The Fun Rules for Ability Scores and HP (less MAD D&D)

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# The Fun Rules for Ability Scores and HP <br>

>**Warning: These rules are fun and players love them.**

D&D spreads out spellcasting abilities and skills to encourage iconic diversity. But, sometimes the system is so constrained there are basically only one or two practical arrangements of ability scores for a class or subclass. Sometimes, the abilities and features that align seem incongruous, like Wisdom saves (will power) and Perception (seeing or hearing really well) or sorcerer spellcasting (magic from their bodies) and personal charm (charisma)–just random, unrelated things pasted together to make the game work.

Also, why doesn't creature size matter? How could small creatures possibly be as strong as medium creatures? (Were the creators never children?) How can medium creatures stealth as well as small ones?

The will to survive and keep fighting is supposed to be part of HP. But that is the same will power that resists spells, so that modifier ostensibly should affect HP.

Also, in fantasy books and movies, magic users can push the limits of spellcasting at risk of their health. That would be cool in D&D in an epic moment.

Consider the following modifications for more intrinsic character diversity, balanced classes, and heroic moments. 
1.	Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma saves are replaced with a single **Will** save. Your Will modifier is the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma modifiers. Proficiency in any of those saves grants proficiency in Will saves.
2.	Add both **Will and Con modifiers to HP** (max +5 total); reduce nonmartial and spellcaster hit dice by one size.
3.	Sorcerers, eldritch knights, arcane trickster rogues, and warlocks can cast with their choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
4.	For illusions, applicable skill checks are made by the caster against a target's **passive Investigation** or **passive Insight**. 
5.	Apply **-1 to a small size character's Str** and maximum Str score, and **+1 to their Dex** and maximum Dex score and vice-versa if a creature is large size.
6.	Casters can **spend hit dice to enhance their spells** in ways unique to their class.
7.	Monks and sorcerers get **more ki and sorcery points at low levels**, but keep the same cap.

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## Rules Modifications

### Int, Wis, and Cha Saving Throws

For any effect that requires a Wisdom, Charisma or Intelligence saving throw, use Will instead. Your **Will modifier is the the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers** and **Will save bonus is your Will modifier plus your proficiency bonus** if you have proficiency in Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throws.

### Hit Points

* Your starting maximum HP is equal to your hit die maximum + your Constitution modifier + your Will modifier (max +5 total)
* When you level up, your maximum HP increases by half your hit die maximum + your Constitution modifier + your Will modifier (max +5 total)
* For each hit die you spend after a short rest you recover a number of HP equal to the roll of the your hit die + your Constitution modifier + your Will modifier (max +5 total).

### Creature Size

* Player characters that are small size apply -1 to their Strength ability score for a maximum 19 and +1 to their Dexterity ability score (+1 to Dexterity modifier) for a maximum score of 21, but a max of 17 at level 1.
* If a character or other creature increases in size, its Strength score increases by 1 and its Dexterity score decreases by 1, and vice-versa, unless it is using *Enlarge/Reduce*, the rune knight's Giant Might, or a similar feature which specifies other effects.

### Illusions

For illusions that create a magical effect that any creature in the area experiences there is no Will save. Instead, each time a caster creates or controls an illusion to make it communicate they must **make a Deception check against the target's passive Insight.** 
 
If the illusion displays an object or scene that requires knowledge or experience to represent, the caster **makes an appropriate Intelligence (Arcana, History, Nature, Medicine, or Religion) check against the target's passive Investigation**.

For example, to represent a plant, animal, or monstrosity is a Nature check. To duplicate the look of a powerful spell or artifact is Arcana. To represent a celestial, fiend, or deity is Religion. A dead body is a Medicine skill check, and so on.

If the illusion does nothing out of the ordinary on a turn, no check is necessary.

If the illusion does something particularly egregious or out of place, the DM can call for disadvantage on the roll. If the DM calls for disadvantage on an illusion check, abilities like Reliable Talent that set a minimum value apply only to the first die roll.

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### Artificer

Hit dice: **d6** per artificer level.

