Disagree with the damage thresholds. They are an awesome idea and really simple. Keeps math and wounds low. They also give some really great levers to tweak and allow certain effects on a "major" hit only. Unfortunately Daggerheart destroyed their own idea by having insanely high damage rolls. No one wants to add up 6d8+X damage.
That’s a great point! I’m put into that sentiment into the play test survey. It isn’t coming out until next year, so I would love to see the damage numbers massaged a lil bit.
Yeah, I'm hoping that the playtest irons out the huge damage rolls at the highest level by maybe capping expertise, or limit how often you can call on it somehow?
I have extensive experience with damage thresholds from Savage Worlds, and I can say they are a mixed bag. They keep numbers low, and usually speed things up, which is great, but they can create weird or sloggy situations sometimes, or feel bad moments for players.
I like it, much rather roll for damage and add up dice to 37 damage and -3 or -4 from the targets hits than i37 from their remaining 85 hp. It’s also more interesting than just weapons deal 2 harm( maybe 3 on a crit) which is what I use when playing ironsworn
@@Firecell777 I think if your character takes double your critical damage threshold you end up dying. Or maybe taking double the hit points. I don't have the rules right now but I remember something similar to that
I like the damage threshold system. Especially with the armor system. It makes so much more sense narratively. Or at least it would if the wounds work like exhaustion in D&D. D&D's big problem is that the health system doesn't make sense narratively. You have one HP. You are literally on death's door. But 8 hours of sleep later, and you're good as new? No, that makes no sense. But a system where damage translates to wounds, which carry over until they heal, either naturally over time or through other means - that makes sense. Especially when combined with the armor system to mitigate damage.
I’ve played similar systems and it looks like a good amalgam of them with a few things that seem to need a little more polish. I loved the experiences for skill boosts, especially since you create them so that is part of your back story. The limitations for the “skills” or “magic” don’t scale. That would be the only thing I think should be added, a way to increase the number of features based on the cards as you go through the tier levels.
As far as stress goes, I really like the stress system from the most recent season of dimension 20 fantasy high junior year. When the characters have a period of Narrative downtime (a Montage if you will) they make certain rolls to determine how well they do on a variety of things. If you fail those rolls you can take a stress token to reroll. But you will have disadvantages on a skill until you can clear that stress.
Good theory! It’s either that or Daggerheart follows the Candela model still giving us an every other week main campaign with one week a month Candela and one week a month Daggerheart!
@@wizardslingsorry, but permanently splitting the main cast is not going to happen. they will probably do a few one shots in DH until it is finalized sometime next year, then use it for the main campaign in c4. but yes, we'll see
I love everything that feels FATE inspired. Particularly in character creation. I think hope/fear is a more satisfying meta currency than FATE points, personally.
Yet another Daggerheart video. Third one today with my subscription channels. Oh well. I have big hopes for Daggerheart. I will be trying it. I want to move away from 5e, I hope this is the next long term campaign I run. I am loving your vids, thanks!
Love all the Wizards and Wordslinger videos on the channel. 👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎 Intersting to see the overall system shown in the playtest videos leading up to the live stream oneshot (for now). Still to watch the one shot, but first seeing the character creation videos wih first Travis, then the rest of the cast was fun. Hinted at unusual combinations for characters. They obviously had a limited time in coming up wih their world of Lochspire on the video, but gems of ideas were probably at the back of all the players minds in advance. Same with their characters before the Session 0 video. They did say they had done other playtests earler in development. Will be intersting see peoples thoughts on the system, which isn't my main focus when playing games. Give me dice, attributes, skills and story, znd tell me when to roll. But I can see the inspiration that the system is tryin to inject into character and world building. I let people more experienced in looking at the mechanics to see if they're working as intended, can be added to, or someone finds a way to really break the core of the system. Looking forward to seeing more of your other videos when I get some time. 😊😊😊😊
Personally, I really can't imagine them not using Daggerheart for C4. Neither have confirmed releases but are both likely going to be in a year/just over a year. Daggerheart is meant to be a replacement for D&D and after the havoc with WotC you can understand them wanting to no longer rely on it. Plus, there would be no better way to advertise Daggerheart than to bring it into their new campaign, which would also give them the space to grow with the system as they establish new, low-level characters also getting used to the world.
I’m intrigued by the system. Kicking off a play test with my group next weekend. I’ll be honest it feels super early days for DH to me. I would be floored if they changed the main campaign over.
