Cantrips

After a long delay, and because I will be playtesting tomorrow, I will speak about another mechanic I found great in idea, but flawed in implementation in a single aspect.

The cantrips, like in 3E, are for the most part small utility spells, but now (maybe as in 4E?) without day limits. All great and well, these utility cantrips are fairly average in power (but allow for creative uses), and though in some of the spells (and cantrips like Minor Illusion) I would scrap the fixed DC for a normal save against spell, the cantrip mechanics are really good.

But there are some offenders to this. For clerics, it is Cure Minor Wounds and Lance of Faith. For wizards it is Chill Touch, Ray of Frost and Shocking Grasp. And while Cure Minor Wounds is a special case, the other four share the same problem, a really high damage input, with some extra effects for the wizard's ones.

First, for Cure Minor Wounds, I think the problem is the cantrip is too weak. But I also think there is a very simple way of increase its power and utility in higher levels, but this comes at a cost at lower levels. To do this, associate the maximum HP the creature must have at the given moment to be healed with its HD. That means that while a level 1 creature (if it don't have extra HD) can have cured at most only 1 HP, a level 20 can have cured up to 20 HP. The cantrip is slight worse in the first two levels, but get better from 4th level and up.

The other offenders, though, I think the problem is that they are too powerful. I had a playtest some time ago, with two player, each one with two characters, one playing the dwarf fighter and the halfling rogue (a fighting player), and the other playing the human cleric and a self-made human wizard (a spellcaster player). The spellcaster player just used a weapon once (the cleric's mace), and even then he failed (and remarked how just really much better is to simply spam offensive cantrips than even trying with the weapons).

The cleric Lance of Faith have a reasonable range, but already in the 1st level cause more damage than the heavy crossbow (the better long range weapon damage), and the same as a greataxe, greatsword, lance or maul (and they don't have a range). Besides, its attack roll is optimized for the cleric, causing weapons to be near useless for the cleric.

A way to fix it is reducing its damage from 2d6 to 1d4, adding the Wisdom modifier of the cleric as a bonus, and increasing its damage by 1d4 on the 7th level, on the 11th level and on the 16th level, to a maximum of 4d4 + Wisdom modifier.

The wizard offensive cantrips too cause much damage, already in the 1st level causing the same damage as a heavy crossbow or a glaive, and ray of frost have a good range too (though the others are touch based).

A way to fix it is reducing the damage of the cantrips to 1d4 (without the Intelligence modifier, though), mantaining the special effects. In the case of ray of frost, reduce the range to 50 feet, and after the speed of the target is reduced by 10 feet, the minimum is 5 feet.

As a final note... I don't have certainty about this, but maybe it would be good to reduce Mage Armor from 12 to 11, as the equivalent material armor is the dragon leather (and is pretty expensive at 500 gp). Treating it as a leather armor might be best. Perhaps, increasing it from 11 to 12 in 10th level, and maybe even from 12 to 13 in 20th level.

Combat Expertise, Maneuvers and the Fighting classes

This post is a criticism to two mechanics I find great, but that I think interact poorly with the fighting classes as they stand now.

Combat Expertise is a great mechanism for the fighting classes, as it rises not only its accuracy, but also its damage output. I can't say yet how it will interact with the new rules for magic (though I really didn't like the wizard cantrips I already saw), but in itself, it is a step in the right direction.

Considering, too, the relative low rising power with levels for the d20 mechanics (attacks, checks, skill checks, saves, AC and DC), the maximum of +5 in accuracy make sense. And the bonus martial damage (dice and static) is a beautiful idea, though I can't say if its application is overpowered or underpowered (need some playtests).

Originally (from what I read) this feature was going to be fighter exclusive, but later it was added to all fighting classes, and it make sense too, even if I would like to see it reduced for some classes (like the rogue, and even the cleric), trading for some other benefits.

Also, the idea of spending martial damage dice (mdd) to fuel maneuvers was pretty good, if wasn't for one detail. Except for feats, only the fighter and the monk must have maneuvers. Don't get me wrong, I really liked that both classes have unique maneuvers that only them can have. What I don't liked was that it reduced the effectiveness of the fighter and the monk as a dispenser of damage if he use the maneuvers for a tactical boon, while the barbarian and the rogue don't have to do this to use their features, turning both in much better high damage dispensers than the fighter and the monk. What would have turned the fighter in an unique class (and made it!), weakened him after all!

My solution? I don't have one... But I have some alternative ideas. And though they aren't universal enough (I still must study more of the rules, and I'm at best mediocre with math), they can be good ideas after (if) properly developed.

1) Instead of mdd, how about bonus weapon dice (bwd) for Combat Expertise? I stole this idea from here: http://criticalwits.info/2012/12/27/article-dd-next-an-alternative-to-combat-expertise/. With bwd, not only the weapon of choice will be a major part of damage even at higher levels, but the weapon would influence what type of maneuvers that character would take.

A low-damage weapon? How about disarm or lunge that don't need to roll the bwd? A high damage weapon? How about composed attack or glancing blow? Maybe even modify the mechanics for some of the maneuvers (like trip) to give benefit to those using high damage weapons.

2) What about replacing and/or reordering some features of the barbarian and the rogue to force them to take one general maneuver at 2nd and at 4th level? Don't give them class maneuvers, but force them to take some general maneuvers.

3) And what about giving fixed extra damage dice for all the attacks of the fighter only, based on his class alone? Maybe +1d6 at 6th level, and +1d6 at every +5 levels. This will turn the fighter in a better damage dispenser, even without the rage damage bonus of the barbarian, and some of the rogue talents, all the while the fighter still can spend his mdd (of bwd, if that rule is applied) to take maneuvers.

Besides, allow the Parry feature of the fighter to reduce damage from ranged attacks when the fighter is with a shield (arrows in the shield!). As I think the Combat Surge feature is weak (maybe I'm wrong), I think those two will balance more the fighter.

Last, but not least... Please, turn the Called Shot feat in a simple maneuver that function like Disarm, but only to ranged attacks. Maybe this maneuver even spend double mdd (or bwd) to function! But please, do not leave this as a feat.