But it’s not just that the players are limited to 3rd level spells. The game-changing thing is that the world views them as the stuff of legends. That alone reshaped D&D into an entirely different genre.
Yes. The genre I've always wanted D&D to be!
And IMHO one in which more people would come to prefer if they gave it a chance.
Remember we have to think about other classes for HP. At 5th a wizard or sorcerer could have 30 HP assuming primary in Int and secondary in Con. At 6th, 36. A bard or rogue may well go primary Dex/Cha, secondary Cha/Dex (or Wis), so they might well have at 5th 25HP, and 6th 30 HP. They're unlikely to boost Con given their interests. At 5th one fireball will do enough damage on average to incinerate all four.
5th is about perfect for me because I want that extra touch of vulnerability.
To help with that, and to cut down on combat time - I would cut monster HP
in half across the board.
No sense in dealing with the PC hit point bloat if you are not going to do the same to the monsters.
I would also roll what inspiration does into Hit Dice.
Then players would have to make real cost/benefit choices based on rolling well now vs. their ability to heal themselves later. On a nat-20 I would have the PC gain a HD back or get a bonus one to be used that session.
Foe E5 D&D I would also have the PC's increase to 5 HD as normal, then +1 HD every three levels after that with no HP increases.
So now we have a game with fixed HP at level 5, and with a hero-point mechanic that doesn't get out of hand.
in 5th edition there are not the granular feats to make the original solution work.
I completely disagree.
5e is loaded with feats - they are called class/sub-class features. They are just feat trees on rails so you can't pick a bad build.
(In theory...)
After 5th level just open them up as part of the normal "feat" selection, but
only available to the class in question.
Of course you will have to break out your sharpie pen, and cut those class features/feats that would violate the spirit of E5 D&D.
For an easy Example:
The Barbarian
I would outright ban / put the sharpie pen through the following:
Persistent Rage, Indomitable Might, Primal Champion, Spirit Walker, Totemic attunement.
Everything else I would open up as "class feats" available only to a PC of that class.
So even by eliminating five class features/Feats that is still +11 more "Class Feats" in addition to the +42 standard feats now available just from the core PHB to a Barbarian PC. (
Not that some of the standard feats might meet the tip of my sharpie pen as well...)
That's right, E5-5E will be more Class customization friendly than standard 5e D&D. Which of course means that I would eliminate multiclassing entirely because there is now just no need for it.
So just using the core, that is 53 "feats" to choose from over the next 15 levels. But I wouldn't let them fill it all with 15 feats.
While I would keep Proficiency bonus progression the same, I would make the Barbarian pay the XP per level to choose instead of adding a new Feat:
One of four possible +2 or 1/1 ASI's.
One of three possible +1 additional rages.
One of two possible +1 rage damages.
So they also will have to choose between an additional feat, or a long term bonus that will always help them.
And I would mandate that they have to choose at least 3 bonuses out of the next 15 levels. (5e PC's are already very front loaded with class abilities - and this will serve to keep the power level in check in the spirit of E5).
That is still a whirlwind of options after 5th level just for one class. At the very least that leaves room for two barbarian PC's in a party with neither of them being exactly alike.
Yes, you would have to curate each class this way, but I feel it would open up a lot more options for character progression to keep the char-op wonks happy with just the core PHB. And if you bring tashas or xanathars into it, you get an exponential jump in options...
And all you need to make it happen is a sharpie pen, some free time, and a sense of what power level you want the game genre to be.