What is Wrong with Armor in D&D 5e? New Armor System Fix w/ Mr Rhexx
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the host discusses enhancing Dungeons and Dragons gameplay with a new Kickstarter project, 'Alkane's Almanac of All Things.' They explore issues with traditional armor and weapons, introducing a modular expansion that offers customizable options, including a new weapon and armor system, different weapon properties, and reactive shield properties. The video also features a conversation with DND YouTuber Mr. Rex, discussing homebrew solutions to improve the game's mechanics and player experience.
Takeaways
- 🛡️ The video discusses an upgrade to the traditional Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) weapon and armor system through homebrew content to enhance gameplay.
- 📚 The creator has launched a Kickstarter for 'Alcan's Almanac of All Things,' a modular expansion for 5th edition D&D that introduces customizable options for the game, including a new weapon and armor system.
- 🔍 Mr. Rex, a prominent D&D YouTuber, is brought in for his insights on the underwhelming aspects of weapons and armor in D&D and how they can be improved.
- 🎖️ The video addresses the issue of limited options for armor in D&D, where players can quickly reach the best available armor and have no further progression or choices.
- 🤔 The discussion highlights the lack of feel of progression with armor in D&D, as opposed to leveling up and gaining new abilities.
- 🛠️ A new armor system is proposed with additional mechanics, including Evasion Class (EC) and Armor Reduction Value (AR), to provide more depth and strategy in combat.
- 💡 The introduction of different materials for armor and weapons adds variety and role-playing opportunities, allowing players to customize their gear with unique properties.
- 💸 The new system aims to make in-game money more relevant by providing more options for players to spend it on meaningful upgrades.
- 🔄 The video suggests that the new system can help balance the game by giving players a sense of being a 'tank' without making them invincible, thus maintaining the tension and strategy in combat.
- 🌐 The creator's Patreon offers early access to the new system in PDF form, with different tiers providing varying levels of content and customization options.
- 🔗 The Kickstarter and Patreon links are provided in the video description for those interested in supporting the project and gaining access to the new content.
Q & A
What is the main topic of discussion in the video script?
-The main topic of discussion in the video script is the upgrade of weapons, armor, and shields in Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), including the introduction of new homebrew systems and the exploration of issues with the current armor class mechanics.
What is 'Alcan's Almanac of All Things'?
-'Alcan's Almanac of All Things' is a modular expansion for 5th edition D&D that the speaker has launched on Kickstarter. It aims to provide customizable options for players to tweak their D&D game, including new weapon and armor systems.
What issues does Mr. Rex, the DND YouTuber, have with the current state of weapons and armor in D&D?
-Mr. Rex feels that weapons and armor in D&D are underwhelming and have issues that need fixing. He points out the lack of variety and progression in armor, the reliance on random rolls for upgrades, and the lack of feel of getting stronger as a character.
What is the new armor system proposed in the video script?
-The new armor system proposed introduces two additional defensive stats: Evasion Class (EC) and Armor Reduction Value (AR). EC represents the ability to dodge an attack entirely, while AR is used to reduce the amount of damage taken when hit within the armor class range.
How does the Armor Reduction Value (AR) work in the new system?
-In the new system, the Armor Reduction Value (AR) is calculated as the difference between the character's Armor Class (AC) and 10. This value is used to reduce the damage taken when an attack hits within the character's armor class range.
What is the significance of introducing different materials for armor and weapons in the game?
-Introducing different materials for armor and weapons adds variety and customization options, allowing players to create unique items with specific properties. It also brings back the importance of money in the game, as different materials can have different costs.
How does the new system address the issue of players feeling underwhelmed by their armor upgrades?
-The new system addresses this issue by providing a range of armor classes (EC to AC) and the ability to reduce damage taken through the AR value. This allows players to feel the impact of their armor choices and the progression of their character.
What is the role of the Patreon in relation to the new system discussed in the video script?
-The Patreon supports the speaker's work and provides patrons with early access to new content, including the new armor system, weapon system, and other homebrew rules discussed in the video script.
What is the potential impact of the new system on the game's balance and player experience?
-The new system aims to improve game balance by smoothing out damage taken and providing more options for character progression. It enhances the player experience by allowing for more strategic choices in armor and weapon selection.
How does the video script address concerns about the complexity of introducing new mechanics to D&D?
-The video script acknowledges the potential complexity but argues that the new mechanics add depth to the game without overwhelming players. It suggests that players can choose how complex they want their game to be and that the new system offers a range of options to suit different preferences.
What is the Kickstarter mentioned in the video script, and how does it relate to the new armor system?
-The Kickstarter mentioned in the video script is a crowdfunding campaign for 'Alcan's Almanac of All Things,' which includes the new armor system as part of its comprehensive expansion of D&D. The campaign aims to compile various homebrew systems into a hardcover book.
