Pablo360
2018-11-08, 10:38 AM
So, reactions. Everyone loves 'em, very few people can use 'em, and half the time people forget about 'em. The fact is, apart from the basic Attack of Opportunity, one or two spells, and a few builds specifically geared towards 'em, they're very limited. Readied actions in particular are so situational that I don't think I've ever used one, or even been in a game where someone used one. So here are two possible optional rules I was thinking about implementing that would give more use cases for reactions, along with why I think they make sense.
Readied Bonus Action
Spend a bonus action to ready a bonus action. This acts just like Readied Action, except you can do a bonus action instead. If you have Dash as a bonus action, you can move your move speed; otherwise, you can use any movement you didn't use during your turn as your reaction. If you have an ability that lets you make more attacks using a bonus action which you could have used during your turn, you may make a single attack from that ability as your reaction.
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Bonus actions are neat, but there's no way to shift them off-turn like there is for standard actions. Plus, combining this with a typical readied action lets you effectively delay your turn (albeit with fewer attacks), which is very helpful for certain team compositions, without messing up spell durations (which is why delaying your turn isn't present in 5e).
Anticipate
If you spend your action to Anticipate, you get advantage on your next attack roll if you make an Attack of Opportunity before the start of your next turn.
For this one, I feel like adding actions that disincentivize opponents from provoking AOO could allow for some interesting tactics, but it's so situational that I don't think it would be worth making a feat. I would anticipate this being most useful for battlefield-control characters; as an action, they would probably only take it if keeping enemies in check is more important than dealing damage. Honestly, it's pretty weak, but I could see it being useful for someone like a Polearm Master or a Mage Slayer, who have additional ways to use AOOs.
What do you guys think? Do these make sense? Should they be feats instead? Are they broken? Too confusing? Weaksauce? Against the design philosophy of 5e in some way? Already existent elsewhere? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to like share and subscr
Readied Bonus Action
Spend a bonus action to ready a bonus action. This acts just like Readied Action, except you can do a bonus action instead. If you have Dash as a bonus action, you can move your move speed; otherwise, you can use any movement you didn't use during your turn as your reaction. If you have an ability that lets you make more attacks using a bonus action which you could have used during your turn, you may make a single attack from that ability as your reaction.
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Bonus actions are neat, but there's no way to shift them off-turn like there is for standard actions. Plus, combining this with a typical readied action lets you effectively delay your turn (albeit with fewer attacks), which is very helpful for certain team compositions, without messing up spell durations (which is why delaying your turn isn't present in 5e).
Anticipate
If you spend your action to Anticipate, you get advantage on your next attack roll if you make an Attack of Opportunity before the start of your next turn.
For this one, I feel like adding actions that disincentivize opponents from provoking AOO could allow for some interesting tactics, but it's so situational that I don't think it would be worth making a feat. I would anticipate this being most useful for battlefield-control characters; as an action, they would probably only take it if keeping enemies in check is more important than dealing damage. Honestly, it's pretty weak, but I could see it being useful for someone like a Polearm Master or a Mage Slayer, who have additional ways to use AOOs.
What do you guys think? Do these make sense? Should they be feats instead? Are they broken? Too confusing? Weaksauce? Against the design philosophy of 5e in some way? Already existent elsewhere? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to like share and subscr