I had the same thought. This fear points stuff sets up a directly adversarial relationship between players and GM. The GM will need to tread very carefully with that.
@@aaronabel4756 Aaron here read my mind. DMs "saving up" fear points to punish unruly, disrespectful players (where the DM before didn't have such a mechanic) now the DM does! I can see TH-cam videos in late 2025 on this subject.
Good to note, the discription of the ressurection spell says to roll a d6 and on a 6 you keep the spell, otherwise it is lost. So this is different than the discription in the rules. Probably because it is still in beta
I really like the death mechanic in Daggerheart. Also, I dig the character creation using questions. It reminds me of some of my favorite aspects of an old game called D.R.E.A.D.
I don't think the damage thresholds are overly complex, but the way their armor works is just silly? Your full plate stops protecting you after a few hits (while still making you easier to hit) but when your leather can't absorb any more damage it still makes you harder to hit. Also, you can take a stress to swap armor in combat, but putting on a fresh suit of armor does not reset your armor slots. I can kinda understand wanting to limit the utility of armor, but why not just make armor powered by stress?
Instead of exhaustion or -1s, we require spending hit dice to do something strenuous such as getting back up during combat, desperately pushing for a result, or making an especially powerful maneuver. It *feels* like hit dice should represent general vitality or fatigue mitigation, and if we’re gonna keep them around, might as well use them mechanically. Plus, if you wanna boost martials, that’s a way to do it. Let players roll their hit dice for other things like preparation or temp hp. Okay disagree on DnD’s elegance. HP in daggerheart is much more meaningful and reflects more narrative. Most ttrpgs these days don’t have damage rolls. DnD is FAMOUSLY slow in combat compared to other systems, with a shallow hit or miss system despite that Hoping daggerheart removes the “damage roll” and instead uses your hope die plus a weapon bonus or something. The damage roll feels vestigial. Could also be fun if advantage / disadvantage could add or subtract from that damage roll. Daggerheart really could take that part a smidge faster
Your gripe about hp Is misunderstanding the ease of use. Checking -37from 85 hp is much less hard than -3 from 5 hp and comparing 2 numbers like a DC/AC. Initiative won’t be a problem as you can use dnd initiative or free flowing and the game still works normally either way.
ease of use? Monster rolls to attack. Check my evasion score. It hits. Now apply armor, mark off slot. subtract that from damage. now check the damage total and compare it to threshold, figuring in modifiers. now do the math on the threshold number see the level of severity. And then subtract that from my HP. That's like 5 steps compared to 2 steps in 5E. It's definitely not easier to use than 5E..
thats just bad faith, adding d20 + mods + prof bonus, Rolling to hit= adding hit dice + mods and then subtracting double digit numbers from double /triple digits numbers. Rather than : roll to hit (same level of adding) , Roll to hit (same level of adding) then comparing 2 numbers seeing one is which on is higher and going -1 to -3 dmg..(much quicker and easier than substracting double digit numbesr from double/triple HP health pools). @@wizardsling
I like some of these rules. Does going out in a blaze of glory eliminate the option for the party to have you resurected? Or is resurection just hard to do, period?
Armor slots I think may need a tweak. Too few for any longer encounters like waves of combatants, wall defense, etc. More for certain armors? Evasion is definitely king over armor?
I think you can spend short rests repairing your armor, so that would be the strat if you're armor-dependent. The evasion/armor/damage threshold is a little too complex, in my opinion. It's certainly not more simple than 5E's AC & damage system.
Nah, don't they they'll ever split the cast...plus, we already get Candela once a month, adding Dagger Heart to once a month would mean Campaign 3 would be every other week...don't think that will fly. My guess is Campaign 3 will end next year and will coincide with the official release of Dagger Heart and switch to that for campaign 4. BUT...think they will continue either one shots or mini series in Exandria, run by Aabria, Brian Lee Mulligan, maybe even his buddy Mark "Sherlock" Hulmes or Jasmine Bhullar (@ThatBronzeGirl) during their time off (Since they are recorded and not streamed anyways), to prep for campaign 4 or even stream on their channel on maybe Tuesdays on going.
If there are SEVEN rules to take from one system to be ported over to another, just run or play the obvious better system. I can’t think of more than two rules in 5E that I’d steal for another system, and those two rules didn’t originate with 5E to begin with. Ascending Armor Class and Rolling w/ Advantage or Disadvantage are the only two.