Outlines
🛡️ Dungeons & Dragons Armor and Weapon Upgrades
The speaker introduces an upgrade to the weapons, armor, and shields in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), mentioning a new Kickstarter campaign for 'Alkane's Almanac of All Things,' a 5th edition expansion. The almanac offers customizable options for D&D, such as a new weapon and armor system with various properties, materials, and actions for martial classes. The speaker also discusses the importance of addressing issues with armor class in D&D and introduces Mr. Rex, a prominent D&D YouTuber, who has critiqued the current state of weapons and armor in the game.
🎯 Addressing Armor Class Limitations in D&D
The conversation between the speaker and Mr. Rex delves into the limitations of the armor class system in D&D. They discuss the lack of progression and variety in armor options, especially for classes like rogues, and the impact on the RPG experience. Mr. Rex highlights the issue of armor class being the sole determinant of defense, which leads to a lack of strategic depth and player agency in combat. The discussion also touches on the disparity in damage taken by characters regardless of their armor type.
🤔 Expanding Armor Options and Mechanics
The speaker and Mr. Rex explore potential solutions to the armor class issues, suggesting the introduction of various materials for armor construction to increase options and player engagement. They discuss the benefits of having multiple defensive stats, such as an evasion class and armor reduction value, to add more depth to combat and character customization. The idea is to make armor feel more impactful and to allow for a more nuanced combat experience.
📚 Introducing a New Armor System with Alkane's Almanac
The speaker provides an overview of a new armor system being introduced in Alkane's Almanac, which includes an evasion class (EC) and an armor reduction value (AR). This system aims to create a more dynamic combat experience by allowing characters to dodge attacks entirely, reduce damage taken when hit, and feel the impact of their armor choices. The system also addresses the issue of high-AC characters feeling invulnerable and provides a more satisfying progression for martial classes.
💥 Balancing Armor and Damage in D&D Combat
The discussion continues with the speaker and Mr. Rex examining the balance between armor and damage in D&D. They consider the implications of the new armor system on gameplay, particularly how it affects the feel of wearing heavy armor and the tactical choices available to players. The system is designed to allow for high damage reduction at lower levels, while still ensuring that players take some damage at higher levels, maintaining a sense of challenge and realism in combat.
🌟 Enhancing D&D with Homebrew Solutions
The speaker and Mr. Rex talk about the benefits of homebrew solutions in enhancing the D&D experience. They discuss the importance of not overcomplicating the game while still adding depth and customization options. The conversation covers the potential for adding glancing blows and the flexibility of the new armor system to be adapted to different playstyles and campaign needs.
🎉 Collaborating on Homebrew Content with Mr. Rex
In the final part of the script, the speaker expresses gratitude to Mr. Rex for the collaboration and discusses the homebrew content they've explored together. They mention the upcoming Kickstarter for Alkane's Almanac and the availability of the new armor system on the speaker's Patreon. The speaker also encourages viewers to check out Mr. Rex's channel and support the collaborative efforts in enhancing D&D gameplay.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Homebrew
💡Kickstarter
💡Armor Class (AC)
💡Evasion Class (EC)
💡Armor Reduction Value (AR)
💡Mithril
💡Glancing Blow
💡Dungeon Master (DM)
💡Patrons
💡Martial Classes
Highlights
Introduction of a new Kickstarter project, 'Alkane's Almanac of All Things', which is a modular expansion for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons.
The Kickstarter offers customizable options for weapons, armor, and shields in D&D, aiming to enhance the game experience.
Discussion on the underwhelming nature of weapons and armor in traditional D&D as critiqued by Mr. Rex, a prominent D&D YouTuber.
The problem of limited options in armor class and the reliance on random rolls or Dungeon Master's discretion for upgrades.
The lack of progression in armor as characters level up, with players often reaching a final armor that cannot be improved.
The idea that RPGs should allow players to feel stronger and have more options, which is currently lacking in D&D's armor system.
The introduction of a new armor system with multiple defensive stats, including Evasion Class (EC) and Armor Reduction Value (AR).
Evasion Class represents the ability to dodge attacks entirely, working in tandem with traditional Armor Class.
Armor Reduction Value allows for damage reduction when an attack is successful but not a critical hit.
The new system aims to make combat feel more gritty and realistic, with a more gradual wear down of health in battles.
The potential for adding variety to armor through different materials, such as mithril or adamantine, which can affect armor properties.
The economic impact of introducing new materials for armor, making money more meaningful in the game.
The concept of crafting and salvaging materials from monsters for armor, adding a new layer of role-playing and strategy.
The balance between making the game more complex with new mechanics and maintaining simplicity for ease of play.
The possibility of using glancing blows as a mechanic to further enhance the armor system, allowing for half damage in certain situations.
The Kickstarter's goal to compile all these new systems into a comprehensive book, offering a complete overhaul of D&D's combat mechanics.
The availability of the new armor system and other mechanics in a PDF for immediate access through Patreon, with tiers offering different levels of content.
The collaboration with Mr. Rex to refine and discuss the new armor system, highlighting the importance of community feedback in homebrew development.
