The Ultimate D&D 5e Combat Hack. Warning: it's different! 

I pretty much never comment on anything, ever, but I'll make an exception for you. As a lot of DM/GM, D&D 5e is becoming a little bit frustrating to run each time and I tend to tweak and hombrew the rules more and more the ease the pain. So much in fact that I almost finished writing a complete different game system. (With quite the same liberating action economy, inspired from many boardgames, turn-based strategy games and others TTRPGs. Never considered to entirely drop the hit rolls tho !) It is wonderful to see that your rules change so much of the game momentum while also being able to keep using all the D&D collection with minimal modifications, in particular all the foes and monsters stats. One of the critical parts I am stuggling the most with on my own system ! Hat's off to you, mr.Diaz. Really well done. Can't wait to read the full pdf.

Fred: "Now, let's find out who this different combat system really is." _Pulls off the hood_ Velma: "Jinkies! Pathfinder 2e's 3-action economy!" PF2E3AE: "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!"

This looks more like some strange mix of primarily Dragonbane with a sprinkle of PF2e than it does 5e but seems like it could be interesting at least.

I don't like that the character's attributes don't influence the rolls, and neither does the opponent's. This looks like the best way to play is to use the best weapons for each situation, the character himself being useless.

I think the issue with doing attack rolls with damage dice is that your majorly changing the statistics of a critical hit versus a miss. On a d20 you are only one in 20 shot of getting a one. On a D4 you now have a 25% chance of a critical failure

You'd be better off with a different RPG system. 5E's convoluted rules and power bloat leads to everyone tinkering with it. As a result players are learning a 5E hacked system over and over again everytime they play with a different DM. There are other RPGs that do not require as much work to make it workable so you only have to learn the new system once instead over and over again...

How does this affect the action economy problem of big solo monsters in 5e? Do you still need to give them legendary actions? Do monsters not required the dodge action? From the video it seems like the bug had "medium armor" but the rogue ignored it with a crit; wouldn't the first attack from the dwarf interact with the bug's armor in any way?

Players experience lvl has a hugh part on how fast combat goes! Plus to all DM's ac, ability check or spell dc dont have to be a big secret helps speed up things while sticking with the rules!

Nice video, I think a good solution for dnd 5e combat system would be players that remain focus on the game, that remembers when their turn is and that knows rules and what their characters can do (yeah, even the spells).

the ultimate D&D 5e combat hack, is an entirely different system? because thats what it sounds like. must admit it sounds pretty cool though

Great video! I’ll definitely try this with my group! Question: Is there a good way to make armor class a passive thing? I don’t know how I feel about making it an action.

First of all, this is PF2e without initiative(And some other modifications). Second of all, if you gotta change this much to enjoy DnD with your friends, then it's time for you and your friends to pick up a different game. Trust me, I spent an insane amount of time modifying DnD to my liking before realizing I could just find a different game that better suits my DMing style and needs.

Is this just some sort of a pathfinder?

This feels like a very not-D&D take on D&D... I like it, but I don't think it's even fair to call it D&D with how much you've changed. Definitely seems like a solid foundation for a ruleset though!

Well.... I'm sold! Gonna try it this saturday with some friends, if it's as good as it looks it can fix my table's biggest problem, COMBAT, thanks!

im stealing these

Love this hack hopefully, I'll be able to back the Kickstarter in a day or two found this a little late in the game but it looks great

So how do bonus actions work? Like how would a barbarian rage?

While i like the idea, i feel like it personally doesn't solve the main issues with any DnD game I've run or played in. The adding of numbers and rolling for hit and damage separately aren't the major slow down factor. Its the wealth of options. "Do i run over here to get the high ground, what spell do i pick, would this random bag of beans help me out in this situation?" This is basically rolling to hit and damage at the same time

The editing and pacing on this is beautiful. Love the ideas too, keep up the awesome work!

So, you drop everything that gives characters advantage or disadvantage on initiative? Some characters rely on the abilities or other things that give them the advantage. You might as well be playing a whole new game.

This sounds interesting. Reminds me to Pathfinder 2 but easier! You might just gave me an excuse to use all my D&D materials again

this is very interesting as i just finished learning about DC20 which takes the opposite direction, getting rid of the damage dice. instead, every 5th point above success gives an extra point of damage. which is nicely streamlined, but im not ready to say goodbye to six other dice of different sizes, your proposition i actually like more

Great video! I agree with most of the things here, and have used a variant of it for a while. Speeding up the pacing of combat is great, i thought i would just throw a few tweeks ive found from ridiculous things my players have done: A. Action economy for the enemies is important. Looks like the monster has arround 3 actions here which works, but smaller hords like Goblins and Gnolls get tedious like this. Try giving them one action each. B. That one spell: Haste. Breaks so much stuff. C. Pets like familers and Warlocks Pact of the Chain need 1 action, or the pet has to use the characters actions. And finally D. Never let them use AP for Bonus actions. It might make sense, but it allows for allot of setup from buff spells and the ability to spam Healing Word. There are more than this, but these are the main things to consider. I hope you do a follow-up on this!

