4E Mod Ideas
I had hopes that our group would be growing, but alas no.
Justin has a friend who may be able to play, but not just yet.
And I got an e-mail from someone new to D&D but could only play every other Friday. Unfortunately, that’s not something that works for us.
In case you were wondering, I had not given up on trying figuring out ways to alter 4E to speed it up a bit, mainly by removing things that slow down the flow of combats and making the game simpler by removing pointless mechanics.
Well I believe I’ve developed something of a good base. My goal is to make simple, repeatable changes that can be done without rewriting books, and hopefully don’t affect game balance too harshly.
First on the hacking table – ongoing damage and any damage that occurs at the start of a turn
While individually it’s minor, this minor stuff can add up and gets old fast.
My BBEG with 500 hp takes 70 points at the start of his round from 5 different effects (such as Rain of Steel, Acid Arrow, Flaming Sphere, etc.). And let’s not forget that he’s immobilized, dazed, -2 to all defenses, and is vulnerable to the wizard’s cold attacks.
For ongoing damage it’s a set amount of damage per round that is saved at the end of each round.
For “starting your turn in a square adjacent” damage, its damage rolled each time.
Screw both of those.
For “starting your turn” damage, we’re rolling that one time and one time only. When the power is used, the damage is rolled one time only, and that is the damage done for the duration of the spell.
There are pros and cons for this, but I’ll take a set amount of damage over re-rolling all the time. The main difference is that average damage for the short term will vary wildly, but long term in will be the same.
For ongoing effects like stunned and dazed I’m doing nothing. There are too many effects and I think the system as is for that is acceptable.
For ongoing damage I’m going to keep the same for monsters. Players can keep track of their “upkeep damage” on their own. DM’s have a bit more work than that once the PC’s start blasting out dailies on the BBEG.
How about we choose a set number for the spell damage one time rather than “x damage (save ends)”?
So I’m changing “x damage (save ends)” to “double x damage” as an immediate effect. Mathematically it almost works out that way.
Your chances to make a standard save are 55% since a 1-9 is a fail and a 10-20 is a pass. I’m going to assume that the only reason that 1-10 is not a fail was because the 4E designers wanted to keep things simple. So 1 digit = fail and 2 digits = pass.
So on a (save ends) damage power, barring bonus saves and bonuses to saves, you will average normal damage on the first hit of the power, then you have a 50% chance to take it again the next round or not, then a 50% chance to take again the following round if you failed your first save, and so on.
So you would average 100% + 50% + 25% + 12.5% + 6.25% + 3.125% + 1.5625% + 0.78125% + …
If you add that all together for a good long time you’ll get 200%.
So why go through all that and just double the damage right off?
Take a look at the level 5 warlock daily power Avernian Eruption.
It’s a simple big damage power (for that level) that does 2d10 + con mod damage followed by an effect that does 5 ongoing fire damage (save ends) whether the attack hits or not.
For my system the damage would be 2d10 + con mod fire damage on a hit, plus 10 fire damage whether the power hit or missed.
The pro is that it works must faster and something less for the DM to worry about.
The cons are that this can’t work with every power (such as powers that renew ongoing damage every round) and elite and solo monsters (or anything with a saving throw mechanic) are taking a bit more damage than they would on average.
Solving the cons is mostly simple:
Powers that are too complicated or renew ongoing damage every round, we don’t touch.
Monsters with special save bonuses (such as elites, solos, and hobgoblins) get a little bonus to hp (say 10%).
Quick and easy, so I hope.
Second on the hacking table – “until the end of your next turn” type modifiers
Those things drive me nuts as player & DM. They add an excessive burden to the game and need to be removed.
Unfortunately the game is heavily balanced around these abilities.
Well how about instead of modifiers that end at a certain point, we cut the modifier in half, make it last the entire combat, and we make it a bonus to all the PC’s rather than specific targets?
This method replaces the constant penalty and bonus checking with an easily handled system that only changes when something new is added.
Any power that gives a +2 power bonus to you or an ally’s attack roll for a round, make it a +1 Morale bonus for the PC’s for the remainder of the combat.
Any power that reduces a monster’s defenses by -2 for a round, make it a +1 Morale bonus for the players for the combat.
What’s a Morale bonus?
Morale [x]
+x to attack rolls to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
We also have:
Fury [x]
+x to damage rolls to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round-long damage bonuses, but cuts bonus damage in half)
Sturdy [x]
+x to AC to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round long AC bonuses, or monster attack penalties, with the value cut in half)
Dodge [x]
+x to defenses (not AC) to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round long defense bonuses, or monster attack penalties, with the value cut in half)
Example: Right Brand, Cleric at-will, Strength versus AC attack
Normal rules on a hit:
1W + Str mod damage, & one ally within 5 squares of you gains a power bonus to melee attack rolls against the target equal to your Str mod until the end of your next turn.