@@wizardsling so far from what I’ve read through and heard from others, yes. I still need to dig through more over next few days, but character generation on Demiplane was super simple.
I wouldn't want to see them split. Their synergy with each other is why a lot of people watch CR. I think they C4 will probably be Daggerheart. They may do a 5e with other people but I don't think they will.
my main concern is that it doesn't feel like daggerheart is built for long-term campaigns. It's a much simpler system, with levels 1-10, and a much smaller pool of abilities. It's probably better suited for one-shots and mini-campaigns
The free flowing initiative system of Daggerheart is great for youtube, but for my own homegame, I need a way to keep one player from stealing the spotlight.
The way D&D handles hitpoints has a lot of knock on effects that in my opinion effect the rest of the game negatively, if I could change one thing about the game it would be this. What the dagger heart system does is make sure that your character never gets one-shot. IIRC the most damage you can take from a single attack is 3 and a character has 6 - 12 hp. This means that a character is 2-4 severe hits between having no injury and being dead for the entire game, which cuts out a lot of the bullshit level creep you have to take into account when designing encounters for D&D.
Big disagree with your gripes after a few hours of playing over the past few days. No initative and having damage thresholds were big and rather immediate improvements to my game. 1) Initiative because it better helps all players stay focused, since there's no "not their turn" for them to fall back to looking on their phones or what else and then need to recap what has happened on the battlefield once it's their turn. Everyone is always actively participating and trying to think of things they could do. This also blends the game together better between combat encounters and roleplay encounters, there's less of a distinct difference between them and rather a "now the roleplay is fighting, and now the roleplay is climbing trees" because it's essentially played the same way. 2) This is two part, one because it prevents "everything accidentally going shit" by a monster randomly rolling super high with a crit and oneshotting a player to death. It's fine for some games, but if you're running a more social game. And one of the biggest weaknesses for me in D&D has always been the static state of weapons. A longsword is 1d8 + 0-3 essentially, otherwise you risk unbalancing the campaign and combat. Having thresholds instead allows me as a DM more freedom in creatively rewarding out new weapons, or letting players craft their own new weapons with the "Project" system. The weapons can even have their own special abilities, attacks and such by giving them a card that is using a Stress, Hope or other resources for activation.
This is the great bridge game for dnd and pbta centrists to play. The extremists will stay where they are yelling at the other group , b it they blended the 2 style of play perfectly for all the people who like both dnd and pbta and don’t want to take sides.
I'm actually not a fan of those death rules, I've ran games long enough to know some players are just asking for trouble whether they are the tank trying to draw enemy fire or the rogue that goes in too hard and to fast without the party backing them up. Some players drop alot and those Death rules just for going down are harsh.
When it comes to the HP, I personally don't see much complication or math in it. The GM tells you a number, and if that number lies in between your thresholds then you mark the appropriate boxes. Thresholds are 2, 7, and 12 and the GM did 6 damage to you, look at your threshold and mark the hit point loss. I think its more streamlined from the massive pool of HP that DnD and Pathfinder has.
Nooooo. Way too much math in Daggerheart. You obviously are a mathematician or an engineer. I'm an engineer and I think Daggerheart has way too much to keep track of.
@wizardsling Glad you asked b/c I like to complain about this mechanic in general and I want to convert ppl to alternative initiative systems. First, to take initiative is like pausing a movie right before the best part to take drink orders. It's a mood killer and I seldom see it done quickly enough for my ADHD liking. Second, you need to track it. Tracking initiative is more complicated than it needs to be, and I have seen GM's mess up turn order and skip turns a lot. Third, it's not intuitive. Intuitive means it's so simple you don't need to think about it. B/C initiative is tracked by one person at the table, the rest of the table doesn't know when their turn is coming, and so they slip into a passive observer, and everyone is always surprised when it's their turn, and then they have to change gears. Fourth, verisimilitude is lost when the guy who says "I attack!" and starts combat rolls low on initiative and gets 6 axe wounds to the face before he gets to do anything. Fifth, how dull is it to sit through a bunch of other people's turns? I can't believe we actually accept this as normal. All these cause delays or produce a slow game. I think there are lots of good alternatives. One: Countdown initiative. Everyone rolls a die, like a d6 or d10. Add your Initiative, but you can't roll higher or lower than the highest and lowest numbers on the die. The GM counts down. When your initiative is called, the countdown is paused, you resolve your turn, countdown resumes. Two: Side initiative + Turns go clockwise around the table like a traditional board game. This is a form of fixed initiative. Fixed initiative is faster. Everyone rolls a die (ex d20). Who ever rolls highest goes first and turns go clockwise around the table. This is super fast and intuitive, and everyone always knows when they're on deck. Three: Whoever takes initiative goes first, then turns go clockwise around the table. Fourth, simultaneous initiative. You assume everyone's actions happens simultaneously, so each round, everyone declares what they do, then all dice are rolled, then all actions are resolved in one fluid narration by the GM. Great for smaller groups, not so much for bigger groups unless you have a memory like a steel trap.