Looked into this with a friend. We noticed that it really nerfs casters. With their low AC they would have a hard time negating any damage, and they would have less AP than melee classes since it would cost them 2 AP to cast a non cantrip spell, while melee attacks or abilities only take 1 AP. And with the AP cost like that, a melee class with the Dying condition would still be a threat, while a caster class with the Dying condition would be stuck to cantrips. I think there's some good ideas here, but it still very much needs some work. But if it's for a melee campaign, then it would be good.

Catacombs of Karak for adults!

Interesting that your solution to speed up combat was similar to what MCDM is currently doing with their in house RPG they are developing; dropping the attack roll and interpriting damage rolls instead. Your idea of it lowering starting AP is a solid option to balance out the inherit advantage of going first.

3 "action points".... PF2, I see what you're doing....

I love this. Gonna try it out

But how do the AC exactly work in this? Cause im still confused with that

My game I’m making has no miss chance either. Misses have to happen due to the creature actively blocking, dodging or some magical effect like mirror image. My action economy is similar to this, but I think a lot more in depths. It’s very simple like this at early level, but as you get higher, you have a lot more you can do. And because you don’t have to roll for hits and do a million checks, action feels faster and more punchy and dynamic, which is what you want. I’ve always thought arbitrary miss chances based on a dice roll in games were idiotic. I basically looked at as many TTRPGS as I could and most of them have the same issues, so I cleaned up a lot of that and made crafting, conversation their own mechanic, so that combat stands out in the way it’s handled. All 5 systems within the game do.

Im deffinetly gonna incorporate atleast some of these changes in my own game.

3:02 How to speak with that awesome badass voice?

Very curious about the design thinking of a roll of 1 being a miss. Was there a strong reason for misses to be included? (Long time 5e player who has moved to Into the Odd based games)

This would work great if everyone is on board with it. I wouldn't force any group into it, though, as it negates so many game rules that players may have built their characters around. If AC has no meaning, a tank is just a character with high HP, and there's no point using a shield. Want to play a tank and get a mechanical benefit for your choice to use a shield? Sorry, no can do. If there's no accuracy, Str and Dex become very attractive dump stats for all characters.

I think this might be a good way to introduce the game to new players or something like that however 1.) having players all go at the start punished them because multiple enemies in a row having turns allows them to do a lot more before player reaction 2.) quieter players will always be last in combat 3.) the AP system and quickened hit rolls would majorly favor some classes over others. Again cool way to play a more loosely goosey game but it would be really imbalanced and most likely leave some players feeling like background decoration for their main character party member that does everything

so i cannot back the kickstarter right but from the PDF does attack with multiple dice work like cairn where you take the best die (if the primary die is not a 1) or only the primary die

how does Book cast Misty Step which is a 2nd level spell with only 1 AP?

So your ultimate hack for fixing 5e combat is basically play a different system? Pathfinder 2e's 3 action economy and make everyone guaranteed to hit and deal damage?

I think it would just be more simple if if the DM and the players were actually prepared to play the game that they decided to play. It also sounds like you could’ve saved yourself a lot of trouble by moving over to a different system like Pathfinder or try a different initiative system which there are several out there.

Truthfully I dont like any of this how I run it is I give each of my players a job to help keep track of the game one player keeps track of who's turn it is I track monsters. Another player tracks conditions remaining players of concentration give each player a small job speeds things up you as the dm should also be keeping track but your energy can br put into making the fight more epic. We also roll 3 initiative rolls at the start of each session the players can use one of there rolls they choice then mark it off I pre roll my initiative for my monsters. Doing small thing like this really help. Next is the final best thing get your group to start thinking of there turn before its there turn just talking to your players can go a very long way. I was scared to but was met with open arms and minds to these changes here we are a year later close to the end of the campaign and they keep showing up with smiles and very invested. Even had two ask me is there plans for campaign 2 I just smiled looks like campaign to got the green light.

Hmm sounds like you could instantly kill a PC just by having multiple enemies attack a single target, considering that they reduce the damage only once. IMHO failing to hit only on a 1 its too low of a chance - it just becomes too predictable as a game.