Transcripts
we are upgrading weapons armor and
shields here with some of the best
homebrews that have ever done but that's
for you to decide and
this is perfect timing because i just
launched my brand new kickstarter
alkanes almanac of all things it's a
modular expansion of 5th edition that
gives you customizable options to help
you tweak your dungeons and dragons game
like a brand new weapon and armor system
different weapon properties different
actions that marshall classes can take
besides just
attacking twice different materials that
all these things are made out of
reactive shield properties to be able to
play like a tank all of that's gonna be
going in the book and i have a full pdf
of that system which is basically
a sneak peek of alexander's almanac that
you can get access to right now but i'm
gonna talk about how you can get your
hands on all that stuff later and all
the links will be of course down in the
description but
weapons and armor are a huge part of
dungeons and dragons and for this i'm
bringing in
one of the biggest dnd youtubers mr rex
he's been a huge inspiration to me and
he is one of the best resources
on youtube for dnd lore a lot of that
lore stuff has came from him he has a
lot of other great videos too so make
sure you go check him out but recently
he released a rant video about how
weapons and armor are a little
underwhelming
in dungeons and dragons and has some
issues that need to be fixed and just so
happens i've been working on
just that system for the last half a
year or so
and i reached out and here we go we got
mr rex here you made a video man
on weapons and armor and i do not
normally make homebrew videos so it
definitely
popped up on my radar i had to see it
and as soon as i saw it we're
so much on the same page with some stuff
i had to reach out to
and here we are yeah thank you thank you
for bringing me over i feel like this is
a struggle that perhaps many of us dms
kind of go through and
maybe we don't understand exactly where
the problems come but there is uh
there's an issue
that i think needs to be solved right i
think a lot of times there's so many
other things people homebrew and i've
made plenty of other homebrew videos
that
i never tackled armor class because i
feel like armor class engine it's not a
huge glaring problem a lot of people are
totally fine with armor classic
especially if you've played the game a
while
it makes sense certain armor classes
there are certain difficulties of
monster okay
armor class 14 armor class 16 and you
get a good feel for it
but there are some problems that just
start flaring up so what was your
biggest problem
with armor i dude honestly there are
actually many issues that i think
might look like they stem from different
locations but they all simultaneously
kind of converge
they root at the armor problem so again
many issues
one of the biggest issues i think has to
come actually from the fact that
um i always come back to the idea of an
rpg
what makes an rpg and rpg and what makes
it interesting and fun
i think there are two things
primordially one is levels you need a
level up system in an rpg is typically
one of the main things that uh
yes a progression something that starts
you here
and then answer there and levels are a
big part of that but the other thing is
feel that yourself getting stronger
having more options having more things
you can do yeah for sure
and then the other thing would be armor
but that is the one thing that
like i feel like it is the levels that
are the biggest weakness
the biggest weakness of dnd is that if
you're a rogue
you can only purchase a studded leather
armor for 45 gold pieces and you're done
right there's nothing else that you can
do you won in game done
it's final armor achieved nothing else
that you can do
you have to expect for dylan master to
drop you something that you can then
right so otherwise you're done and you
went into that in your video about how
like you have to rely on random roll
tables you have to rely on your dungeon
master you have to rely on things that
you shouldn't have to rely on as the
core
part of the game so yes limited options
of choice and different things you have
three
shows choices of default armor that
don't have much variety
and there is an obviously clear best one
with no extra spice to it and i
mentioned this on the video but i also
want to say this here because this is
like the most hilarious part of the
problem
is that even if you do get that magical
armor plus one or whatever right but it
happens to not be studded leather and
instead it's just a potted armor
it's not even going to be an upgrade for
you even though it is magical and even
though it is going to be more expensive
it's a plus one magic item but actually
no the 45
all right i'm good i'm good i feel good
already know for sure
for sure and i think i never even
realized
after watching your video i was like you
know what yeah there's there are
solutions here that can be done because
if if you think about an armor class
it's a hit or miss like you either get
hit or you don't get hit and that's
that's obvious and that's
simple and fifth edition is very simple
i get it but there's just
in for such a big capacity for such a
big part of the game
combat of your armor health hit points
all that kind of stuff
to be able to have it be just a hit or
miss it's real swingy
and can be real you can have an armor
class of like 18
or 20 and still get hit every time and
then that feels bad and you don't feel
like this tank that your class fantasy
is that you want to have
because the the dungeon master rolled
really well and they just
hit you every time so you might as well
had an armor class of 10. and it feels
bad for both sides too because
if the monsters if the monsters are
missing all the time then it's at the
end you feel bad and if the monsters are
hitting all the time then the player
feels bad
yeah yep yep and then you lose that that
wear down that grittiness of combat
where you're just like
you know round after round it's just uh
both sides are getting whittled down
instead of this like boom boom like
these chunks are being taken out
everybody then it's over out of nowhere
so yeah yeah you know what i realized
by the way i've been playing a cleric a
healing cleric recently on one of my
adventures and then i realized that i
really wanted to use prayer of healing
and just do this massive aoe healing
but then i just started realizing that i
just never get to use it because what
