Making 5th Edition Rules-Light

Warning: this is a long one y'all

 

I am personally a huge fan of rules-light RPG systems, and with all the recent talk of Daggerheart, MCDM, and D&D 5.5e, my minimizing gaze has turned itself on the community's most hateable game (with some exceptions for the bigots): D&D 5e.

Now, I actually really enjoy 5e in play, though that enjoyment often comes in spite of the system rather than because of it. I enjoy the focus on heroic fantasy and the emphasis on narrative arcs and character backstories. This isn't to say that I don't like the OSR or NSR - I actually love those play styles and communities, and their focus on emergent narrative - I just enjoy another style of RPGs too.

So, having gotten that disclaimer out of the way, what's the goal here? In short, I'm going to boil down D&D 5e (as represented in the PHB and MM, not all the expansions) into something more rules-light and fiction oriented. I want to keep the core mechanics relatively similar. The goal isn't to make a new game in 5e's style, but rather to take 5e and throw most of it out. I also want to keep the OC / Neo-Trad style of play going.

That being said, I know that in keeping this fiction oriented, I'm going to run aground with combat mechanics. Those are going to have to go. We'll keep the spirit of the game, the core mechanic, and the narrative aspects strong and kick most of the combat right out. Besides, my 5e players have always complained that combat was unnecessarily shoe-horned into the narrative, and I'd be inclined to agree.

Character Creation

Characters pick an ancestry, background, and class in that order.

Ancestries provide some brief description, a special talent (renamed feat), and a +1 bonus to one of four ability modifiers. Those abilities are going to be Strength, Dexterity, Arcana (replaces Intelligence), and Charisma. The basic mechanic is the same as 5e of course: d20 + modifiers, roll over a target number. Initial modifiers are set at +2, +1, +0, and -1, assigned to your choice.

Example ancestry, the dwarf:

Dwarf. Dwarves are stout and bearded, and have a reputation to be proud and resolute. Rather than eating meat or fruit, they eat stones... though a root vegetable is not entirely out of the question. Most dwarves live in fairly homogeneous societies in underground mountain cities, while a minority live amongst humans and halflings in towns on the surface.

Talent: by eating a rock you can tell a little bit about its history

Modifier: +1 STR

 

That looks pretty nice!

Backgrounds describe who the character was before they became a hero. Like ancestries, I want them to have some minor mechanical effect, but in this case I want it to be more specific, like a skill. Rather than set up a whole skill mechanic, we'll just say that the name of the background is the skill. An acolyte is good at anything an acolyte should be good at, within reason. Again, there's a little bit of description.

Acolyte. Acolytes are servants of the gods and take care of temples, interpret messages from the heavens, and oversee festivals and ritual practice. Choose a deity to worship from the list below, or invent your own.

 

 

Lastly, classes describe the role the character takes in adventuring now. In D&D 5e, classes are extensively detailed, with features each level, subclasses, and more. For minimalist 5e, I want classes to stay pretty condensed. The entirety of the class should be written in a paragraph or two, and the rules or mechanics of the class shouldn't come up too often in play. The fictional effects are more important.

Druid. Druids are caretakers of nature who channel nature's inherent magic into polymorphs and powerful spells. As adventurers, druids are experts at tending the wounded, communing with plants and animals, and exploring the wilderness.

 

Talent: You can shapeshift into a flightless animal (and back) once per day for an hour.

Talent: Write down one spell from the list of Natural Spells below, or invent your own.

Items: staff (1 damage, spell focus), heavy club (2 damage), or spiked shield (1 damage, +1 AC)

 

Taking a page out of Maze Rats, characters will be able to learn or improve spells and talents by levelling up. So a 2nd level druid might choose to improve their polymorphs in order to become a bird, or to turn into a bear twice a day. Or, they might choose to master a new skill or learn a new spell.

Core Mechanics

In this section we're going to go over the core mechanics, and there aren't going to be many. I'm throwing out a lot (encumbrance, treasure, damage rolls, etc.) and only keeping the stuff that has proven itself worthy to keep through play.

 

Skill Checks

First off, skill checks! We're going to use some Quest mechanics here and use ranges of success, just because they work really well in my opinion for narrative games. For a skill check, you roll 1d20, add any ability score modifiers (ranging from -1 to +3) and add +1 for each relevant background or class.