I feel like these alternatives are inspired by Pathfinder2e.

"You're calling the tabletop helpline, have you tried not playing D&D?"

A friend just used 2D6 and 6 abilities. All chances defijned by the DM on the fly. 5 and 6 could be rerolled as many times for additonal dice as it worked. Perfect lean system for CON intros of Pen&Paper. Not good for a campaign with more varied abilities between characters and level ups. Crits on 1D4 are.insane.25%. On a Battle Axe just 8%. Totally nuts. I keep describing scene stuff while everyone is looking rrolling dice. After the second session everyone prepares in due time. If people look forever the story simply moves on. I you have a high initive analysis paralysis will cost you that as an experienced player. I'll say will you deliberate in freezing panic your next action the monster bites a big chunk out of your leg and you take X DMG. You miss our turn except.reactions or go dead last. People get used to that idea astonishingly fast. People have to accept my approximation if the haven't memorized their own combat values. No excuses on that end. I keep fights to a minimum and focus on storyline. I try to avoid multiple fights. Make them climax of the game night. I cut cannon fodder distraction fights down go a minimum of rolls on favor of storytelling how they hack the goons to pieces heroically. In boss fights AC and attack rolls are more fairly balanced. As a DM knowing the players stats I have my stuff ready in my notes. I never roll goons individually. Especially not designated fall guys. Never take the rules too seriously in Pen & Paper. Actually you need only some level progression from zero to hero. D&D is a dairly mjnimal system. Because it does not allow for parrying attacks by doing parry rolls for each. THAT makes up a slow system. Once.people git good at parry values combat drags on forever.

So - Savage Worlds kinda?

It seems dagger now miss 25% with it 1d4 damage dice. This seems a lot.

So pathfinder alrighty for that i guess

This is sorta like Mörk Borg combat. Learning about it can help make some calls for dnd

Friend, this isn't a combat hack, this is basically a new system. One that sounds really interesting, actually.

It's like watching someone discover that other TTRPGs exist.

This changes so much that it isn't 5e anymore. Which makes it better in my book. However if you're gonna change this much, you might as well take a look at other systems.

I love seeing twists on the base assumptions of how combat in D&D works. I really applaud the effort to streamline some things, but I'm afraid it's not all upsides and swiftness. Not rolling for initiative may seem like a time-saver, but your players _do_ have to roll for initiative anyways and I guarantee you'll be reminding them how many AP they get for their first round, every time. I do like going clockwise though. I think I'm going to try something in the middle - Person who rolls highest goes first, and then it's clockwise from them. Helps everyone else remember when to get ready for their turn if they see the action happening on their right. Also, armor rules, when bonuses do and don't apply because of armor, what things do and don't take one of your AP... they're all rules to confer about and that will slow stuff down. I love that gambling your AP on reactions becomes a strategic facet, but I don't think real combat would go noticeably faster with this system. Players will still hem and haw about their options, scritch their chins as they look through their spells, ask you which ones take 1 or 2 AP...

I think the 80/20 rule applies here. In my experience, there are two things that slow down gameplay much more than anything else combined: rolling for initiative and looking up spell descriptions. Anyway, "Players go first" = boring steamroll.

I am always amazed at the lengths people go to in order to avoid playing anything other than D&D.

Okay, at the beginning you make it sound like you don't roll initiative and how the players go first and in the order of readiness. Then all the sudden you are talking about Stabs rolling high on his initiative. When did this happen?

Seems like it could be fun to try, looking at the preview there was one issue I thought of. Since enemies with over 12 ac dont take your stat mod damage then it removes insentives for most martial players to ever increase their main stat and they would only ever choose full feats.

SO... you don't play D&D. That's your answer.

would be interesting to see what you actually kept from 5e. the system seems great but it's not d20

Different in the sense that its strangly more complicated lol. Why would a wizard misty step when we could simply walk the same distance twice with 2 acrion points? Having initiative be always advantaged towards the party removes tenstion and possibly wipes an encounter before it starts. I can respect the attempt to streamline 5e combat, but this simply just needs to be refined into its own TTRPG. Also, a more prominent reason for dnd combat taking so long is players or DMs who dont know their character. That can just be fixed with about 20m of prep before the session.