Disagree with the damage thresholds. They are an awesome idea and really simple. Keeps math and wounds low. They also give some really great levers to tweak and allow certain effects on a "major" hit only. Unfortunately Daggerheart destroyed their own idea by having insanely high damage rolls. No one wants to add up 6d8+X damage.
That’s a great point!
I’m put into that sentiment into the play test survey. It isn’t coming out until next year, so I would love to see the damage numbers massaged a lil bit.
Yeah, I'm hoping that the playtest irons out the huge damage rolls at the highest level by maybe capping expertise, or limit how often you can call on it somehow?
Good thing it's still in beta might as well give this to them as feedback
I have extensive experience with damage thresholds from Savage Worlds, and I can say they are a mixed bag. They keep numbers low, and usually speed things up, which is great, but they can create weird or sloggy situations sometimes, or feel bad moments for players.
I like it, much rather roll for damage and add up dice to 37 damage and -3 or -4 from the targets hits than i37 from their remaining 85 hp.
It’s also more interesting than just weapons deal 2 harm( maybe 3 on a crit) which is what I use when playing ironsworn
Yeah I imagine a player could fall from orbit and still take only 3 damage.
@@Firecell777 I think if your character takes double your critical damage threshold you end up dying. Or maybe taking double the hit points. I don't have the rules right now but I remember something similar to that
@@allmyguitars28 I've heard that it's an optional rule for if it goes double your severe it's +1 damage
I like the damage threshold system. Especially with the armor system. It makes so much more sense narratively. Or at least it would if the wounds work like exhaustion in D&D. D&D's big problem is that the health system doesn't make sense narratively. You have one HP. You are literally on death's door. But 8 hours of sleep later, and you're good as new? No, that makes no sense. But a system where damage translates to wounds, which carry over until they heal, either naturally over time or through other means - that makes sense. Especially when combined with the armor system to mitigate damage.
Ever since Wildermyth I have loved the idea of adding the options upon death to a D&D type game
I’ve played similar systems and it looks like a good amalgam of them with a few things that seem to need a little more polish. I loved the experiences for skill boosts, especially since you create them so that is part of your back story.
The limitations for the “skills” or “magic” don’t scale. That would be the only thing I think should be added, a way to increase the number of features based on the cards as you go through the tier levels.
As far as stress goes, I really like the stress system from the most recent season of dimension 20 fantasy high junior year. When the characters have a period of Narrative downtime (a Montage if you will) they make certain rolls to determine how well they do on a variety of things. If you fail those rolls you can take a stress token to reroll. But you will have disadvantages on a skill until you can clear that stress.
agreed the fantasy high stress system is clever. Brennan is one of my heroes
Good theory! It’s either that or Daggerheart follows the Candela model still giving us an every other week main campaign with one week a month Candela and one week a month Daggerheart!
yep, could be! I suppose either way, we shall see...
@@wizardslingsorry, but permanently splitting the main cast is not going to happen. they will probably do a few one shots in DH until it is finalized sometime next year, then use it for the main campaign in c4. but yes, we'll see
I love everything that feels FATE inspired. Particularly in character creation. I think hope/fear is a more satisfying meta currency than FATE points, personally.
Yet another Daggerheart video. Third one today with my subscription channels. Oh well. I have big hopes for Daggerheart. I will be trying it. I want to move away from 5e, I hope this is the next long term campaign I run. I am loving your vids, thanks!
Overall I enjoyed Daggerheart. Will it unseat 5E? Probably not, but it’s a worthwhile alternative that does some cool things with mechanics.
Love all the Wizards and Wordslinger videos on the channel.
👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎
Intersting to see the overall system shown in the playtest videos leading up to the live stream oneshot (for now). Still to watch the one shot, but first seeing the character creation videos wih first Travis, then the rest of the cast was fun. Hinted at unusual combinations for characters.
They obviously had a limited time in coming up wih their world of Lochspire on the video, but gems of ideas were probably at the back of all the players minds in advance. Same with their characters before the Session 0 video. They did say they had done other playtests earler in development.
Will be intersting see peoples thoughts on the system, which isn't my main focus when playing games. Give me dice, attributes, skills and story, znd tell me when to roll. But I can see the inspiration that the system is tryin to inject into character and world building.
I let people more experienced in looking at the mechanics to see if they're working as intended, can be added to, or someone finds a way to really break the core of the system.
Looking forward to seeing more of your other videos when I get some time.
😊😊😊😊
Personally, I really can't imagine them not using Daggerheart for C4. Neither have confirmed releases but are both likely going to be in a year/just over a year. Daggerheart is meant to be a replacement for D&D and after the havoc with WotC you can understand them wanting to no longer rely on it. Plus, there would be no better way to advertise Daggerheart than to bring it into their new campaign, which would also give them the space to grow with the system as they establish new, low-level characters also getting used to the world.
I mean their one shot was pretty sick, looks like there are good to go until the rules are fleshed out
I’m intrigued by the system. Kicking off a play test with my group next weekend. I’ll be honest it feels super early days for DH to me. I would be floored if they changed the main campaign over.
Great ideas, love all the videos from wizards and wordslingers
thanks!
Hmmm. Having "fear points" could create confrontation situations between player and DM. That could be a slippery slope.
how so?
I had the same thought. This fear points stuff sets up a directly adversarial relationship between players and GM. The GM will need to tread very carefully with that.
@@aaronabel4756 Aaron here read my mind. DMs "saving up" fear points to punish unruly, disrespectful players (where the DM before didn't have such a mechanic) now the DM does!
I can see TH-cam videos in late 2025 on this subject.
Good to note, the discription of the ressurection spell says to roll a d6 and on a 6 you keep the spell, otherwise it is lost. So this is different than the discription in the rules. Probably because it is still in beta
aha, thanks for the clarification
Ah so the roll with Hope and Fear is like the Bennies and Momentum in other RPGs. Oh and the Doom mechanic in the Hellboy RPG which uses 5E.
yeah, when it comes to TTRPG mechanics, there really is nothing new under the sun, eh?
I really like the death mechanic in Daggerheart.
Also, I dig the character creation using questions.
It reminds me of some of my favorite aspects of an old game called D.R.E.A.D.
Great video, but your audio seems to be of relatively low volume.
I don't think the damage thresholds are overly complex, but the way their armor works is just silly? Your full plate stops protecting you after a few hits (while still making you easier to hit) but when your leather can't absorb any more damage it still makes you harder to hit. Also, you can take a stress to swap armor in combat, but putting on a fresh suit of armor does not reset your armor slots. I can kinda understand wanting to limit the utility of armor, but why not just make armor powered by stress?
Instead of exhaustion or -1s, we require spending hit dice to do something strenuous such as getting back up during combat, desperately pushing for a result, or making an especially powerful maneuver. It *feels* like hit dice should represent general vitality or fatigue mitigation, and if we’re gonna keep them around, might as well use them mechanically.
Plus, if you wanna boost martials, that’s a way to do it. Let players roll their hit dice for other things like preparation or temp hp.
Okay disagree on DnD’s elegance. HP in daggerheart is much more meaningful and reflects more narrative. Most ttrpgs these days don’t have damage rolls. DnD is FAMOUSLY slow in combat compared to other systems, with a shallow hit or miss system despite that
Hoping daggerheart removes the “damage roll” and instead uses your hope die plus a weapon bonus or something. The damage roll feels vestigial.
Could also be fun if advantage / disadvantage could add or subtract from that damage roll. Daggerheart really could take that part a smidge faster
Your gripe about hp Is misunderstanding the ease of use. Checking -37from 85 hp is much less hard than -3 from 5 hp and comparing 2 numbers like a DC/AC.
Initiative won’t be a problem as you can use dnd initiative or free flowing and the game still works normally either way.
ease of use? Monster rolls to attack. Check my evasion score. It hits. Now apply armor, mark off slot. subtract that from damage. now check the damage total and compare it to threshold, figuring in modifiers. now do the math on the threshold number see the level of severity. And then subtract that from my HP. That's like 5 steps compared to 2 steps in 5E. It's definitely not easier to use than 5E..
thats just bad faith, adding d20 + mods + prof bonus, Rolling to hit= adding hit dice + mods and then subtracting double digit numbers from double /triple digits numbers.