#### Manic Creation

*2nd Level Artificer feature*

Pushing your limits of ingenuity, you can attempt to craft an Artificer Infusion which you do not have. Spend a number of hit dice equal to the minimum artificer level required to gain that infusion, and make an Intelligence (Arcana) check of DC 8 plus that level. On a success you create the infusion which lasts until you finish a long rest, unless another effect causes it to end sooner. If successfully creating the infusion causes you to exceed your maximum number of infusions, one of your infusions (your choice) ends. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

### Bard

Hit dice: **d6** per bard level.

#### The Show Must Go On

Pouring your heart and soul into your spellcasting you temporarily intesify your spell. When you cast a leveled spell you can spend a number of hit dice equal to the spell level to additionally add your Charisma modifier to the DC of a spell. The increase lasts until the beginning of your next turn. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

### Cleric

Hit dice: **d6** per cleric level.

#### Sacrifice

*1st Level Cleric Feature*

You can attempt to cast a spell that is not prepared and for which you have an available spell slot. Spend hit dice equal to the spell level and the spell slot to tap into your divine connection. Make a Will save of DC 10 + the spell’s level. On a success you cast the spell. On a fail, the spell is not cast. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

### Druid

Hit dice: **d6** per druid level.

#### Wild Heart

*2nd Level Druid Feature*

When you have no uses of your wild shape remaining, as an action you can attempt to use one of your wild shape features by spending a number of hit dice equal to your minimum druid level required to obtain the wild shape feature you are attempting to use (minimum 2 hit dice), and succeeding on Will save of DC 10 plus that level (max is your cleric level). Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

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### Fighter

#### Eldritch Knight Unique Spellcasting

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability (choose when selecting this class). If this ability is different from Intelligence it replaces Intelligence in your class features.

### Monk

Hit dice: **d6** per monk level.

#### Balanced Ki

*2nd level monk feature*

You have a number of ki points equal to your monk level plus your Wisdom modifier, up to a maximum of your Wisdom score.

### Paladin

Hit dice: **d8** per paladin level.

#### Conviction

*2nd level paladin feature*

Pouring your heart and soul into your spellcasting, you temporarily intensify your spell. When you cast a leveled spell you can spend a number of hit dice equal to the spell level to add your Charisma modifier to the DC of a spell. The increase lasts until the beginning of your next turn. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

### Ranger

Hit dice: **d8** per ranger level.

#### Grit

*2nd level Ranger feature*

When you make a skill check for a skill in which you are proficient, you can spend a number of hit dice and add the same number to your roll. You can do this after you make the roll, but before the results are resolved.

### Rogue

Hit dice: **d6** per rogue level

#### Arance Trickster Unique Spellcasting

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability (choose when selecting this class). If this ability is different from Intelligence it replaces Intelligence in your class features.

### Sorcerer

Hit dice: **d4** per sorcerer level

#### Unique Spellcasting

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability (choose when selecting this class). If this ability is different from Charisma it replaces Charisma in your class features.

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#### Magical Constitution

*1st level sorcerer feature*

When you fail a concentration check, you can spend a number of hit dice equal to the level of the spell in order to reroll. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

#### Balanced Sorcery Points
*2nd level sorcerer features*

You have a number of sorcery points equal to your Constitution modifier plus your sorcerer level, up to a maximum of your Constitution score.

### Warlock

Hit dice: **d6** per warlock level.

#### Unique Spellcasting

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability (choose when selecting this class). If this ability is different from Charisma it replaces Charisma in your class features.

#### Soul Binding

*2nd level warlock feature*

Petitioning your patron in a 10-minute ritual, you can attempt to gain an eldritch invocation which you do not have. Spend a number of hit dice equal to the minimum warlock level required to gain the invocation and make Will save against a base DC of 8 + minimum warlock levels to obtain the invocation. On a success, you obtain the invocation until you finish a long rest, and you give up one of your existing invocations for that same period. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP.

Each consecutive day that you petition for the same invocation the DC increases by the minimum warlock level for that invocation. Each day you do not petition for that same invocation the DC decreases by that level down to the base level. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

### Wizard

Hit dice: **d4** per wizard level.