Very cool and interesting idea but it changes so much within 5e that I fear it may break a lot of the system and would fair better as it's own thing. Someone else mentioned it but for example, misty step as a bonus action isn't needed in cases where you don't need to disengage an enemy or get across a gap etc. You could just move twice with 2 AP. This itself isn't a huge issue, just a slight nerf of Misty Step but I imagine there are countless similar situations to be found with this hack. My main issues with it off the cuff are, 1) damage die and therefore weapon determines the attack chance of the character over their inherent skill, it practically makes characters entire sheet useless 2) D4 having a 25% chance to fail or Crit is in a way, even more swingy than D20 despite less outcomes. You'll be hitting crits or failing constantly like a headless chicken. It would appear like the character has no control over what he's doing from one moment to the next, completely at the mercy of the roll. One second an incredible fighter, the next a complete incompetent fool. The weight of choices in the character creation now matter far less and I don't think that such a mechanic would be overall as fun as it would be frustrating. People want some level of consistency. 3) Not sure how magic weapons would work like +1, +2 etc. as stats don't affect rolls to hit. 4) How does sneak attack work in this system? If d4 has higher crit chance to offset other weapons higher average damage, what about when you consistently roll 4's and deal 6d6 sneak attack damage too? And does crit chance affect those? If you roll 6 on them does that crit again and again? That'd make Rogue the strongest in the game besides maybe Paladins. 5) Always having player's go first feels a little meh. It's not a huge issue, just not for me. Less of a criticism, more of a personal preference. 6) Reactions: If you can take multiple reactions in a turn, that would mean multiple abilities and spells all happening together in one turn that aren't meant to be stacked leading to possibly unforeseen game breaking moments. 7) If you streamline the game by removing Initiative but then require an Initiative roll anyway to determine AP, is that really speeding up play? I guess a little and I do hate how initiative interrupts the flow of combat but that said, do you roll initiative every single round in this hack to determine AP? If so, that would actually end up taking more time overall in a typical fight vs D&D rules for initiative once at the beginning. 8) if normal out of combat situations still use a D20 and stats as normal, there's a big disconnect between combat and out of combat resolution mechanics which could confuse people a lot. 9) Going back to the hitting and missing, it appears unlikely to ever miss which does speed up the gameplay and is offset by damage reduction but some may not enjoy the concept. The biggest issue being that a character who pulls out a dagger they are proficient in, will get no added bonus if I'm understanding correctly from the video and will also go from having a super low chance to miss with Greataxe for example to suddenly missing quite regularly with the d4 weapon. The character's actual skill once again fails to factor into the situation. A fighter trained in war shouldn't suddenly become less likely to hit due to changing their weapon. Overall though, I think the basic ideas are cool. 3 point Pathfinder 2e type economy, more freedom on a turn to gain more movement or do more interesting things rather than confined to "this needs this specific action type to use." Also love the interpose and being able to choose when to absorb damage. I homebrewed the interpose ability pretty much identically in my own games a few years back, felt it adds much more teamwork and a sense of self-sacrifice to the game. Saving someone at a cost. I loved that and really like the implementation here. I think this is a really cool idea though and if I ever have spare time I'll check out the free core rules for sure. That said, I feel it could almost be better off as it's own game but 5e sells and has the biggest fanbase so all the best with the module.

The way you modified the action economy is really similar to the DC20 system and the stacking crits is exactly like righteous fury from Dark Heresy which is my favorite RPG! I love how your rules are streamlined yet still more flexible than 5E and the video editing was excellent at delivering your ideas. Great job!

This is suspiciously similar to DC20 systems.

Great job with the editing. Also this seems very similar to pathfinder second edition.

This is just literally a completely different system that is no way compatible with 5e. Granted, i hate 5e, but caling this a "hack" is just misleading and clickbaity. Also this system still leads to everyone just picking a bigger damage die if they can. Even if crits let you ignore armor, bigger die still does bigger damage, exploding dice add very little on average.

I don't think i will use theses rules, sound just like a totally new game to me. But your video kept me hooked for the entire duration and your editing is very very good. I'm subscribed and will wait for more videos. Your channel have everything to grow fast, congrats.

This is basically a whole new game. You should write it.

This deserves a system of its own, the rest of DnD was designed for standard combat rules, so you'll eventually run into conflicts, such as having a bonus to initiative that no longer matters. Also, I think it's weird to have it where the more sides of your damage die, the less likely you are to miss, a better alternative would be to just roll to hit and then deal average damage.

I like the initiative order. After that, it seems like a different game system than DnD. As mentioned before it seems more like Pathfinder 2e. That being said if it works for you and your group more power to you.

I love this. I want to run a game based on Bloodborne and I really want to get across that fast paced combat, and this works great for that I think, it also means that more combats can happen in one session

If you feel the need to change so much with a ruleset, why not just use a better ruleset in the first place or simply write your own?