Rather than : roll to hit (same level of adding) , Roll to hit (same level of adding) then comparing 2 numbers seeing one is which on is higher and going -1 to -3 dmg..(much quicker and easier than substracting double digit numbesr from double/triple HP health pools). @@wizardsling
Audio is a little low on this one fyi :)
I like some of these rules. Does going out in a blaze of glory eliminate the option for the party to have you resurected? Or is resurection just hard to do, period?
that's a good question, I'm not sure. The resurrection section of the rulebook is still TBD... the rules are unfinished
It does sound fun to try out ngl
Daggerheart has a fantasy flight star wars feel to me
It’s less complicated than that game, but the vibes are close I think
Armor slots I think may need a tweak. Too few for any longer encounters like waves of combatants, wall defense, etc. More for certain armors? Evasion is definitely king over armor?
I think you can spend short rests repairing your armor, so that would be the strat if you're armor-dependent. The evasion/armor/damage threshold is a little too complex, in my opinion. It's certainly not more simple than 5E's AC & damage system.
Nah, don't they they'll ever split the cast...plus, we already get Candela once a month, adding Dagger Heart to once a month would mean Campaign 3 would be every other week...don't think that will fly. My guess is Campaign 3 will end next year and will coincide with the official release of Dagger Heart and switch to that for campaign 4. BUT...think they will continue either one shots or mini series in Exandria, run by Aabria, Brian Lee Mulligan, maybe even his buddy Mark "Sherlock" Hulmes or Jasmine Bhullar (@ThatBronzeGirl) during their time off (Since they are recorded and not streamed anyways), to prep for campaign 4 or even stream on their channel on maybe Tuesdays on going.
If there are SEVEN rules to take from one system to be ported over to another, just run or play the obvious better system. I can’t think of more than two rules in 5E that I’d steal for another system, and those two rules didn’t originate with 5E to begin with. Ascending Armor Class and Rolling w/ Advantage or Disadvantage are the only two.
Is it obvious that daggerheart is better?
@@wizardsling so far from what I’ve read through and heard from others, yes. I still need to dig through more over next few days, but character generation on Demiplane was super simple.
I wouldn't want to see them split. Their synergy with each other is why a lot of people watch CR.
I think they C4 will probably be Daggerheart. They may do a 5e with other people but I don't think they will.
my main concern is that it doesn't feel like daggerheart is built for long-term campaigns. It's a much simpler system, with levels 1-10, and a much smaller pool of abilities. It's probably better suited for one-shots and mini-campaigns
The free flowing initiative system of Daggerheart is great for youtube, but for my own homegame, I need a way to keep one player from stealing the spotlight.
yeah, that's my concern, too. I like initiative because I like knowing when my turn is coming so I can strategize
As an optional rule, let each players take one action in whatever order they want, and then allow the GM to take actions.
Although I really don't like Bon Jovi... ;-) I enjoy your Meme game, as always. Great video!
Heh I don't like Bon Jovi either, but that's a pretty good song :)
The way D&D handles hitpoints has a lot of knock on effects that in my opinion effect the rest of the game negatively, if I could change one thing about the game it would be this.
What the dagger heart system does is make sure that your character never gets one-shot. IIRC the most damage you can take from a single attack is 3 and a character has 6 - 12 hp.
This means that a character is 2-4 severe hits between having no injury and being dead for the entire game, which cuts out a lot of the bullshit level creep you have to take into account when designing encounters for D&D.
Big disagree with your gripes after a few hours of playing over the past few days. No initative and having damage thresholds were big and rather immediate improvements to my game.
1) Initiative because it better helps all players stay focused, since there's no "not their turn" for them to fall back to looking on their phones or what else and then need to recap what has happened on the battlefield once it's their turn.
Everyone is always actively participating and trying to think of things they could do. This also blends the game together better between combat encounters and roleplay encounters, there's less of a distinct difference between them and rather a "now the roleplay is fighting, and now the roleplay is climbing trees" because it's essentially played the same way.
2) This is two part, one because it prevents "everything accidentally going shit" by a monster randomly rolling super high with a crit and oneshotting a player to death. It's fine for some games, but if you're running a more social game.