Now on a hit:
1W + Str mod damage & Fury (1/2 Str mod – round down).
Now the players just keep track of what rank their Morale, Fury, Sturdy, and Dodge ranks are at (with the same tokens or notes you would have previously used). And we don’t worry about multiple ranks of the same thing, as only the highest one will apply.
Now I will clearly say that this is utterly untested and could possibly have unforeseen side-effects, but I’m ok with that.
I want to improve the game, not make some half-assed system of convoluted house rules that is an arbitrary mish and mash of what the DM thinks is better (and can’t prove).
My expectation is that the first few rounds the PC’s will be using their buff powers, followed by their their “big hitter” powers.
Third on the hacking table – dragonborn’s Dragon Breath
I don’t like that I don’t like this power, but the time kill from this racial ability can’t be ignored.
So my fix was pretty simple, make it a standard power and give it something to make up for it.
In this case, after the dragon breath power is used, the dragonborn can shift a number of squares equal to its Str/Con/Dex (whichever bonus was used for the attack) modifier.
This power allows an opening attack, followed by a shift into position. (I may change the shift to an option before or after.)
Fourth on the hacking table – fighter’s Combat Challenge and Combat Superiority
I don’t like how they’ve added rules that take away the DM’s ability to think how an opponent would react by using an “aggro”-like function from MMO’s to make the fighter “sticky”.
I understand the paladin version, if the paladin has someone marked, then there’s an attack penalty and some damage.
But the fighter version is much more insidious. If you’re marked by the fighter then he gets a free swing at you and can say “you’re not going anywhere”.
That’s a bit much for me.
So fighters still get to mark as they did before with Combat Challenge, but instead of making a free attack (which also kills time and combat flow) they simply treat all of the squares they threaten against their marked targets as difficult terrain.
And to replace the movement-killing power of Combat Superiority, fighters simply create Fury with their attacks.
If a fighter hits with an at-will or heroic tier power, then he creates Fury 1.
For a paragon power, he creates Fury 2.
And he creates Fury 3 for hitting with an epic power.
That about covers it.
I’m interested in hearing opinions; good, bad, and misc.
Justin has a friend who may be able to play, but not just yet.
And I got an e-mail from someone new to D&D but could only play every other Friday. Unfortunately, that’s not something that works for us.
In case you were wondering, I had not given up on trying figuring out ways to alter 4E to speed it up a bit, mainly by removing things that slow down the flow of combats and making the game simpler by removing pointless mechanics.
Well I believe I’ve developed something of a good base. My goal is to make simple, repeatable changes that can be done without rewriting books, and hopefully don’t affect game balance too harshly.
First on the hacking table – ongoing damage and any damage that occurs at the start of a turn
While individually it’s minor, this minor stuff can add up and gets old fast.
My BBEG with 500 hp takes 70 points at the start of his round from 5 different effects (such as Rain of Steel, Acid Arrow, Flaming Sphere, etc.). And let’s not forget that he’s immobilized, dazed, -2 to all defenses, and is vulnerable to the wizard’s cold attacks.
For ongoing damage it’s a set amount of damage per round that is saved at the end of each round.
For “starting your turn in a square adjacent” damage, its damage rolled each time.
Screw both of those.
For “starting your turn” damage, we’re rolling that one time and one time only. When the power is used, the damage is rolled one time only, and that is the damage done for the duration of the spell.
There are pros and cons for this, but I’ll take a set amount of damage over re-rolling all the time. The main difference is that average damage for the short term will vary wildly, but long term in will be the same.
For ongoing effects like stunned and dazed I’m doing nothing. There are too many effects and I think the system as is for that is acceptable.
For ongoing damage I’m going to keep the same for monsters. Players can keep track of their “upkeep damage” on their own. DM’s have a bit more work than that once the PC’s start blasting out dailies on the BBEG.
How about we choose a set number for the spell damage one time rather than “x damage (save ends)”?
So I’m changing “x damage (save ends)” to “double x damage” as an immediate effect. Mathematically it almost works out that way.
Your chances to make a standard save are 55% since a 1-9 is a fail and a 10-20 is a pass. I’m going to assume that the only reason that 1-10 is not a fail was because the 4E designers wanted to keep things simple. So 1 digit = fail and 2 digits = pass.
So on a (save ends) damage power, barring bonus saves and bonuses to saves, you will average normal damage on the first hit of the power, then you have a 50% chance to take it again the next round or not, then a 50% chance to take again the following round if you failed your first save, and so on.
