A player might say, “I want less overall mechanical intervention into my awesome that doesn’t make me more awesome!“.
And I would say, “You are about to become more awesome.“
And we would have an amazing fun game, because you asked and I delivered. How you say? Why would it? This is my answer. It is a fairly long answer, so go get a drink or a snack.
I use D&D 5E for examples to be understood by a wider audience. I alter the base rules of every system for most games I run in similar ways.
I find the rules for 5E to be the first of the d20 versions that makes sense for TTRPG Fantasy storytelling. And with some tweaks, it can be an amazing narrative experience. I have similar rules updates for GURPS, Cortex, and others.
My opinion on combat
When we get into a combat in an , it should feel heroic. We rarely are emotionally connected enough to combat (at least in d20) without some changes to spice it up. When you fight something it should be fun and at least a little bit tense.
Especially once you introduce sharp pointy things and long range death weapons. We do not want to be one-shot-killed in RPGs, even though we know that is how it happens IRL. We want to feel the rush from being the hero in a dangerous place. The stakes are all mental in an RPG. Instead of your actual life, its your emotional connection to that character that GMs want to threaten, at least a little.
For me, the deeply mechanical nature of the just don’t fit that. There are some narrative systems that do fairly well, but never quite right for me. I don’t enjoy fully narrative games quite as much (Fate, AW, etc.), as I like the blow by blow nature of combat sometimes. I do like narrative systems and I play them as well. I mean, I will take what I can get to play with cool people. Unfortunately, I will never get to play in a game like mine (unless its choose your own adventure), but y’all might benefit from my Path of Madness in your games.
Normally, a high-level set of PCs can win and recover from virtually any encounter I throw at them if I give them a chance to rest before it starts. Or, I can hit them with a big boss that would take the entire session to defeat. Maybe, I will attack them many times to weaken them or steal their resources and not let them rest so they fight the boss barely able to stand.
And still spend the whole session in painful bookkeeping and dice-rolling where most of the group is not very active most of the night. A GM that cannot keep your attention easily will find themselves with a very distracted group and not nearly as much roleplay, and that tends to grind to a stop in combat if you let it. It needs to be exciting enough that they get involved in other people’s turns, if possible. It is harder for me to do that with RAW and I fudge dice alot more, which I don’t really like doing. So, I just changed the rules to match what I was gonna fudge anyway! I find its a better experience for the whole table.
I do that through a few large changes and a large amount of small ones that together make combat smoother, faster/deadlier and a lot more fun. Heroes should hit harder, more often, and have shorter combats that are memorable.
Here are Five Large Changes that I make to 5E as GM:
First, I change advantage/disadvantage rolls to bonus/penalty dice. They work exactly the same mechanically except in one way: You can have more than one of them on a given roll. Already have advantage and want to spend inspiration? Do it and roll 3d20.
The same with disadvantage: How about a poison that does 2d6 every round until you succeed a 20 Con save with 2 penalty dice. This can be a very deadly poison. You roll 3d20, take the worst result and try to get that DC 20. You have a good chance of dying before you make it. If you have advantage against poison, though, you only roll 1 penalty die as it cancels out one of the penalty dice with the one you add. I sometimes use a lower DC for a poison and a success only removes a penalty die — a critical removes two). Once you save with no penalty dice, the poison is done hurting you. Both of these can last a while, and you are almost guaranteed to take damage from this poison.
Second, I overhauled Critical Hits. Well, I at least made them more powerful and more often. Any final roll that is 10 or more over the AC is considered a critical. A natural 20 does even more damage. If you can crit on a natural 19, you now crit on 9 or more over the AC, etc. The damage of a critical is doubled, but in this specific way: maximum damage with all modifiers + one roll of all normal damage dice. A natural 20 does maximum damage x2, dice rolled. This is the only time you will get your modifiers to damage added twice.
In most of my games, wizards can do devastating damage with critical hits on spells with an attack roll and that’s quite a few spells. Many of them are cantrips. A natural 20 on a single eldritch blast at 1st level could do over 20 points of damage, depending on whether they have modifiers. A warlock that can throw 3 eldritch blasts, that can manage to roll 10 over the required AC will do a minimum of 10 points on each one that hits. A Magic Missile never crits, but it never misses, either.
Third, I moved encumbrance, ammo, and other bookkeeping to Usage Dice. You might have d6 daggers and after each encounter or attack (depending on how scarce you want ammo), you roll for usage.
