DC20's combat system is so dope that after a 2 hour combat ends my first thought is, "I still have resources, let's see more bad guys!" where as in 5e after about an hour I'm like, "Ok this was fun, let's wrap it up now." Combats in DC20 feel like a tactical battlefield strategy game.
I’m a little surprised that the prime attribute wasn’t on the list. I think that’s one of the most intriguing rules for character creation that allows to make very unique characters.
The only other game I know of where you could put your all into trying to succeed was the Marvel Universe RPG from the early 2000's. It didn't use dice, instead opting for what they called 'stones.' You had stones of health, and stones of energy, and you had stones to build your character. Your turn was about deciding how much energy you needed to spend. Each turn, you only replenished some of your energy, but if you wanted to, there was nothing to stop you from spending all of your energy in a single turn to accomplish something big, knowing that you would be weak for the next round or two while you recovered. It was a good system that just didn't catch on.
As someone who's recently started taking a crack at creating their own TTRPG after deciding that 5e is just not cutting it for me anymore, the cohesiveness and quality of what you have created, and the positive community you have built around DC20 and the rest of your content over the years is an immense inspiration. I have been poring over DC20's latest Alpha lately and it is just... so good. You sir, are amazing and I am so very happy to have discovered your content years back, and then rediscovered it in the last few months, lets make that Kickstarter explode out the stratosphere!
Hey dungeon coach, I love your new system. Its amazing how streamlined all the rules seem to work, so creative and well thought out. Luckily I was able to convince my d&d group to try the alpha for a one shot, so i am very excited. Controversial thought, is the word point(s) all that necessary. Like mana points, stamina points, action points. In my humble opinion it would feel more streamlined and less gamey/more sexy for a lack of a better description. Just a thought. You are using the word mana at this time stamp, and it just sounds so nice 10:55 How much mana do you have left? This maneuver costs 2 stamina, damm that monster has 6 actions per round. Re-uploadeded this comment which i sent today to your previous video. Since you released another video today😮
If this system can avoid the D&D rules bloat, I think it will be the best D20 system I’ve ever seen. I love your design ideas (I use many of them myself), and then you throw in some excellent ideas on top of the stuff I would have asked for. Can’t wait for June 4.
@@wrathisme4693 It certainly isn’t rules-lite, but it does seem somewhat more streamlined than 5E. I don’t expect him to grind out huge amounts of supplementary material that synergizes in weird ways with his base game, either. At worst, it will be a treatment of D20 that already includes a lot of things I’d want to house rule.
@@steelmongoose4956 well supplementary material is just a side effect of being popular, It's the core system that desert does not experience rules bloat, in a way that matters at least. I see what he claims the system is more streamlined than physician but I think it's exactly the opposite. combining attack and damage rolls doesn't so much streamline combat as it does replace needing to look at a dice with needing to consult a chart. Combat in 5th edition doesn't take a long time because people are having to roll too many dice, it takes a long time because people don't think about what to do on their turns. Having a ton of different options they each require the same resource (action points) and considering there's a bunch of other things that you can do with your weapon means that turns are going to take way longer
@@wrathisme4693 I’ve been reading through the Alpha, and so far I don’t see it being more swampy than 5E at all. I’m also liking the way the ruleset holds together. Indie creators have the advantage of innovating more, so they won’t be accused of subverting the essence of D&D. Personally, I don’t like a lot of the rules from 1979, and I like to see a more deliberate design. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this game in its final form. It will be fun to see how it turns out, and I think I’ll enjoy running and playing it.
When you play with a larger group, sometimes youll only go a surprisingly low number of times during combats. The ability to go all in with adv is so beautiful. Having to wait upwards of 10min for your next turn if everyone actually knows what they are gonna do to just miss on something cool is just gut wrenching to have to wait another 10 min.
Granting yourself advantage isn't necessarily broken. It also helps speed up combat. The fight is nearly over, the BBEG is nearly dead, and yet he's hiding in some fog cloud and running away. In D&D it could you easily drag that combat on two or three mount rounds of folks missing, them running off, etc. even though you know you are going to kill them. It's anti-climatic finish and it wastes time. The idea of everyone helping the ranger and him really lining up a really good shot (multiple advantages) is a good core mechanic.
Something about the cover irks me. In the dragon's mouth, the back of its throat is a light purple. At a glance it kinda looks kinda like teeth, and I can't unsee it. Would you consider changing it to red? Either to make it match the flame in the logo or to make it look like the throat of any red blooded creature.
