Summary

  • Remove rolling initiative each turn; let players decide the order to shake up combat flow.
  • Help actions in combat imbalance player advantage; reserve for non-combat situations.
  • Simplify cover rules to avoid confusion and streamline combat encounters for beginners.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons has a lot of different combat rules that can either ꦐbe cumbersome, difficult to explain, or just ruin the experience altogether. Some of these rules are worse for beginner players, while others can prove annoying to more seasoned veteran players. Or, some of these rules just aren't very൩ fun to run as a Dungeon Master.

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So, are there solutions? And, which rules should we do away with in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons? If you're asking yourself these questions, look no further than this list. Here are some✃ combat rules for Dungeons & Dragons that we should get rid of.

8 Initiative 🉐 🎃

Yes, Really

A player character fights a monster in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage in DND.
Dungeon Combat via Wizards of the Coast

Okay, hear me out. I'm not suggesting that Dungeon Masters or players should do away with keeping track of turn order. All I'm ultimately suggesting is that ma꧒ybe we do away with rollin𒉰g for it every time.

Ultimately, Dungeons & Dragons is a team game that's meant to instill a sense of cooperation in its players. In some ways, it'd prove mo💎re interesting if players could determine their order of operations when in combat. Of course, you'd still have to limit one turn per player per round for balance. 🌸But this could prove a unique way to shake up the flow of combat.

7 🍌Help Actions

You're On Your Own

A gorgon in DND uses its petrifying breath to attack players.
Gorgon by Kai Carpenter

Help Actions, in which o✨ne player can give another player advantage on their roll by assisting them, are all well and good out of combat, when the stakes are a lot lower. However, something is frustrating, at least for me as a DM, at watching players give one another an advantage in combat right at critical moments.

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Not only can this make combat difficult to balance, but it can also mean that players who have natural disadvantages against certain monsters can turn that disadvantage into an advantage. Sure, it's a nic🐽e strategy, b😼ut it can be brutal when it comes to keeping combat feeling fair.

6 Partial Cover ꩲ

Too Tedious

A player character casts a protective ward in front of their party in DND
Intellect Fortress via Wizards of the Coast

This next rule is really one that needs to be done away with when it comes to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:creating battle encounte♎rs for beginner players. I've never run a game for beginner players where people don't get confus♉ed 𒈔about cover rules. Ultimately, there's a really easy way, in my opinion, to streamline this.

Full cover should still be in effect. If a player or an enemy chooses to hide behind a rock or other structure, they cannot be targeted by an attack. But, as long as they're making attacks, they should be abl👍e to be targeted without the need to calculate ne🀅w Armor Classes by virtue of partial cover. It's just too much to deal with.

5 Surprise

Even Playing Field

An assassin lurks around a corner in Dungeons & Dragons.
Assassin by Viko Menezes

Surprise Rounds are another element of Dungeons & Dragons com꧃bat that always feels more confusing than it's worth. This is particularly the case when players try really hard to initiate Surprise Rou⛎nds on their end. Sure, it's a useful tool for DMs, but players can try to take advantage.

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Ultimately, this is another rule that's somewhat har🦩d to litigate on as a Dungeon Master, and can really throw the balance of an encounter out of whack. Unless the surprise is so obviously clear that it has to be done to keep the fiction feeling grounded, DMs should do away with this rule altogether.

4 ꧑ 🧸 Free Actions

With Some Exceptions

The Amber Monolith beneath the House of Lament trapping someone.
House of Lament via Wizards of the Coast

For the most part, some free actions feel fair in DND combat. Talking and communicating with other players is a free action, for example, tha♛t doesn't need to be reined in.

However, frankly, there are a ton of free actions in Dungeons & Dragons that can be technically done in conjunction with your main action that don't feel realistic. A round of combat is supposed to be s✱ix seconds. It's somewhat hard to believe that a player could aim and fire a bow and potentially quickly interact with an object within six seconds, especially in the heat of battle. Plus, this is another one that players sometimes abuse if you're not careful.

3 Moving Through Allies 𝓀

No Pushing!

A warforged character attacks a train in Eberron in DND.
Eberron Cover Art by Chippy 

This is another weird rule that has never made sense to me, and one that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:I often homebrew against. Technically sp♛eaking, in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons, you can move through an ally's space without incurring any kind ✱of movement penalty. To me, this makes no sense.

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Obviously, on a physical level, the player occupies the space, so how can another player move through it? Second, this calls back to the issue with the cover. Can you move through an 💫ally without incurring a penalty and then gain cover by virtue of standing behind them? Personally, I usually treat this kind of movement as though it were difficult terrain for allies.

2 Close-Range Attacks ꦏ

A Bit Illogical

A player character explores a dungeon riddled with monsters in DND.
Dungeon Level via Wizards of the Coast

There's a rule when it comes to ranged fighting that always felt a bit punitive to me. Though I'm happy to admit this is mostly a personal grievance, as an old DM of mine was pretty tough about enforcing it,🐭 and it always penalized me as a ranger.

When you're within five feet of an enemy, you have disadvantage on ranged attacks. On some level, this makes sense to me. After all, it's a ranged weapon. Why should it work just as well in melee? However, I would argue that, even at five feet in real life, a ranged weapon would still pack a punch. Again, I'm happy to admit this is a personal vendetta more than😼 anything else, though.

1 Attacks On Death Saves ಞ

Too Cruel

The Vault of Dragons in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in Dungeons & Dragons.
Vault of Dragons via Wizards of the Coast

Lastly, this is one that I think we should do away with for the greater good, as Dungeon Masters tend to abuse this. Technically, peaking, when an attack hits a player while they're making death saves, it counts as a failed death save, and two if it's a critical hit. While this makes sense, this rule h▨as always felt unfun and unfair to me.

First, if a player falls unconscious, why would an enemy continue attacking them? Second, death is such a downer consequence for players, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:if a DM is attacking them after they fall unconscious, it can feel like the DM is pushing their thumb on the scale. Ultimately, ꦇI think this rule should be done away with so that players have ample opportunity to be revived.

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Your Rating

Original Release Date
1974
Designer
𒈔 E. Ga𝄹ry Gygax, Dave Arneson
Player Count
2+