So you would average 100% + 50% + 25% + 12.5% + 6.25% + 3.125% + 1.5625% + 0.78125% + …
If you add that all together for a good long time you’ll get 200%.
So why go through all that and just double the damage right off?
Take a look at the level 5 warlock daily power Avernian Eruption.
It’s a simple big damage power (for that level) that does 2d10 + con mod damage followed by an effect that does 5 ongoing fire damage (save ends) whether the attack hits or not.
For my system the damage would be 2d10 + con mod fire damage on a hit, plus 10 fire damage whether the power hit or missed.
The pro is that it works must faster and something less for the DM to worry about.
The cons are that this can’t work with every power (such as powers that renew ongoing damage every round) and elite and solo monsters (or anything with a saving throw mechanic) are taking a bit more damage than they would on average.
Solving the cons is mostly simple:
Powers that are too complicated or renew ongoing damage every round, we don’t touch.
Monsters with special save bonuses (such as elites, solos, and hobgoblins) get a little bonus to hp (say 10%).
Quick and easy, so I hope.
Second on the hacking table – “until the end of your next turn” type modifiers
Those things drive me nuts as player & DM. They add an excessive burden to the game and need to be removed.
Unfortunately the game is heavily balanced around these abilities.
Well how about instead of modifiers that end at a certain point, we cut the modifier in half, make it last the entire combat, and we make it a bonus to all the PC’s rather than specific targets?
This method replaces the constant penalty and bonus checking with an easily handled system that only changes when something new is added.
Any power that gives a +2 power bonus to you or an ally’s attack roll for a round, make it a +1 Morale bonus for the PC’s for the remainder of the combat.
Any power that reduces a monster’s defenses by -2 for a round, make it a +1 Morale bonus for the players for the combat.
What’s a Morale bonus?
Morale [x]
+x to attack rolls to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
We also have:
Fury [x]
+x to damage rolls to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round-long damage bonuses, but cuts bonus damage in half)
Sturdy [x]
+x to AC to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round long AC bonuses, or monster attack penalties, with the value cut in half)
Dodge [x]
+x to defenses (not AC) to yourself and all allies until end of encounter
(Replaces any round long defense bonuses, or monster attack penalties, with the value cut in half)
Example: Right Brand, Cleric at-will, Strength versus AC attack
Normal rules on a hit:
1W + Str mod damage, & one ally within 5 squares of you gains a power bonus to melee attack rolls against the target equal to your Str mod until the end of your next turn.
Now on a hit:
1W + Str mod damage & Fury (1/2 Str mod – round down).
Now the players just keep track of what rank their Morale, Fury, Sturdy, and Dodge ranks are at (with the same tokens or notes you would have previously used). And we don’t worry about multiple ranks of the same thing, as only the highest one will apply.
Now I will clearly say that this is utterly untested and could possibly have unforeseen side-effects, but I’m ok with that.
I want to improve the game, not make some half-assed system of convoluted house rules that is an arbitrary mish and mash of what the DM thinks is better (and can’t prove).
My expectation is that the first few rounds the PC’s will be using their buff powers, followed by their their “big hitter” powers.
Third on the hacking table – dragonborn’s Dragon Breath
I don’t like that I don’t like this power, but the time kill from this racial ability can’t be ignored.
So my fix was pretty simple, make it a standard power and give it something to make up for it.
In this case, after the dragon breath power is used, the dragonborn can shift a number of squares equal to its Str/Con/Dex (whichever bonus was used for the attack) modifier.
This power allows an opening attack, followed by a shift into position. (I may change the shift to an option before or after.)
Fourth on the hacking table – fighter’s Combat Challenge and Combat Superiority
I don’t like how they’ve added rules that take away the DM’s ability to think how an opponent would react by using an “aggro”-like function from MMO’s to make the fighter “sticky”.
I understand the paladin version, if the paladin has someone marked, then there’s an attack penalty and some damage.
But the fighter version is much more insidious. If you’re marked by the fighter then he gets a free swing at you and can say “you’re not going anywhere”.
That’s a bit much for me.
So fighters still get to mark as they did before with Combat Challenge, but instead of making a free attack (which also kills time and combat flow) they simply treat all of the squares they threaten against their marked targets as difficult terrain.
And to replace the movement-killing power of Combat Superiority, fighters simply create Fury with their attacks.
If a fighter hits with an at-will or heroic tier power, then he creates Fury 1.
For a paragon power, he creates Fury 2.
And he creates Fury 3 for hitting with an epic power.
That about covers it.
I’m interested in hearing opinions; good, bad, and misc.
posted by BlueBlackRed at 12:42 PM
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