So with the spellcasting, rolling for spells was one of the (many) things people didn't like about 4e because it made them feel too similar to martials (I actually didn't mind it). So in 5e they gave them a whole lot of auto spell casting with saves to make it feel different. What I like about DC20 is it seems like you have stepped back to that 4e idea but still have enough changes to spellcaster and martial mechanics to make them still feel different
In response to Alan talking about adding Advantage and commenting if another game does something similar: Modiphious Entertainment's Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed of it is a 2d20 system -- where the number of successes on a check can range from 0 to 5. You have to roll under or equal to your target number to have a success, and by default rolls always use a minimum of 2 dice, but a maximum of 5 dice (through bonuses). So, technically if something is Difficulty 2 or less and I add bonus dice allowing me to roll 5 dice at once, that is like having triple advantage.
The only thing that comes to mind as being even close to your "Spend multiple action points on things that are really important." would be the "Vital Strike" feat from Pathfinder 1st Edition. It allows multiple attacks to be all stacked into a single strike...roll one attack check, then do the damage of each attack your character would have gotten otherwise added together. Kind of like a throwing your whole effort into one powerful swing.
I’ve been eagerly anticipating the Kickstarter ever since I heard about and bought the alpha. My best friend and ForeverDM wants to enjoy combat so badly but has never been able to when we play D&D, and my first thought when I read DC20 is “holy shit he’ll finally enjoy combat” Props to you and your designers for making an excellent game
I remember one player using an action to help a different player up cast sleep (they both had the spell) and shut down an encounter completely. The table went wild. Every single player said they were more invested in combat encounters with DC20. Two weeks to go!!
Like the spell enhancments, we basically allow this in our dnd games by allow arcana checks when someone wants to use a spell in a slightly different or more powerful way. Also personally I prefer mana points but don't see the issue with spell slots either. Keep up the good work ill definitely be backing, regardless of finances lol
I really enjoy DC20 videos on the dungeon coach channel. There are so many cool ideas. This video is a good summary of the major stuff that makes the game stand out. I am actually familiar with most of these rules. There are seven, including honorable mentions. Of these, four are so amazing that I end up doing something similar when I design my own game. This would help so much in innovating TTRPGs. The big one is using some major quality of life features from WOW. Magicians get mana This is easier to track, and it provides added flexibility. Martials get mechanics resembling spells and mana. This fixes the martial and caster divide. I thought of these rules right away. Then the video goes over that later. That is good. There are two other ones. One is to use action points like Pathfinder. It reduces confusion around actions and bonus actions. It makes things run smoother. Another thing is ruducing two die rolls per attack to one. I do it differently than DC20 does. Either way there is still a benefit. Less rolling makes combat a whole lot faster. That can lead to a more fun and engaging gameplay. I am even experimenting with not rolloing at all. That show potential for fun. Not only is that really fast, but it also prevents the fun spoiled by bad luck. There are other rules. I seen the video on ancestry. I am not a huge fan of race systems in RPGs. I like to limit myself to humans, elves and furries. That is just something that appeals to me aesthetically. Having racial features can make the game too cumbersome. However I do see why the ancestry system in DC20 can be appealing. Advanced players would love customizing, especially with mixed race characters. I recently considered putting class features into a feat system. If a player wants any passive bonus besides ability scores, they have to progress through a feat system. Maybe racial features can go into feats as well. There are two rules in this video that is new to me. One is burning action points in order to give advantage. Wow! That is so awesome. This has so much potential for fun shenanigans on the battlefield. I did have two things that are sort of like that. One is blade spells. In my class system, nature magicians take the role of damaging up close. These are classes like shaman and druid. Thier most basic kind of spell is the blade spell. They cast the spell to power themselves up. Then they attack up close. They do a magical sparkle attack that replaces weapon attacks. The spell increases the damage of the attack. It is a one time use. Casting the spell and doing sparkle attack takes up the action economy of the spell. However it is worth it, because the one sparkle attack does so much damage. It make the nature magician function like a rogue. Another case is super powerful spells. This would apply to all types of magic, not just nature. There are cases where spells are twice as powerful as what would be appropriate for the mana cost. A major example is superpowerful damage to one target. There are other things. There is superpowerful healing. There is doing damage or healing to two targets. There can be more. The drawback to this extra power is burning action points. Spells normally cost two action points. I use four action points. There is one melee sparkle attack on top of that. It only works at close range. The superpowered spells take four action points. Two are during the turn. Two are not. There are two varients. Maybe I can even let players choose which one to do. These varients are setup and cooldown. A player can do less actions on thier turn and set aside two action points. This is setup. Action points are saved untill later. Then when one uses the extra powerful spell, they use both the regular action points and saved action points. That is a lot. Alternatively a player may want to use a powerful spell right away. Maybe it is critical moment or something. The player could cast the spell even without saving action points beforehand. They use two action points during that turn. Then afterwards they take some kind of penalty. Maybe it is called negative action points, anti actoon points or something like that. When the player takes their next turn, they only get two action points instead of the regular four. They can do less on thier turn. The penalty subtracted two action points. This is a cooldown. It is a state where one has to take a turn to recover after blasting such a powerful spell. The distinction of setup and cooldoen could be added to DC20 and provide more options. This also apply to any action that can be used as a reaction. It can apply to opportunity attacks, counterspells and that kind of thing. I wonder what the Dungeon Coach thinks of this. One rule in this video I wasn't are of is fleshing out exploration and social pillars. Wow! I am just going to go watch that video now.
