Ok. So, back on topic.
What about this:
Shove = No prerequisites. Anyone can do it. Costs Action and requires Athletics roll. Target resists with Athletics/Acrobatics. If target fails, they are shoved 1 meter/3.28 feet per point of Strength modifier and knocked prone (minimum 1 meter/3.28 feet). So, since the game defaults to metrics, we use that as our guide. A person with Strength 18 could then shove someone 4 meters/13 feet. Primary purpose is to both push an enemy away and knock prone so it takes them more movement to get up and to you AND prone makes it so allies get advantage on melee attacks. Thus, it is worth an Action. However, if strategic, you could use it to shove off cliffs. Just be careful yourself about getting within 13ish feet of a ledge. Also restricted by size category. Can only shove up to 1 size greater than you, AND distance is reduced by 1 meter/3.28 feet if pushing bigger size targets (minimum 1). Likewise, shoving smaller targets increases max distance. Each category smaller adds 1 meter/3.28 feet. Halflings beware!
Throw Creatures = Requires Athletics Proficiency. For each size category, requires +1 to Strength. So, Tiny = 12-13, Small = 14-15, Medium = 16-17, Large = 18-19, Huge = 20-21, Gargantuan = 22+ (maximum = same size category as you so Lae'zel isn't able to yeet an ogre, and a duergar Enlarged isn't throwing around dragons). Costs Action and requires Athletics roll. Target resists with Athletics/Acrobatics. If target fails, they are thrown 1 meter/3.28 feet per point of Strength modifier and knocked prone (minimum 1 meter/3.28 feet). Like shove, distance is modified by size category, so an ogre can throw a goblin further than a human. Target also makes a Dexterity savings throw of 8+Attacker's Athletics skill (so you can potentially even throw allies without them taking damage if they roll well). If successful, no damage. If fail, take 1d4+Strength modifier bludgeoning damage for Tiny, 1d6+Strength modifier for Small, 1d8+Strength modifier for Medium, 1d10+Strength modifier for Large, and so on (the bigger they are..,). Throwing one enemy into another requires Ranged Attack check with disadvantage every time because, let's face it, target 1 is going to struggle and make it hard. If successful hit, both targets suffer bludgeoning damage per above (projectile determines damage), and they are both knocked prone near to one another. (No Dex save if throwing one enemy into another. The Ranged Attack determines a successful hit and damage is taken.)
I thought about it and it does make sense that they both receive full damage instead of splitting the damage. If someone throws another person into you, that's going to hurt. If someone is able to throw another person into you from like 10 ft away, or about 2 meters, yeah that's going to be some considerable pain. However, the limiting factor is that it is hard to actually hit because you receive disadvantage on your attack roll. Also, size matters. Throwing a cat at someone shouldn't hurt as much as throwing an ogre...unless the cat is also clawing your face. ðŸ˜
I mean, that's all fine and good,
if you're theorizing what
Larian should do to make the mechanics (they've already built into the game) more fun for everybody who wants those mechanics to be built like D&D, and to have at least some small semblance of balance and realism. There's a huge "but," that comes with that though. But it doesn't seem to me like Larian gives a Duergar's arse hair about D&D mechanics, balance, or realism. If they did, we would have never had these conversations in the first place.
Also, I get it, tabletop games don't always translate well to video games. However, I'm of the mind that 5e actually translates pretty darn well to video games. Clearly Larian thought it did too, or they wouldn't have taken on this project and hyped it as a "5e video game." That is how they hyped it. That is why they got such a large initial audience for this game. I know for a fact there are a large number of people that bought into early access because they wanted to see if Larian actually was bringing 5e to a video game with awesome narrative and the kind of graphics and gameplay we've come to expect from Larian.
At this point I'm starting to feel like every update is pushing them further away from being true to 5e and closer to being true to some kind of wacky circus of a game that sort of resembles D&D because of, you know, lore and stuff, but otherwise is entirely its own beast. Likewise, not sure if they care or not, but it's a beast I don't particularly like.
