I’ve made an a-la-carte classless 5th edition subsystem for your viewing and general consumption /u/The_Spoony_Bard DnD: Roll for Initiative!

Some context; I’ve been working on my own tabletop system and part of my journey through that has been de- and re-constructing systems I know I like and trying to find what makes them tic, before simplifying and/or retrofitting them into the ruleset I’m trying to build. It’s very slow-going stuff obviously, seeing as how I’m a team of one, but part of my journey started many years ago when I endeavored to make a classless 5e subsystem, not because I ever endeavored to run it for friends or anything, but just to see what could be done and how far it could be stretched. I’ve worked on this on and off for about 3 years now, and obviously a lot has changed around myself and the game since then, but I’ve always found myself coming back to it every so often to make tweaks. This past week, I was hit with a sudden wave of inspiration to go even further and make the system even more modular than I already had. It’s in such a good spot now that I’m confident in it and comfortable enough to share it with the world at large for those who might be looking to make playing D&D more unique and dynamic without it getting too out of hand. Obviously, I’ve balanced the system out as best I could, with a few obvious checks and balances and some other specific ones under the hood, like keeping some of the “improved” versions of class featurse that only add additional dice to this or that roll off the table of purchasable options, but the system is both as simple and clear as I can make it while simultaneously telling you everytying you’d need to know and explaining what’s different from just picking regular classes or features.

Here’s the link!

Some quick notes before you delve into it and/or run off with it;

• I am NOT looking for feedback on this. It’s as done as I think I’m going to make it, even if they release new classes beyond the Artificer with the 2024/5 rules updates, just because I need to actually get to work making my own system. If you find flaws in it, you can post them here, but I sure as heck won’t act on them and I’m very unlikely to even respond to them unless it’s something that’s really gonna eat at me.
• That said, you all have my blessing to make a copy of this on your drive and iterate upon it and make it into something unique and special. Heck, you can even lie and say you made the whole thing yourself and try to turn a profit on it, I’ve gotten what I needed out of it, which is the exercise in game design and the fun of making something that deconstructs a good game into something that I think is different enough but recognizeable, or at least is enjoyable to play.
• The layout might be a bit rough around the edges, but you gotta believe me when I say that this is the most simplifed I could get it to where every piece of information is delivered at the right place and time for you to need it such that you only have to scroll back up to make decisions, not to re-reference something a thousand times over before you get it. This goes for page references on content; Some of these things are in other places in other books, but obviously I tried to give you the first page it shows up on any given book (eg. Extra attack). Some of these features are so iconic to the game that it’s second nature to know where to go and what to look up, but you can’t assume that everyone has that level of referential knowledge.
• This system has NOT been tested at length. I do a lot of number crunching with minis and dice for funsies but I haven’t gotten more than one player (that being myself) to sit down and try things out. The core of it should work fine, but I can say with some degree of certainty the points values of features and upgrades probably needs some tweaking; I erred on the side of “if it’s as good as advantage to hit/save, it’s 2 points), with some obvious things like core class features being 2 points even if they don’t necessarily have that kind of bite to making the most superfluous of features 1 point.
• The subsystem at the tail end is entirely untested but inspired by Mythic Odysseys of Theros and its way of making Gods factions that warrant some amount of investment into to make work. This system would best if all the players have an organization they aspire to be involved with, and if the DM is willing to put the extra mile in to make those groups.

Hopefully you enjoy the read, or your curiosity is piqued and you give it a shot, or even better yet, hopefully it encourages you to try your hand at freelance game design and see what you can do with pre-existing systems, be it to make a game you already enjoy more fun or to make something entirely your own.

Some context; I’ve been working on my own tabletop system and part of my journey through that has been de- and re-constructing systems I know I like and trying to find what makes them tic, before simplifying and/or retrofitting them into the ruleset I’m trying to build. It’s very slow-going stuff obviously, seeing as how I’m a team of one, but part of my journey started many years ago when I endeavored to make a classless 5e subsystem, not because I ever endeavored to run it for friends or anything, but just to see what could be done and how far it could be stretched. I’ve worked on this on and off for about 3 years now, and obviously a lot has changed around myself and the game since then, but I’ve always found myself coming back to it every so often to make tweaks. This past week, I was hit with a sudden wave of inspiration to go even further and make the system even more modular than I already had. It’s in such a good spot now that I’m confident in it and comfortable enough to share it with the world at large for those who might be looking to make playing D&D more unique and dynamic without it getting too out of hand. Obviously, I’ve balanced the system out as best I could, with a few obvious checks and balances and some other specific ones under the hood, like keeping some of the “improved” versions of class featurse that only add additional dice to this or that roll off the table of purchasable options, but the system is both as simple and clear as I can make it while simultaneously telling you everytying you’d need to know and explaining what’s different from just picking regular classes or features.

Here’s the link!

Some quick notes before you delve into it and/or run off with it;

• I am NOT looking for feedback on this. It’s as done as I think I’m going to make it, even if they release new classes beyond the Artificer with the 2024/5 rules updates, just because I need to actually get to work making my own system. If you find flaws in it, you can post them here, but I sure as heck won’t act on them and I’m very unlikely to even respond to them unless it’s something that’s really gonna eat at me.
• That said, you all have my blessing to make a copy of this on your drive and iterate upon it and make it into something unique and special. Heck, you can even lie and say you made the whole thing yourself and try to turn a profit on it, I’ve gotten what I needed out of it, which is the exercise in game design and the fun of making something that deconstructs a good game into something that I think is different enough but recognizeable, or at least is enjoyable to play.
• The layout might be a bit rough around the edges, but you gotta believe me when I say that this is the most simplifed I could get it to where every piece of information is delivered at the right place and time for you to need it such that you only have to scroll back up to make decisions, not to re-reference something a thousand times over before you get it. This goes for page references on content; Some of these things are in other places in other books, but obviously I tried to give you the first page it shows up on any given book (eg. Extra attack). Some of these features are so iconic to the game that it’s second nature to know where to go and what to look up, but you can’t assume that everyone has that level of referential knowledge.
• This system has NOT been tested at length. I do a lot of number crunching with minis and dice for funsies but I haven’t gotten more than one player (that being myself) to sit down and try things out. The core of it should work fine, but I can say with some degree of certainty the points values of features and upgrades probably needs some tweaking; I erred on the side of “if it’s as good as advantage to hit/save, it’s 2 points), with some obvious things like core class features being 2 points even if they don’t necessarily have that kind of bite to making the most superfluous of features 1 point.
• The subsystem at the tail end is entirely untested but inspired by Mythic Odysseys of Theros and its way of making Gods factions that warrant some amount of investment into to make work. This system would best if all the players have an organization they aspire to be involved with, and if the DM is willing to put the extra mile in to make those groups.

Hopefully you enjoy the read, or your curiosity is piqued and you give it a shot, or even better yet, hopefully it encourages you to try your hand at freelance game design and see what you can do with pre-existing systems, be it to make a game you already enjoy more fun or to make something entirely your own.