If you roll a “1” on the Usage Die, it steps down one level. Our d6 Daggers above, would go to a d4. If you get a “1” on a d4 usage, you are out. In the per attack mode (roll it with each attack), you can also roll it before you throw to know if this is your last one!
You can refill after combat, even take some from the enemy. The GM will increment the Usage die accordingly with what you find and you are done. A d20 Usage makes it pretty close to infinite, and you can use Hero Points on them to keep them from stepping down. I also cap certain items to smaller dice, because you can only have so many of an item available for combat. I am looking at you, spears. It’s less realistic, but it is also less bookkeeping, so I like it.
Fourth is Hero Points. It is a resource that only refreshes when you level up, and is 5+ 1/2 your level rounded up. You start with 6. Any d20 (or Usage) die roll you make, you can also roll an additional d6 and add it to that roll for one Hero Point. Most close calls can be avoided this way, thus allowing the players to have tense moments where they managed to get out of the way by sheer luck or just in time.
You can even spend them on another player by assisting another player when they need it and its in character for you. If you spend one on a player you are stabilizing, they stop dying AND it is only a bonus action. Every use of the Help action allows you to spend Hero Points on the roll as well.
Hero Points and Inspiration are what make you a PC, and they give you extra chances to be awesome. That’s cool, right? I thought so, too.
This one is from the DMG, pg. 264.
And the Final thing is Dire Peril. I stole this one from John Wick’s Play Dirty and took it to Eleven. I keep a card on the table in view at all times that says in bright green letters, “Plot Immunity.”
While this is showing, your character cannot die without your permission. I can do anything else to the character (within negotiated boundaries, of course) for the sake of the story but I cannot kill you unless you agree. If you want an accidental death that would happen from an unlucky moment, you can keep it. If not, I will find another fate for you, such as unconscious or exhausted or whatever to keep you alive until I flip the card over.
The other side, in bright red letters, says “Dire Peril.” This means our death contract is temporarily void and I can kill you without permission until I flip that card back over. I am not necessarily trying to kill you, but it can happen now for any reason.
As a GM, I am unlikely to – and have not had to – kill a character in Dire Peril. So far, they have worked extra hard not to get killed and most times just fucking ran.
What it really does is get the group’s attention. Phones get put up, dice are grabbed, and attention is focused on the game again.
Once, I described a dragon plying overhead and as I did, I calmly flipped the card over. Everyone sat up and worked on getting to cover fast. I had no intention of attacking them, but I wanted to show that the wilderness is dangerous. They took it seriously after that. I did not have to ask about watch order that night.
That is why I use Dire Peril, to focus everyone on a big moment that is eminent. The fate of the story is at stake, at least for some. It often is flipped for a Boss Battle, but not always.
These are my Top 5 Changes to make RPG combat more awesome. At least, I feel it is and people that have gamed with me seem to enjoy it and keep asking for more. I also use a more People chosen Initiative system to encourage teamwork. More Fastball Specials and less missed opportunities for them. If you can choose who goes when most of the time, it is more fun. Let the players have control of the narrative and your game will get better. And that’s why we are playing, right?
Right?
Of course, these are summary rules, as I did nail it down for the few times I need to police it — I may fancy it up for a “Pay what you want” PDF at some point. I’ll let you know and update this post if I do.Everything else I do is small tweaks to a class or an ability here and there to accommodate these new rules and the player’s desire. ALL of them are to make characters better and enhance them, rather than limit them. I know they make PCs powerful. This is the point!
Then I can take the gloves off as a GM, because the characters are no longer fragile. They are fucking Heroes and I can hit them hard all day long if I want to to tell a good story. They are less focused on the XP and more on the objectives if they know a combat isn’t gonna take all day.
All of these together mean that you hit more often and harder and take out opponents faster. You will also get hit more often and harder. You barely track ammo and gear, although you are aware when you are getting low. When you hit d4 rations, every bite might be your last! Lastly, a little saving grace built in for those times when you missed it by that much.
And, I haven’t even touched on my Magic system updates. Oh boy, is it fun – and dangerous – to play a spell caster in my games. I like high power and high stakes! Casting spells can kill you, if you want to take a risk for something Epic. It hasn’t happened yet, but a few have come close. And I’ll bet they remember that encounter. I recommend adding Spheres of Magic – its amazing.
All of this allows for a fast-paced game, even with D&D, which gets so much hate from so many people. I find with the changes I have made it becomes worth playing for me and I enjoy running it this way. Most of the players that have been at my table have given good feedback on it.
You don’t have to agree with me, but I hope it will open your eyes to what you can update, add or remove from your games to make them more fun for everyone at your table. Thanks for listening.