So I play a system that is 5e bones with a lot of ICRPG, a little Dungeon Crawl Classics, and some Dungeon World mixed in. I finally got the Home Brew where I want it and thought I’d share for those of you looking for some inspiration.
I have attached the the PDF of my Home Brew and the TN cards I use.
And here’s the Condition Cards
I find Advantage/Disadvantage a lot easier to use than Easy and Hard, especially since I use the Pro Die instead of proficiency bonuses, fewer target numbers to tracks.
I like the idea of a pro die (and was sad to see it leave DnD Next), but for me at the current rules would make major successes far too common. This risks devaluing them, as well as regular successes.
This is cool man. I think you have taken a lot of great concepts from all these systems and made a awesome rule set.
A question about the ‘pro die’ - the way I read it, you can only get a major failure with a failed d20 roll and a 1 on the pro die together. Do you also have a major failure if you roll a 1 and have no pro die? If so, why do major failures only apply to characters who are making checks for things they are exceptionally better at?
Thanks for sharing your homebrew ideas I really enjoy reading these.
Any failed roll and a 1 on the Pro Die triggers a Major Failure. The closer the d20 is to 1, the worse the effect, to give the DM/Player a guide. A roll of 1 on the d20 is always a Crit, same as 5e RAW, but if you ALSO roll a 1 on the Pro Die, something really bad has happened.
If you roll a 1 on a hit, it’s a normal +1. The 1 on the Pro Die is only bad if you fail. When you roll without the Pro Die on skills and attempts you don’t have proficiency in, there are no Major Success/Failures. They are only tied into the Pro Die, so Crits and Partials are the only things that can be triggered without the Pro Die.
As players level they can up the Pro Die to a d6 and eventually a d8 for a skill or save. This allows you to do some really cool stuff as you level, but there’s still a chance of that 1 showing up, but it’s less likely.
Save rolls use the Pro Die for the 2 stats you assigned them to, but they never trigger Major Fails/Success on saves.
Interesting. So you get a pro die if you are good at something, and those are the only things you can get a major failure on?
You have someone who is an acrobat and they can majorly fail an acrobatics check due to the pro die but a low dex character with no acrobatics skill cannot majorly fail an acrobatics check?
The pro die is a cool idea for increasing success range but having it increase failure range doesn’t make sense to me.
Maybe I’m confused and don’t understand it
I wanted a narrative element like Dungeon World built into the mechanics and this was the simplest idea I settled on.
The skills that don’t have the pro die are going to fail more often of course but won’t suffer Major Failures, only Crit.
The Pro Die offers greater rewards, much greater if you upgrade to d6 or 8, but that 1 is always going to be there as your risk. Lower risk as you upgrade.
My rationale is, as you try greater and more complicated Feats and wield more powerful magic, mistakes can cost you more.