happens is one character is about to die
and then everyone else is full hp it's
literally what happens because they
dodged all their attacks that they came
at them and he this one person hasn't
so you're overhealing it's a waste yeah
yeah i totally see that and then another
thing
that made me think about from this when
i started brainstorming that you sent me
down this rabbit hole of thought about
the problems with armor is uh a cloth
wearing
or light armor even wearing a
caster of some kind it takes the same
amount of damage
from a said hit from a monster as
the huge heavily armored shield wearing
paladin or whatever
it i know the dice are going to change
but if you you would take
46 plus 10 or whatever it is both of
those characters are taking that damage
and it's the same assuming they got hit
and this goes back to i think
armor like one of the biggest issues is
that armor only has one stat
and that is ac so when you only have the
one stat and there's sort of no in
between uh you
do end up with these problems and as a
dungeon master there's not things you
can tweak and change because there's
only one thing
you can tweak and change and it's it's
very limiting in that way too
for sure for sure and if you do tweak it
too
far to one side then it gets absolutely
broken you're either always getting hit
or you have a player that figured out
how to do some crazy youtube build a
reddit build that they researched and
they have
they have 26 armor or something and
you're like okay well uh
what do i do i've been asked that
question multiple times about
characters with stupid high armor class
like what do you do just hit them with
spells all the time but then
that's you know i guess that's a
solution but
but the thing is like you also as a
player you really shouldn't feel bad
about
wanting to maximize your character which
is completely another point too
right it should feel good as a dungeon
master to give your players
magical armors it should feel good as a
player to want to maximize
one stat over others because right hey
that's what an artifact the style you're
going for i really want to be a tank
you're playing a role and you don't want
to feel like i really want like
i know they really want to have more
armor class but i don't feel like it's
good
and then that's that doesn't feel good
either so you want to be able to let
your players
embrace their play style and yeah dive
into it all the way for sure for sure so
now then we've ran we've ranted and
beat armor class into the ground uh but
how are we going to fix this thing dude
how
how would you fix this thing the first
thing that i think
um that we talked about before of fixing
this thing is
introducing more options of materials or
things you could
make the armor out of which
automatically just opens up so many
doors
yeah i mean the biggest advantage of
having multiple um i guess variations of
materials
is again the first point that i kind of
came back to here was
uh a big factor is money actually i
haven't talked about this at all like i
thought i did
money because this is another issue
completely there is nothing to spend
money on unless you're talking about
magical items which are not even
supposed to be an integral part of the
game like the game was
literally designed to not be like third
edition where magic is necessary it's
not supposed to be necessary and so
a lot of times you end up with a lot of
money and nothing to spend it on and
when you have different materials
becomes meaningless and so that whole
part of the game is now gone and
and that would be the case safe if
you're a heavy armor user at least
as a heavy armor user you have plate
armor which costs fifteen hundred
dollars
which is great yeah right but uh if you
start adding mithril or adamantine or
any other kind of material you want to
make your arm out of silver suddenly the
options
expand compound money kind of becomes
more integral more important again and
again it also adds a lot of options
off what you just said there is that
maybe maybe the best set of armor maybe
you shouldn't go a map maybe you
shouldn't take the 1500 set
armor maybe you downgrade the armor a
little bit but then upgrade the material
because you want a certain type of
property that the material that mithral
gives oh it's lighter
it doesn't it lets me move better or
whatever and then you can downgrade your
armor class
and upgrade the material for these
certain things and now you're
customizing you know i mean so that's
i i love that idea and you know what
that comes down to again
role play is playing your role
customizing your character and making
your barbarian different than another
person's barbarian which is
i think the goal is what it is yeah well
and it's like okay so
do i want to have that heavy armor class
okay i will i will save up even more for
more armor class and i will take the
material that gives me even more armor
class or whatever
um and and go that route or do i go the
other
and this again like you said opens up
for that choice that you want which is
why
in this big this big pdf that i make uh
that i made in this
whole thing i have like i think like 15
or more different types of materials i
got dragon bone
uh chitin like bug like bug armor
all that kind of stuff to try and give
players options to be able to hit all
those play styles
yeah and and you know what that also
kind of just adds to
how fun it would be and this is again
another thing that's missing because you
see i keep coming back to this
there are a lot of things about doing
and dragons that you could consider
issues that you might think stem from
different sources but really it all
comes down to one source which is armor
um or it could be solved by one which is
armor so
you're entering into like another
territory which is like salvage and
monsters
how fun would it be if you can go to a
dragon take some dragon scales and use
it for your armor having an actual
system that allows for that right
right right and what's what's so funny
and this is this uh
naturally brought it to this is that i
ha i think this whole big thing i've
been tackling together
that you you caught me during this whole
thing is i have
um the the big huge book that i'm doing
um al cantor's almanac of all things i
have the
the all those are tied together you have
the weapons and the armor that are made
of certain things and then there's a
crafting system they have to make all
those things to be able to build
your own custom things so that you can
