Greywander
2019-08-28, 06:38 PM
In 5e in particular, numbers matter a lot. And I don't mean the numbers on your character sheet, I mean the number of people on your side versus the enemy side. A game with only one to three PCs is going to have a bit of a rough time because of this, as the ideal party size seems to be four or five PCs. In past editions, one way to help balance things was with gestalt characters: characters who could level up two (or more) classes at the same time. But while this does help fill in any missing roles for the party, it doesn't really help when it comes to action economy. A fighter/wizard can still only either cast a spell or attack with a weapon, not both. On top of that, a failed saving throw becomes a lot more disastrous with a small party, as it can disable a proportionally larger percent of your party. If playing solo, a failed save can mean game over, when it would be a mere inconvenience to a larger party.
With that in mind, I thought perhaps we could attempt to balance things in a similar way the game balances boss monsters, drawing inspiration from Legendary Resistance and Actions. So here I present: Heroic Resistance and Heroic Actions!
Heroic Resistance. If you fail a saving throw, you can expend one use of Heroic Resistance to reroll that saving throw with a +5 bonus. If you reroll the saving throw more than once this way, the bonuses stack.
Instead of automatically succeeding, you simply reroll with a bonus. This way, there's still some tension, some chance to fail (though realistically that bonus can push you up to "impossible to fail" territory).
I'd suggest that a solo player get three uses of Heroic Resistance per long rest. A two PC party should likely each get one use of Heroic Resistance. Parties of three or more don't get Heroic Resistance.
Heroic Actions. At the end of another creature's turn, you may take a Heroic Action. Only one Heroic Action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature's turn. You regain spent Heroic Actions at the start of your turn. The following Heroic Actions are available to you:
Attack. You make one weapon attack against a target within range.
Cantrip. You cast one cantrip at a target within range.
Move. You move up to half your movement speed.
Detect. You make a Wisdom (Perception) check, a Wisdom (Insight) check, or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Bonus Action. You use a feature or cast a spell that normally requires a bonus action.
Action (Costs 2 Heroic Actions). You use the Attack action, cast a spell with a casting time of one action, or perform any other action that normally requires an action to perform.
This will need some additional hammering out, as there's a lot of potential for abuse here (e.g. rogues getting extra sneak attacks, melee classes using the cantrip option to Booming Blade, etc.), then again, perhaps this is a feature, not a bug. Because of the way Heroic Actions are written, they don't help much in one-on-one fights, since you have to take them at the end of another creature's turn, and you can only take one at a time. Heroic Actions are also arguably weaker then simply handing out extra turns.
For a solo PC, I'd give them a full 3 Heroic Actions. Two PCs would each get two action, and three PCs would get one each.
Thoughts on this? Would you want to use something like if you only had a few players?
With that in mind, I thought perhaps we could attempt to balance things in a similar way the game balances boss monsters, drawing inspiration from Legendary Resistance and Actions. So here I present: Heroic Resistance and Heroic Actions!
Heroic Resistance. If you fail a saving throw, you can expend one use of Heroic Resistance to reroll that saving throw with a +5 bonus. If you reroll the saving throw more than once this way, the bonuses stack.
Instead of automatically succeeding, you simply reroll with a bonus. This way, there's still some tension, some chance to fail (though realistically that bonus can push you up to "impossible to fail" territory).
I'd suggest that a solo player get three uses of Heroic Resistance per long rest. A two PC party should likely each get one use of Heroic Resistance. Parties of three or more don't get Heroic Resistance.
Heroic Actions. At the end of another creature's turn, you may take a Heroic Action. Only one Heroic Action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature's turn. You regain spent Heroic Actions at the start of your turn. The following Heroic Actions are available to you:
Attack. You make one weapon attack against a target within range.
Cantrip. You cast one cantrip at a target within range.
Move. You move up to half your movement speed.
Detect. You make a Wisdom (Perception) check, a Wisdom (Insight) check, or an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Bonus Action. You use a feature or cast a spell that normally requires a bonus action.
Action (Costs 2 Heroic Actions). You use the Attack action, cast a spell with a casting time of one action, or perform any other action that normally requires an action to perform.
This will need some additional hammering out, as there's a lot of potential for abuse here (e.g. rogues getting extra sneak attacks, melee classes using the cantrip option to Booming Blade, etc.), then again, perhaps this is a feature, not a bug. Because of the way Heroic Actions are written, they don't help much in one-on-one fights, since you have to take them at the end of another creature's turn, and you can only take one at a time. Heroic Actions are also arguably weaker then simply handing out extra turns.
For a solo PC, I'd give them a full 3 Heroic Actions. Two PCs would each get two action, and three PCs would get one each.
Thoughts on this? Would you want to use something like if you only had a few players?