D&D 5E Wanting to make a campaign with anime concepts like in anime

[Anthony Vu]

I'm trying to figure out how to make a homebrew campaign to fit an anime setting like Fairy Tail, My hero academia and other animes but having trouble figuring out how to make things that would work.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Well, first you likely want to identify what exactly those concepts are (sorry, while I'm aware of them, I've never watched the shows you refer to so I don't know what they are).

A common theme is the guy or gal who gets beaten down only to rise to their feet even more powerful than before. This applies to both good guys and bad, but generally only important characters. For example, you might want to use the optional Second Wind mechanic from the DMG and maybe even throw in some kind of temporary buff on top of it (but only allow it to be activated when the character is in a desperate situation). I would recommend not making the buff too complex, as it could be challenging to recall the particulars during combat - I'd recommend something straight-forward like advantage and/or a bonus to damage equal to the character's level.

You might allow characters to jump down from great distances without injury (falling should still hurt). You could also increase horizontal and vertical jumping distances.

Those are just examples though. First and foremost is identifying what concepts you want to bring in (maybe it's not the power aspects at all, but rather the quirky characters in which case you'd want to work on creating a roster of oddball NPCs and encourage the players to do the same with their PCs).

 

[Anthony Vu]

Yea like its the basic anime/movie cliche. A group of people living in a world they don't like. Someone motivates them to stand up and fight and teaches them. Then they realize they can get stronger by tapping into the past.

Or in a easy way to put it, any action/adventure anime/movie/video game you can think of

 

[Savage Wombat]

Tournament Arc!

 

[Anthony Vu]

Tournament Arc!

Actually there will be a tournament too lol

 

[jayoungr]

Consider allowing extra feats. Maybe feats instead of stat bumps. This will let PCs do more of the cool tricks found in shounen fighting shows (which seems to be the kind of anime you're going for).

Also, start at level 3.

Consider using shorter resting rules too.

 

[Savage Wombat]

My google-fu is weak, but I remember reading an article about what made anime different - specifically, that certain cultural values were considered primary in Japan, and that they were strongly encoded in the idea of heroism. The one I remember most is the importance of loyalty to one's team. There was also something about hard work and perseverance - ever notice that almost any main character can keep fighting for as long as they choose not to give up?

Maybe you could have a rule that says that a PC at 0 HP, instead of a death save, gets to make a Wisdom saving throw and, if successful, heal some HP and get back in the fight. Save at advantage with a good role-playing reason.

 

[Anthony Vu]

I like that