And one of the biggest weaknesses for me in D&D has always been the static state of weapons. A longsword is 1d8 + 0-3 essentially, otherwise you risk unbalancing the campaign and combat. Having thresholds instead allows me as a DM more freedom in creatively rewarding out new weapons, or letting players craft their own new weapons with the "Project" system. The weapons can even have their own special abilities, attacks and such by giving them a card that is using a Stress, Hope or other resources for activation.
I'm hoping d8 longsword and d10 shortsword is a typo
probably, the rules are in 'beta"
This is the great bridge game for dnd and pbta centrists to play. The extremists will stay where they are yelling at the other group , b it they blended the 2 style of play perfectly for all the people who like both dnd and pbta and don’t want to take sides.
agreed. the extremists can go suck eggs and stay angry while we're over here, just having fun playing whatever we want.
Remember never to play anything else than 5e, the only edition, and only to homebrew the shit out of it until it is unrecognizable
play whatever you want. steal or homebrew any rules you want.
The only think I don’t like is the cards.
I’m thinking of trying it
I'm actually not a fan of those death rules, I've ran games long enough to know some players are just asking for trouble whether they are the tank trying to draw enemy fire or the rogue that goes in too hard and to fast without the party backing them up. Some players drop alot and those Death rules just for going down are harsh.
When it comes to the HP, I personally don't see much complication or math in it. The GM tells you a number, and if that number lies in between your thresholds then you mark the appropriate boxes. Thresholds are 2, 7, and 12 and the GM did 6 damage to you, look at your threshold and mark the hit point loss. I think its more streamlined from the massive pool of HP that DnD and Pathfinder has.
Nooooo. Way too much math in Daggerheart. You obviously are a mathematician or an engineer.
I'm an engineer and I think Daggerheart has way too much to keep track of.
Or just play Daggerheart and reward the people coming up with the things you like, while showing WoTC-Hasbro that you do not like greedy corporations.
People should play whatever game they want, including mixing rules from different systems.
@@wizardsling of course, but I am a firm believer in paying creators who make things I like.
Funny thing is a lot of these rules are stolen from other TTRPGs as well. Good job Daggerheart designers.
most rules are stolen, tho. There are very very few original and unique rules in TTRPGs
@@wizardsling True, page 8 of the Daggerheart playtest manuscript lists a couple of these original and unique games for people to check out.
❤️🥳👍🏿
Initiative is a horrible mechanic. Glad daggerhear is getting rid it it.
what's wrong with initiative?
@wizardsling Glad you asked b/c I like to complain about this mechanic in general and I want to convert ppl to alternative initiative systems.
First, to take initiative is like pausing a movie right before the best part to take drink orders. It's a mood killer and I seldom see it done quickly enough for my ADHD liking.
Second, you need to track it. Tracking initiative is more complicated than it needs to be, and I have seen GM's mess up turn order and skip turns a lot.
Third, it's not intuitive. Intuitive means it's so simple you don't need to think about it. B/C initiative is tracked by one person at the table, the rest of the table doesn't know when their turn is coming, and so they slip into a passive observer, and everyone is always surprised when it's their turn, and then they have to change gears.
Fourth, verisimilitude is lost when the guy who says "I attack!" and starts combat rolls low on initiative and gets 6 axe wounds to the face before he gets to do anything.
Fifth, how dull is it to sit through a bunch of other people's turns? I can't believe we actually accept this as normal.
All these cause delays or produce a slow game. I think there are lots of good alternatives.
One: Countdown initiative. Everyone rolls a die, like a d6 or d10. Add your Initiative, but you can't roll higher or lower than the highest and lowest numbers on the die. The GM counts down. When your initiative is called, the countdown is paused, you resolve your turn, countdown resumes.
Two: Side initiative + Turns go clockwise around the table like a traditional board game. This is a form of fixed initiative. Fixed initiative is faster. Everyone rolls a die (ex d20). Who ever rolls highest goes first and turns go clockwise around the table. This is super fast and intuitive, and everyone always knows when they're on deck.
Three: Whoever takes initiative goes first, then turns go clockwise around the table.
Fourth, simultaneous initiative. You assume everyone's actions happens simultaneously, so each round, everyone declares what they do, then all dice are rolled, then all actions are resolved in one fluid narration by the GM. Great for smaller groups, not so much for bigger groups unless you have a memory like a steel trap.