have a kite and sword and
a dragon bone art but now i gotta go
find like that's a whole mission now and
you're tying the whole game together
the role play and the combat to go get
those things go hunt them down
find those creatures salvage them and
come back i'm feeling i'm feeling a
skyrim vibe here and that's a good thing
and that is a good thing yes yes yes get
the whole set collect the whole set of
armor and everything oh yeah for sure
love it love it so now
we've talked about materials but let's
get into some nitty-gritty mechanics we
talked about how there's only
one single mechanic to defense armor
class that's literally it so
what if we increase that and add some
more variables there so i'm going to
take a
timeout all right so here is my brand
new
super simple breakdown of what this new
armor system is all about i want to get
you guys up to speed so you can easily
follow along with all the stuff we're
about to go over
and basically i'm just adding two more
defensive stats the first is evasion
class or ec and the second is armor
reduction value or ar evasion class
represents your ability to evade a hit
entirely
armor class as we already know it rules
as written represents your armor
being hit which is where armor reduction
value comes in to actually reduce the
amount of damage that you take so how
does all this stuff work
evasion class is a single number that
works exactly like the rules as written
armor class works right now let's say
you have an evasion class of 14. if you
get attacked and the attack roll is
lower than 14
you dodge the attack if it's higher you
get hit how simple is that it's
literally
just like armor class but you calculate
it in a different way
and it works together with armor class
here's a table right here that shows you
how you actually calculate your ec for
those super nimble people in light armor
or no armor
it is 10 plus your dexterity modifier
which is represents your unarmored
armor class and then for medium armor it
is 10
plus your dexterity modifier max of 2
again normal standard for medium armor
and
for the for the heavy boys that heavy
armor class is just a flat 10. don't
worry shields will help that out
here in just a second that is your
evasion class super simple you also have
your armor class which you already know
how to calculate that is completely
unchanged but now
your armor class is represented by two
numbers this gives you a
range to your armor class of an ec to an
ac
so let's keep this example going and say
we have an ec of 14
and an ac of 17. that is your armor
range
any roll any attack rule made against
you below this number
you dodge entirely you take no damage
from it like rules is written
anything above this number that rolls
higher than your armor class
fully hits you you take full damage all
that is very standard but now here's the
best part
if you get hit in the middle of that
armor range you have been hit but your
armor took the hit a little bit took off
some of that damage and this is where
that final stack comes in
of armor reduction value you got hit in
your armor range 14 15 16 17. you got
hit
with your armor and it reduces it by
your armor reduction value so then the
only thing left to know is what your
armor reduction value is which is the
easiest formula of all
it's your ac minus 10. that's it so for
that ecac
armor range of 14 to 17 your armor class
is 17. so 17 minus 10 whoa
super hard math there seven so anytime
someone hits you
in that armor class range you're gonna
subtract seven from it every time
if they roll below it they miss they
deal no damage if they roll above it
they hit
they deal full damage but this range is
where the armor reduction value comes in
and if your armor class goes up that's
totally fine your armor reduction value
would go up with it because you've had
an ac of 19 you have an armor reduction
value
of nine and you have armor wearers out
there if you're worried about an ec of
10 and it never changes
shields actually increase your ec and ac
so if you have a plus two shield
both of those numbers go up by two and
this gets into the feel of what it feels
like
to wear heavy armor you're going to get
hit more often but you have
such a high armor reduction value from
all that armor
a lot of those hits that you get hit for
you might actually reduce to zero how
cool is that this is just one of the
systems i have
and my kickstarter is just now releasing
alkanes almanac of all things it's going
on
literally right now go go check it out
after this video is over
me and mr x about to break down all the
different stuff here and talk about this
armor class and if you're too anxious
and you want to get your hands on this
full pdf there is a full pdf right now
of all of this armor system i'm talking
about a weapon system including martial
actions
weapon passive properties for all the
different types of weapons so it
actually feels
different to wield different weapons how
crazy is that
different armors feel different as well
you can make all of them out of
different material
there's like over 15 different types of
material that you can use like comment
and share this video around because if
it does well i'll do a follow-up video
about that weapon
system and shield system and some of the
mechanics of how all that stuff works in
the big picture
of how to really take your combat
especially for marshals to the next
level so again all those links will be
down in the description you can check
them out for yourself
now let's get back to the mr rex
breakdown okay so they're
up to date now rex uh we got this
because that mechanics all those types
of things of these
this this armor class range system came
from a lot the inspiration from watching
your video you're just riffing and
talking about how
what if you had a range and i had a
glancing blow mechanic that had an armor
class
range and you dealt half damage whenever
you got hit in that range
i used it for monsters applying it to
players though and there's a lot of
really cool stuff that you have
when there's a number that you can dodge
and not get hit at all there's a number
where you get hit but it gets reduced by
your armor
action what a crazy concept damage being
reduced
by armor and then obviously if you fully
get hit you take full damage but
um that was a super awesome idea that so
thank you for the inspiration to take
that and run with it i'm glad we're
talking about it now
yeah of course i mean i you know parts
of it are not necessarily new right it's
like we used to do
