Hey there, I’m working on a little 5E hack for myself, something à-là 5TD, and I’m wondering if you guys have suggestions for mechanics or rules for me to think about as I work. Thanks a lot! 
Tiny survey for a 5E hack of mine
Obviously, you should check out 5e HARDCORE MODE, but there’s another hack I’m quite fond of called Runaway Princess. You should be able to find it with a quick google. It’s based on 5e, but has a lot of neat twists pulled from other games that will give you more ammo to take a look at.
Biggest tips I can give:
- Simplify magic, if you can, particularly in the realm of letting players invent their own spells with ease. However, be wary of making magic a skill roll- if a player wanted to make a roll every time they wanted to do the thing, they would be a fighter.
- Try to keep classes as-is. Once you start changing those, you’re writing a new game.
- There’s some good stuff hidden in 5e, like Exhaustion. Read through the books again, and jot down what’s simple and clean, then go again and write what’s clunky. Know what you’re going in to fix.
- Stealing is better than inventing the wheel. Take the path of least resistance.
Hopefully that helps!
Paxx
#3
Am going to need a bit more info to be helpful, what are the goals/wants? What is 5TD missing, that you are trying to convey?
I think 5e hardcore is a bit dead end ish…play ICRPG instead if you are going that route. Or want to play video game style…has its place, but not too much I would use that isn’t already done in ICRPG or 5 torches down. Except the “save point”.
If it is the “players want to play 5e/ I want to Run ICRPG…you can…don’t stat block things. Add effort or multiple checks on things…4 successful checks to unlock the lock…roll over 15 with lock picks …or a roll over 30 to unlock instantly.
Keep room Target on your side of the screen…roll in the open, describe your timers and force the PCs to stay on the move!!!
Oh, 5TD isn’t missing much, tbh. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty complete. I think it’s more my view of the core mechanic that’s going to go into this hack more than the pseudo-lifepath-thing I’m going to put in there. Afterall, it’s a hack, it uses 5E skeletons. So I’m not going to go into super details. It’ll be a pretty light read.
Grimcleaver
#5
For real. Rest rules! That’s my big 5e annoyance–some way to use your hit dice for the daily rests and gets rid of the daily reset somehow. I’ve been chewing that bone for years now without a satisfactory fix.
Shakedown of magic that strips the gamey nonsense out of it–prepare a spell or open book cast it as a ritual that costs a 10ish minute amount of time (1d6 minutes per level would be fun). And bring back some form of 4e Ritual Casting, Magic Item Creation and Alchemy as their own thing.
Figure out some way to make feats that are as fun and flavorful as the 5e feats but where you can just learn them whenever it makes sense rather than at specific level breaks and that aren’t so powerful they break the game–but still feel relevant and fun.
A way to play subclasses right from first level rather than having to play a class that isn’t your character for three whole levels before you get to be who you want to be.
A way to actually be able to learn and advance skills over the course of the game so that you aren’t locked out of a skill you need forever even if you spend in character time trying to learn it–but that doesn’t make spending skill points a drag, require weird skill swap rules that don’t make sense, or make DCs balloon so bad you may as well not even try to roll if you haven’t been pouring max points into a skill every level.
Some way to port the old 2e Skills and Powers race mod mechanics into 5e. I would LOVE that.
For me, at this point in 5e, that’s my wish list.
nullzero
#6
@SunderedWorldDM Just to confirm:
Obviously, you should check out 5e HARDCORE MODE, but there’s another hack I’m quite fond of called Runaway Princess. You should be able to find it with a quick google. It’s based on 5e, but has a lot of neat twists pulled from other games that will give you more ammo to take a look at.
I had a bit of difficulty searching for “Runaway Princess” on Google. Is it this one: Runaway Princesses GLOG Hack?
At least the details seem to hit some marks:
- 3d6 stat generation. Modifiers as B/X.
- Simple skill system - 5e Proficiency with a bit more customization, without getting fiddly.
- Roll-over. All checks are DC 12 unless otherwise stated.
- No saves - just use checks.
- Inventory slots are ‘readied’ or ‘stowed’. Like the quick access slots mechanic, but you don’t need to keep rubbing stuff out and writing it in again everytime you shuffle around what’s in your top 3 slots.
- Consumables and weapon/armour durability rules. Shields can be splintered.
- Side-based initiative, but DEX still matters.
Thanks!