interesting, but I worry that is adding another stealth nerf to Bonus Action heavy classes - i.e. Rogue.
- Attack a prone target: +15% to melee attack, -10% to range attack
Prone gets Advantage from 5E RAW, and I'm not sure why we'd be removing/nerfing that.
Light shouldn't give advantage as a cantrip - it'll make spells like Faerie Fire obsolete. It should help remove the "obscured by shadows" disadvantage like dancing lights does in game right now (but I consider that a bug)
6.1 Must have
- Tone Down Enemy 'Special' Attack (Stick more to D&D – Also related to HP bloat / AC reduction and the overall balance of the game)
I think it's good that Larian is rebalancing monsters. I think the HP bloat is overstated, and extra abilities are needed to improve difficulty. We get more items in BG3 (a good thing IMO) that makes our characters stronger than their typical level. Also, a single person playing a PC game is on average FAR more tactical than a chaotic D&D table (just go watch a D&D game).
Strictly following MM will make things too easy IMO. Not to mention the MM isn't perfectly balanced within itself either (different monsters of the same CR have huge variance in actual difficulty)
- We should be able to choose who our spells affect (i.e choose who are the targets of bless or the targets of sleep)
Yes and No - it should depend on how the spell is written. Yes to Bless, but no to spells like Sleep*, where the lack of targeting is part of the spell design - i.e. you don't get to choose with Sleep in RAW (it goes from lowest to highest).
*Granted, Larian has already changed Sleep to make its targeting better but effects weaker to reduce RNG.