magic resistances uh back in the olden
days in this way we're used to have like
magic you used to have fire resistance
10 and so you would deduct right
10 you know or whatever from the demos
that you would take so there's something
similar but of course trying to
adapt it into fifth edition um right
sort of requires a remake of the system
in a way
which is great because fifth edition is
a very modular system because it is so
simple
the way it is constructed it allows for
all kinds of modifications which i am
really happy about
right and it allows and so many times i
have so many different homebrews
i don't use them all the same time i
always keep saying that but
find the sections of the game that
really you love the most and then
it's okay to make them a little bit more
complex if it makes it more fun and it
makes it more engaging and it gives you
more choice to be able to do all these
things we're talking about
so it gives a super different play style
for that heavy armor wielder to keep
reducing that damage from these big
blows
and we talked earlier about that a
player that gets hit all the time well
if the dungeon master happens to roll
high i mean it's not
that bad because that heavy armor wear
is going to still reduce that damage and
feel
like a tank yeah so damage reduction as
a system is very interesting because
if done right the idea would be that it
wouldn't necessarily
increase the damage that people would
take at the beginning of the game at
least not for the players which is
crucial
you cannot be taking any more damage as
it is because people are
very likely to die early game
however it does solve a lot of issues
that players were having sort of mid
to late game where right you again just
end up with players maybe two characters
that are just dead
and then the other three characters are
basically full hp and it kind of
helps smooth out the damage a little bit
sort of
all throughout which is what you would
be expecting being able to figure out
when the damage is coming
see it coming and not feel like you're
helpless because you're gonna die
anyways from the
right well and it gives also the the
uniqueness of having even just the
second stat of the evasion class
right if someone a tank would have a
low evasion class and a high armor class
so there's a big range that they're
reducing
their damage in but then you have
someone like a rogue or even like a monk
tank type situation
where you could have a really high
evasion class in a you know an okay
armor class but they'd be really close
together
and there'd be a lot of times where they
take no damage which is that whole
dodging part and that feels
like dodging instead of the default
rules as written that everything is
technically either a dodge or a full-on
hit you know
and the other thing is that it actually
like a system like this
doesn't necessarily punish you for just
stacking as much armor as possible oh my
gosh
yes yes yes yeah which is incredible as
a dungeon master
if you start hitting armor on your
players you don't feel like you're just
missing and wasting your time you don't
feel like your monster has just been
made completely useless instead all that
damage sort of goes through the armor
which makes the player feel good because
they have been stacking armor
and you get some damage in which of
course is essentially what you want
would you want to be taxing your players
as they proceed with the dungeon which
is that part about we we talked about
earlier
in our rant phase of oh no the players
too much armor oh no oh no but that's
fine
have 26 armor if you had 26 armor you
would be reducing
26-10 you'd be reducing it by 16 so
these big hits you're taking that's
that's that's you could take those big
hits and still be fine and that's a
super creative build to be able to get
that armor
and have that you know reward you and
you still would have to you know
uh spells and have to do all the things
that you'd have to normally do but at
least
you don't feel like you you can't let
them play the way they want
and so you know again we go back to
making sure that we're fixing
the areas that are problematic and then
not necessarily touching the areas that
are not because
it is okay to be able to completely
dodge attacks and that's part of the
system too right you
put so much armor on yourself that if a
bug bear attacks you and deals 14 damage
if you're super armored up then you can
just block it and that feels good but
then if you're fighting against a giant
i mean
think about it logically right imagine
an actual hill giant which is literally
just like maybe six or seven times your
size
and then strikes you with this enormous
club like i'm sorry dude
but like you're not like something has
to bleed through you can't just block
all of that it just doesn't make any
sense it's not a yes or a no so you're
gonna have those areas where you like
barely moved and they hit your shoulder
as it like boom like
turns you around to the side for sure
and that can also inspire the
the dungeon master's description of all
the stuff of what kind of hit was it if
it was a
miss a hit but it reduced or a full-on
hit you know what i'm saying
dude trying to describe how a purple
worm bit you and you took no damage like
right you nope nope not nothing you
can't the biggest complaint that i've
heard from this that i've
whenever i've pitched this idea or
people like oh well what about this
is whenever you they forget about you
can still get
fully hit if they roll higher than your
armor class you still take
full on damage right and oh but there's
so many times in the game
and the second complaint i hear is
there's so many times in the game where
they hit your armor class and your armor
class reduction
is so much that it actually reduces it
down to zero and it's like oh it might
as well just have been armor class
i i think that's totally fine if you
have an armor class
you know 17 to or sorry 12 to 17 or
something like that
in your armor reduction would then be
seven if you get hit for six damage
that's technically a zero which is
technically them you know you actually
completely deflecting it with your armor
they hit your armor and did nothing to
you
that's part of the description that we
just talked about that's part of
they actually in compared to rules is
written they missed you
and that's that brings the you know
power back to the heavy armor class
that's getting hit all the time oh no
and that's that's what happens because
what it means is that you're a tank and