#### Arcane Knowledge

*1st level wizard feature*

You can attempt to cast a spell from your spellbook that you did not prepare, but for which you have an available spell slot. Spend the spell slot and hit dice equal to the spell level and make an Intelligence (Arcana) check of DC 10 + the spell’s level. On a success you cast the spell. On a fail, the spell is not cast. Spending hit dice this way does not change your HP. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

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## Hyperdrift's Notes

### Gotta keep 'em separated

WoTC spreading out spellcasting abilities between classes seems to be based on a few main goals. First, if you could cast with your choice, you would choose Wisdom, since Wisdom saves are actually useful. Second, the creators likely want to avoid multiclassing becoming overpowered. Third, they likely want spellcasters to invest in abilities supporting different skills, for variety.

Basically, it all comes down to Wisdom being the superior ability, wizards being the superior class, and warlock multiclassing being problematic.

What if we made Wisdom not the best? What if we helped the other classes to catch up?

This homebrew explores that possibility. Each caster class gets a unique once per day heroic moment ability, with a heavy cost. This ability blurs the limits of the classes. If you really need a spell, you might be able to cast it. If you really need a spell to succeed, you might be able to pull it off.

There is hope for a big payoff in a critical moment, anticipation, and risk associated with these abilities–everything we want in a game.

By giving every caster proficiency in magic saves, we eliminate the draw to choose Wisdom as the spellcasting ability. But we simultaneously boost all their magic (Will) saves. **You might need to increase the save DC by one for your monsters' magic abilities with Wis saves.**

The main fallout of this is that spellcasters are less susceptible to magic attacks–wait, that's...totally realistic.

Boosting sorcery points at low level helps close the gap between sorcerer and wizard. Likewise for monk. It's super fun at high levels, but runs out of ki instantly  in low-level (most common) play. Not so anymore.

As for the risk of multiclassing, there are enough subclasses now, such as bladesingers, that we don't have to worry about warlock-wizard multiclasses (we kinda have one). Are there going to be a few broken builds with hexblade warlock? Yes, because it's broken. So ban hexblades multiclassing; don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

### 14+ Con or you're dead

The primary game economy of HP makes Con more-or-less a must-invest attribute. Otherwise your whole party spends every combat trying to keep you from dying.

Part of HP is supposed to be mental toughness. But that is Wisdom (Will) and it doesn't factor into HP at all. By adding your Will modifier to HP, we allow casters to drop Con down to something like 12 or even (*gasp*) 10 without making them into glass cannons. Granted, their Con saves won't be as good, but they can invest in Dex for a higher AC, or other skill-focused attributes for a more flavorful build.

Most importantly, the most heavily multiple ability score (MAD) builds like monk, bladesinger wizard, ranger, eldritch knight and arcane trickster rogue, now have some actual freedom in their ability score selections.

True, you can min-max these rules to get more HP early on, but the max value of HP at high levels is unchanged. Ostensibly martials can gain a point of HP from having Int, Wis or Cha of 12, but not rounding up on the hit dice avg roll solves that. And, putting every mental stat at 8 incurs an HP price. **This isn't a perfect set of rules, but it's fun!**

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### Size in reality

The reason for 5e not having any size-based effects in characters is likely sociopolitical and based in the mindset that everyone is equal. Good sentiment, but it defies reason and tends to get in the way of suspended disbelief.

Why not throw reality back into the mix and create a game mechanic that lets creatures take advantage of what makes them unique, rather than making them all the same. Value in diversity, after all, comes from what makes us different, not the same.

So small creatures make better thieves and big ones make better barbarians...okay. Players can still choose to defy their in-born differences. The way is harder, but that is their path to choose. Makes for a good story.

### Illusions

Every time the DM says, "The NPC uses its action to inspect the illusion," the players all want to scream, "You metagaming hypocrite!" How would the NPC even know to suspect an illusion? This is a bad game mechanic. Allow the caster to act against a passive ability, just like stealth checks. Then there is no more built-in metagaming. And, the smarter, craftier characters will make better illusions. Players succeeding or failing with their roll is also a funner game mechanic than a DM roll.

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### Version History
| Date | Version | Change |
|:-|:--:|:-|
| 2025.02.01 | 1.2 | nerfed small/large creature ability score changes to deal with min/maxing issues
| 2024.02.06 | 1.1 | nitpicky fixes for clarity |
| 2023.03.18 | 1.0 | Initial release. Status: in play testing. |

### Credits
Art generated using Midjourney tool. Feel free to use for noncomercial purposses.

### Copyright notice
This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast, LLC.

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