D&D (2024) What would you put in 1D&D from 4E?

[Horwath]

Now, 4E is not my favorite edition of D&D, but there are some good things that I like in that edition:

1. Healing surges; HD healing in 5E is just clumsy and worse version of healing surges, and I believe it was change for changes sake as not to remind people of 4E.
But why? It was great. It was reliable, while HDs are RNG cluster #$%!.
25% of you max HP is a good amount.
You can have a number of healing surges equal to double your proficiency bonus plus your Con modifier per long rest.
Some 8sub)classes might get a bonus healing surge or two, or more on later levels.

2. Second wind; closely connected to no.1 here is Second wind. Remove it from fighter and give it global usage as a Action. Heal yourself for 25% of max HP, number of times per long rest equal to your prof bonus.

3. Short rest is 5 min. This is self explanatory. 1Hr is NOT a short rest.

4. Attacks opportunity do not spend your "reaction slot", but are on separate once per turn(any players turn) counter.
This would help melee characters keep enemies in melee range or suffer AoO more easily.

5. More things provoke AoO: casting spells that are not melee touch or close blast/cone(without Spell sniper feat), ranged attacks(without Sharpshooter feat), moving more than 10ft within melee range,

6. return to 3 saves or defenses, I'm good with what ever. But it's more fun as a PC to roll all "attacks", so from player perspective all spells could be spell attacks, vs one of 4 defense.
Have Fort save/defense be str+con mod
Reflex save/defense be dex+int mod, and
Will save/defense be wis+cha mod,

 

[mamba]

I don’t think I want any of this.

Faster / easier healing during the day (1 - 3), no, I’d rather want less of that.

More AoO (4 - 5), no, messes up the balance and 5 just complicates everything.

6, maybe, mostly because I like spell attacks and do not want casting to be as reliable as it is now, but I’d rather go towards DCC than towards this.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Most of the list I'm ambivalent towards, but there are two that I would agree with.

First, I already have made Shorts Rests be 10 minutes in my game, and would be more than happy to see 2024E incorporate that (or 5 minutes). To me it made all the sense in the world because how I run a whole bunch of things on a 10 minute timer. It takes casters 10 minutes to perform a ritual, it takes experts 10 minutes to search large areas for secret doors and traps. So while they're doing that... letting the warriors take 10 minutes to rest and bind their wounds (as they are the ones who usually need it more than the casters and experts) makes all the sense in the world to me.

And second, I'd be fine with turning saves back into 3 (although that's really more a 3E rather than 4E thing.) If the game isn't going to turn a lot of spells into ones that target STR, INT, or CHA so that there's much more equivalency between the six than there is now... then just remove those three from the equation and only use CON, DEX & WIS (or higher of STR/CON, DEX/INT, and WIS/CHA). I'd be fine with that. Saves could probably use a little bit of a boost anyway.

 

[aco175]

I liked the monster construction and system of having roles to build the encounters. Would help newer DMs the most and build encounters faster. It was easy to just add powers to a monster to make a caster-type monster or a tank monster.

I did not like the magic system where you needed to boost your items all the time to keep up with the math.

 

[Bolares]

I like the bloodied condition. It's a cool keyword that helps you signal someone is closer to death, either an enemy or a PC, and gives you a lot of design space for unlocking stronger or last straw mechanics.

I'd love some version of skill challenges to be in the game, even if it was in an optional rule.

 

[TwoSix]

Now, 4E is not my favorite edition of D&D, but there are some good things that I like in that edition:

1. Healing surges; HD healing in 5E is just clumsy and worse version of healing surges, and I believe it was change for changes sake as not to remind people of 4E.
But why? It was great. It was reliable, while HDs are RNG cluster #$%!.
25% of you max HP is a good amount.
You can have a number of healing surges equal to double your proficiency bonus plus your Con modifier per long rest.
Some 8sub)classes might get a bonus healing surge or two, or more on later levels.

2. Second wind; closely connected to no.1 here is Second wind. Remove it from fighter and give it global usage as a Action. Heal yourself for 25% of max HP, number of times per long rest equal to your prof bonus.

3. Short rest is 5 min. This is self explanatory. 1Hr is NOT a short rest.

4. Attacks opportunity do not spend your "reaction slot", but are on separate once per turn(any players turn) counter.
This would help melee characters keep enemies in melee range or suffer AoO more easily.

5. More things provoke AoO: casting spells that are not melee touch or close blast/cone(without Spell sniper feat), ranged attacks(without Sharpshooter feat), moving more than 10ft within melee range,

6. return to 3 saves or defenses, I'm good with what ever. But it's more fun as a PC to roll all "attacks", so from player perspective all spells could be spell attacks, vs one of 4 defense.
Have Fort save/defense be str+con mod
Reflex save/defense be dex+int mod, and
Will save/defense be wis+cha mod,

I like 1, 2, 3, and 6. I don't want 1, 2, and 6 added to 1D&D because they would break backwards compatibility.

I agree that 3 should be standard.

Don't like 4 and 5. AoO's should baseline be simple and unobtrusive, but I would be OK with feats or class features that increased complexity of AoOs for a specific character as an opt-in.

 

[Mistwell]

1) Monsters with more varied abilities;
2) Bloodied Condition;
3) Skill Challenges.

 

[the Jester]

I'm not down with any of the changes mentioned in the OP. Most of what I want from 4e is monster design, epic destinies (and possibly paragon paths), the bloodied condition, the forced movement rules, and curses and diseases on a track. Oh, and skill challenges.

 

[Bolares]

I'm not down with any of the changes mentioned in the OP. Most of what I want from 4e is monster design, epic destinies (and possibly paragon paths), the bloodied condition, the forced movement rules, and curses and diseases on a track. Oh, and skill challenges.

I really hope they draw more form 4e monster design....

 

[Lord Rasputin]

4. Attacks opportunity do not spend your "reaction slot", but are on separate once per turn(any players turn) counter.
This would help melee characters keep enemies in melee range or suffer AoO more easily.

5. More things provoke AoO: casting spells that are not melee touch or close blast/cone(without Spell sniper feat), ranged attacks(without Sharpshooter feat), moving more than 10ft within melee range,

These and only these. I'm pro-"players roll all the dice," however, so spell attacks in 6 (though not reducing the number of saves) are good with me.

I'm down with reviving confirmation rolls for critical hits, which was in 3e. Without them, the game is too swingy towards the monsters.