you've been building tanki and now you
get to deflect the damage that's the
whole point of it in fact this
is meant to just based on how the system
is working if you basically do ac minus
10 what's going to happen is
for the majority of the beginning of the
game you're going to end up dodging or
i guess deflecting i don't know what the
word would be you'll be deflecting
everything
and that's intended maybe one damage
would bleep through but that's actually
even better right because those heavy
armor classes they are they
their their ec is 10 right i guess 12 if
you have a shield
but you're going to get hit a lot even
at lower levels and if you
are constantly getting hit and you're
not reducing the damage yes then they
would they would die early on
but it's designed to make it zero and
then as the player
they feel awesome because they're like
nope because the dungeon master is
saying they dealt damage to you and
you're like ah
no it's zero and like that is you are
feeling
like a tank the mechanics are helping
you to feel something
like that's huge to me yeah and now mid
game to late game i mean you're gonna
take damage because it's gonna be very
unlikely that
you might be able to reach oh maybe like
a 10 or 12 damage reduction if you're
kind of working at it
really specifically going for it right
yeah if you're specifically going for it
you'll be able to deflect a lot of
damage but
once you start entering into sort of
like the mid to late game
you're going to take bleed off damn i
don't know how to call it
damage but some damage is going to bleed
off to you and that's intended that's
part of the system you you need to be
taking some damage here and there
uh yeah for it to kind of you're not
just never taking damage and then always
taking damage
huge hits no hits yeah yeah so in
general i mean like realistically
this is above the damage overall not
just against the players but the players
are also going to be doing more damage
so
uh considering it's the same thing on
both sides yes
yes yes yeah so this is something to
keep in mind um of course increasing the
hp of the monsters is that something
that you can do
uh as a dungeon master uh you just need
to be cognizant about the fact that
players mid to late game are going to be
they can be more damage but that's
perfectly fine
that's a good thing that's a buff i
think that's a that's a per in my
opinion in my eyes that's a buff to this
that's a that's a pro of the system is
that because
you know players get over 100 health 150
health or something crazy like
many people get to play at the high
levels level 13 14 15. so many people
don't realize that actually short rests
very quickly start becoming useless
unless you're a warlock or something
like that that benefits martial arrests
people don't tend to take them very much
because the healer has infinite spell
slots
um you got potions of the wazoo and i
can't find the
it's very unlikely that people will be
at 70 hp overall
all of them to the point where a short
rest will be beneficial for people to
spend their hit die on so
this kind of benefits that in a lot of
ways allowing for more short rest to
actually happen and have this mechanic
of the game actually be used because
it's right
and if your players are this like godly
status to where you have you have to
crank up the damage on your monster so
much
add in all these extra home brews adding
extra dice to the monsters
and you're having to like dial up the
damage meter for these things
and then we're back to the same problem
we talked about the beginning where
you're either hitting them for a ton
every time or you're not hitting them
and it becomes even more swingy
compounding the problem instead of
having this smooth uh i forget how
how you phrase it this is like a nice it
smooths that curve and spikes it smooths
out those spikes
of all the damage and stuff so yeah i
love it now i i know that a lot of
people
uh get particularly scared off when
there's entire remix i'm sure actually
your audience probably loves homebrews
so like i don't know i guess i'm talking
to the wrong audience on this one but i
know that there are people that kind of
get scared off of
essentially like fundamental remakes of
the system right or get too complicated
too many
yeah it's fifth edition it's fifth
edition you know and so yeah for sure
but there is this very interesting
because you mentioned a little bit about
it before the idea of a glancing blow
and we haven't really brought it up on
the video here
uh but it basically is the idea that if
you get hit at a very specific ac so if
you have 18 ac and you get hit at 18
or perhaps there's like a different
range but the idea is that if you get
hit in this very precise
like you know point uh you basically
just take half damage
it's the idea of having like an
in-between between taking damage not
taking damage now
a glancing blow might or might not work
in a system that is already kind of
working with an ar system because it
might just be something tacked on that
might not be
necessarily necessary but what i like
about this system is that it does
basically allow for a rough patch of a
solution
in the case that you don't have the
ability
or maybe the willpower to basically
enact an entire new system
and so because i know that a lot of
people like to keep sometimes things
simple well and with glancing blows i
think the the original i have an entire
little quick video about glancing blows
but you already you hit the nail on the
head with it
is i use glancing blows all the time
especially for monsters i love the
feeling of monsters and actually i'm so
glad you brought this up
because i had a dragon and i wanted to
give this dragon 25 armor but i was like
man
that's just i mean that feels real bad
again the same problem as my players
would miss it all the time
that feels terrible for them even if it
should be hard for them to deal damage
to it so what i did is i gave the dragon
a glancing blow armor class of 20 to 25
so if they rolled a 20 to 25 they dealt
half
damage to it anything above 25 hits
anything below 20
misses right and that felt amazing and
this is the same type of concept in
in involving it into this armor system
of giving that that range however big or
wide it is you know because you can use
that rules as written i use that rules
as written all the time for players
where
they have an armored class of 15 and
that is the only you know if they roll a
15 it's half damage
that's great but you could totally