You need to be playing a PbtA game if D&D combat feels this bad for you.

Ankheg are normally large monstrosities but you call it a medium armored monster, is this a change made by he nimble rules? Do monsters not get to reduce damage from their armor? If there is no rolling initiative how are the wizard, dwarf and kobold coming up with their initiative scores? Wouldn't all players use daggers since there is a 25% chance of stacking damage dice on a crit? It also seems unlikely that the ankheg would be on the verge of death and not use its acid spray attack to target multiple foes, is this just DM incompetence?

So, its an inventing a wheel. Its just EZD6 system. Just play it, lol.

Wow your ruels almost sounds like the 3 actions in pathfinder 2e.

these rule sets are cool, and really fit for a different game I am sure this would work for many tables, but the speed of things isn't always as important, I find, especially with more strategic parties. But that does not mean that it never fits, and I hope other DMs can use these rules well

All of these ideas are fun, but at some point when you change *so much* of the game, it's literally just a different game. Even little stuff like "didnt have to confirm with the DM". Confirming with the DM takes 5 seconds. 10 at most. At the end of the night, we might have saved whole *minutes*.

Found this with 14 minutes left in the kickstarter. Very thankful lol this seems great

“With some minor changes” Proceeds to completely disregard hit modifiers, armorer class, the traditional action style, and death saves and fundamentally alters and undermines 50 other mechanics such as the entire functionality of basically any magic armor or shields

Bro just play pathfinder at this point

Dumping a whole new combat system on 5e is hardly a hack. Not to invalidate or discard your input, but this is just textbook click bait. Also, how much of this has been tested for mechanical balance? Of course, fun always trumps so called "balance" but I offer this counterpoint as this new system might just create a plethora of unnacounted problems wich the GM and the players will have to deal with - probably DURING combat wich will grind things into a messy rules lawyering halt. Also, this system is absolutely not simple nor intuitive and would take, IMHO, several sessions to get a hang on. I salute your effort into creating content and contributing positively with the hobby, but I feel like this could have been presented in a clearer and honest way.

Cool ideas for a system, but terrible for a hack. If a gm takes this with them, they'll forever be rebalancing things on the fly. The existing enemies, class options, spells, modules, mechanical dynamics ect were clearly not designed for this style of play, and its gonna come up qgain and again and again

yeah letting spellcasters cast 3 cantrips per turn sounds awful. this is just slapping pathfinder combat into a game balanced around 5e combat.

LOVE IT, just pathfinder lol but I still love it a lot

This looks like Dc20

Feels a bit like Pathfinder 2e with less d20 to me. But best of luck with your enterprise.

Honestly, it's an interesting idea for how to handle damage/attack rolls for a fresh system. As a lot of others have said though, this deviates so much from DND that I wouldn't really consider it DND at this point--which, also as others have said, I wouldn't really consider a bad thing. Though, for 5e, it winds up negating or having weird interactions with a lot of features that it might feel bad if you have a player who planned to use those kind of abilities. I've been observing and trying systems like the MCDM RPG, Lancer, ICON, etc. and seeing how they handle and resolve skills, rolls, and damage, and how it differs from D20 based systems (if at all), so this is definitely going into the inspiration toolbox for when I one day decide to try and craft a system myself.

As someone who’s played in a system similar to this, it’s broken. It sounds ideal but it doesn’t work like that in practice.

I'd love to take inspiration from this system for a simple OSR system I'm writing. Would you allow me to do so?

Ok but also this point, just play pathfinder 2e.xd

If you want to change things so much just play another ttrpg already... Congrats on thinking about a whole new system but honestly this didn't feel any simpler, quite the contrary

25% chance to miss. 25% to crit lol

Go play a different ttrpg my guy

If you have to ‘hack’ a game system so much to make it playable and enjoyable, why are you playing that game system? Seriously. Why? It’s a garbage system developed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s a trailer trash rpg

So your answer is "change the whole fucking game". A bit ridiculous, why did it even pop up in my recommended...

Just stop messing with D&D and go play some other simplier system. D&D is meant to be complex and crunchy, it's part of it's charm. Theese rules don't make it much simplier and faster and need a ton of rebalancing many parts of the rules.

I may not love everything here, but i do love Stabs.

I'm OK with my 5e combat, but this is a great video, would love expand a system based on it. Always up for a new system. Instant subscription man, good stuff.

Oh yeah like pathfinder

This is Genius. Also, I need more of Stabs in my life, I must know more about him.