Say for example we have a dwarf druid with the acolyte background with the following stats: STR +0, DEX +1, ARC +2, CHA +0. If that dwarf wanted to heal a wounded party member, they'd make an Arcana check and roll 1d20 + 4 (2 from ARC, 1 from being a druid, and 1 from being an acolyte). Perhaps if they'd been an acolyte of an astronomical god, they might just roll with a +3.

The ranges are going to be as follows:

FAILURE: 7 or below

SUCCESS AT CONSEQUENCE: 8 - 14

SUCCESS: 15 - 19

ENHANCED SUCCESS: 20+

If we assume characters have a +2 bonus to most rolls, that gets us the following chances:

FAILURE: 25%

SUCCESS AT CONSEQUENCE: 35%

SUCCESS: 25%

ENHANCED SUCCESS: 15%

Pretty even, with a skew towards success at consequence and away from enhanced success.

 

 

Advantage

When granted a situational advantage, roll two dice and take the higher roll. When hindered by a situational disadvantage, roll two dice and take the lower roll. Advantages and disadvantages cancel one-to-one.

Spellcasting (Inspired by Maze Rats)

Read out the name of your spell and describe how you would like it to affect the scene. If the DM thinks this makes sense, they give you the thumbs up and you can go ahead and roll an ARC check to see how your spell pans out. If not, discuss a little back and forth on it until you come to an agreement.

You can cast a number of spells per rest equal to the number you know.

Combat

No grid. Each side of the fight takes a turn, starting with the attackers. If there was an ambush, the defenders must each make DEX saves or lose out on acting on the first turn. Each turn, each character may move (run, jump, leap, swim, whatever's in their capabilities) and make another action, like an attack.

To attack, roll an attack roll (d20 + STR for melee, DEX for ranged). Add +1 for a relevant background (like being a Pirate or a Soldier), and add +1 for a relevant class. Warlocks and Wizards aren't proficient in any weapons. Clerics and Druids are proficient in smashing weapons (clubs, maces). Rangers and rogues are proficient in stabbing weapons (spears, daggers, bows). Fighters and Paladins are proficient in all weapons.

If the roll is above your enemy's Armor Class, the attack hits. Small or improvised weapons (wooden chairs, daggers) deal 1 damage. Standard weapons (arming swords, bows) deal 2 damage. Heavy weapons (battleaxes, crossbows) deal 3 damage, and come with some sort of penalty (like needing to be reloaded).

Side Note: all characters start with 6 + STR HP. Armor Class (AC) is 10 + DEX for unarmored defenders, or 13 for armored ones. Heroic armor, like heavy plate or mithril chainmail, is 16. Shields are always +2. Cover imposes disadvantage.

 

If a defender drops to 0 HP or below, they must make a STR check or die. If they live, they take a nasty scar.

Advancement

When the party completes a major milestone on their quest, they level up! Each party member gains 1d6 HP and can choose from the following:

A) learn a new spell. explain to the table how you learned it.

B) learn a new talent relevant to your class. explain to the table how you discovered it.

C) improve a talent you already have.

 

 

Example Character 

Here's an old character of mine from a one-shot I played in:

 

Valukar

Red Dragonborn Paladin (Hermit)

+3 STR, +0 DEX, +1 ARC, -1 CHA

9 HP, 13 AC (chainmail)

Talents: fire resistant scales, smite the unholy (1/day), sense the unholy (passive)

Items: greataxe (3 damage, two-handed)

 

 

Final Thoughts

I think this little exercise was pretty good! The game is pretty minimal when it comes to the number of mechanics, but it is by no means minimal when it comes to the use of those mechanics. The dice come out a lot (skill checks, spells, and combat), but the rules are very streamlined.

If I wanted to streamline this further, I'd just go ahead and keep chucking things. In no particular order, I'd get rid of: advancement (make it fully diegetic!), degrees of success (make it a flat DC 12, 13, or 15 probably, defending on how difficult success should be), and backgrounds (secondary to class really).

Anyways, this little ramble is complete. I don't think I'm ever going to publish or play this game, but it was a fun little exercise in boiling down mechanics and I really enjoyed it! It's rules light for sure (though not FKR!) and sort of gives me World of Dungeons vibes? I like it.