expand it to this and it'd be really
really simple for sure
yeah you can add very interesting ranges
so for example if you have an armored
class of 15 you can say that
13 14 is glancing blow yeah without any
special effects so like sneak attack
doesn't count
like that uh and then 15 to 16 is a
glancing blow
with the extra effects so sneak at that
counts and all these different things
yeah and have a little plus or minus two
then yeah
yeah so if you have a range of glancing
blow like that you could like basically
also play the game just like that and it
effectively solves a lot of the issues
that we've talked about today
except for the money issue which is in
my opinion
like and again the i guess the upgrade
the upgrading your armor from one point
to another which is a big part of the
rpg oh those two but that's the
beautiful part though
is you can choose to have the easy
mechanics like you just said have the
easy mechanics of this and i
love that plus two minus twos thing that
you just talked about um
have it have choose a simple mechanic
system but then
just use that full blown that's why i
put uh the the armor upgrades and stuff
in a different section of the the pdf i
have
is the is to have that whole thing and
all that access
rules as written you can use whatever
armor system you want and throw in those
options and it's always going to be
a win so there are many ways to solve
the problem it's just how many problems
you want to fix
it's basically what it comes down to how
complex do you want to make it yeah and
another thing
speaking of complex that i wanted to
talk about is
um you uh of adding whenever you add in
more mechanics yes
it does make it more complicated like
we've been talking about but
if you just have ar or just have um ac
then like you said there's only one
scale you can tweak and change but if
you have
an evasion class which gives you an
armor range and you have an armor
reduction
that reduces the damage you now have
three different things that you can
start to play around with mechanically
in the armor options you give people in
the monsters that you have in the item
upgrades you have in the feats and bonus
perks that you give
to your players to let them be able to
customize that window even more
yep so it's about striking the balance
of how complicated you want to make it
how simple you want to make it and
finding that nice sweet spot where you
feel like there's a lot of depth
without the complications so thanks man
for coming i'm glad that you i got in
here to be able to talk shop with you
about some home brew
get in your head about all the armor
class stuff thank you for the
inspiration
of of just even watching that video
diving into solving some problems with
armor that feel really good to me and
i'm
super excited to um test these out and
try and push the limits of this thing
yeah no problem man thank you so much
for inviting me over this was a lot of
fun i love talking about
the philosophy of donors and dragons and
the way mechanics work so
this was a blast for me the video that
sounded good you want to get your hands
on some of that stuff right now there's
a bunch of different links down in the
description the first one you're going
to see
is for the kickstarter it's the huge
overall thing hardcover book only time
i'm doing it
it's a it has a lot more than even just
this this is all the stuff i've been
working on
for years putting all into one book this
is just the tip of the iceberg
with this system we've been talking
about here but if you're too impatient
to wait for the kickstarter to go
i have them available in a pdf right now
over on my patreon tier one patrons get
access to new rules
new conditions for combat a complete
weapon system overhaul with all those
different passives
for each different weapon type that i
talked about tier two patrons get
this armor system and a lot different
more there's actually even more
different ways to calculate your armor
armor reduction value there's two other
systems i have
that make it a little more simple it's a
it scales with your level and another
one is just half damage so
there you go and there's a reactive
shield system in there too that
completely overworked as well
and there's a ton of magic items and
tier three patrons get all that plus
a marshall attack upgrade system with
the different special attacks
for every single different type of
weapon huge sweeping cleave attacks
quick lunging attacks a ton of different
stuff there's so much in this pdf this
is the biggest one i've ever done
there are special materials that you can
make out of all of these different types
of items
weapons armor shields each to have
different properties based on the
different materials there's bug
chitin armor coral armor crystal armor
jade mithril
there's so much more and like mr rex and
i already talked about these options
just having them
at the table give your players something
to chase after or save up gold for but
as always patrons get pdfs
every single month and if you're late to
the party and if you already missed the
june step because they're only there for
one month at a time
this pdf will be up available on the
website right now in the description too
and i want to give a huge thank you
to mr x he has been a huge inspiration
of mine i've watched his youtube videos
for years
before i started my own youtube channel
i've learned so
much from him about the lore of this
game so to be able to work with him and
just talk with him
and have this little this little
homebrew chat with him
was crazy he's honestly a great dude and
so genuine to talk with and he just
wanted to help me i did not think
a 700 000 plus subscriber person would
be so
engaged and interested in working with
me on some stuff and collaborating in
this way so it was absolutely crazy
and he actually is going to be starting
up to some homebrew stuff here coming up
soon so stay tuned to his channel
seriously please go check out his
channel i know we're a fraction of the
size of him but i would love to have
the dungeon crew go show him some love
and don't forget the kickstarter is
literally happening right now this is
the first full video of them releasing
for so go check that out that would help
out a ton i'm trying to make some big
moves and this kickstarter is the
biggest thing i've done yet
putting literally everything i have into
it so until next time
stay creative and think outside that box
peace
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