I love almost all of this, but I still think those spell duels are a liability. Just imagine an NPC that duels every spell cast by a player, resulting in a fancy explanation for nothing happening except resources being wasted. As a player, that would feel pretty bad
I was just asking and thinking about this on the discord 2 days ago. And what you don't realize is there is no free reaction. So the players are cancelling out their own future actions if they are spell duelling. And if a single stronger enemy uses more mana and has higher stats they get a much bigger bonus and therefor success rate to win the duel. In the end all that means that 3 players can try to duel one single caster all the time and still not be able to cancel his spells while also wasting a lot of their own actions (half or more).
The help thing is fun, I personally set up help for my own little thing as requiring you to know said skill be it brawling, lockpicking etc, and you use your manuver to instruct someone adding your own skill to their roll. that way a wizard who doesn't know the first thing about swords may not be able to give the fighter pointers (pun intended) but alternately everyone who knows first aid can work together in a close moment all trying to save a downed companion.
Can you compare DC20 to pathfinder second edition? I feel like there are a lot of similarities (like the 3/4 action system) but everything is even more refinded, with pf2e being kind of in the middle between dnd and dc20. I'd really appreciate a video covering that topic.
Interested in how many ttrpg games you've played as this is basically just a mid ground of 5e and PF2 which isn't necessarily bad but it's largely a heartbreaker game mostly based off those games. Hardly too innovative and certainly not "an absolute game changer for the industry"
@Jhakaro I have played D&D since 1980. 1st edition AD&D, 2nd edition AD&D, 3e, 3.5 D&D, 5e, shadowrun, shadowdark, Deathbringer, Knave, Whitehack, my ttrpg Aeternus, Stormbringer, Star Wars, FATE Core, Ten Candles, Maze Rats, One Bag Dungeon, Hero Quest (original), Ars Magica and Cairn. A mid ground maybe, but the base concepts have inspired me already. 36 years of game mastering, and 43 years of playing ttrpgs, I like being surprised by concepts that are new to me. I am excited to see where this game goes as it develops. DC20 was recommended to me by a friend and long time ttrpg player. I have yet to be disappointed
@@LutherGary17 So you're just caught up in hype then? It's cool if you enjoy it man, have fun! Just everywhere I look on this guy's channel it's people blatantly claiming it as the greatest thing in the world and so on and a huge evolution or revolution in games when it is quite literally just a (somewhat) heavy homebrew yet still retains about 70 percent of its dna with 5e and with Pathfinder, which is itself a clone though it has done well to differentiate itself. Tweaking someone else's rulesets into even an extensive homebrew doesn't make for large innovation or something "game changing" for an industry. It's a blend of copies with a few of his own ideas.
Giving yourself advantage is actually something I have in my system which isn't out yet, but it's in development (for the last almost 4 years now). I will say we have a lot of similar design concepts, even though the execution is very different, and also we have entirely different games (mine isn't fantasy at all), but yes, it's not the only game. I will say a lot of games do offer various kinds of benefits from meta currencies though, and that's been around forever. Essentially your version makes it so the meta currency is just replaced by action point cost, which is totally reasonable.
Thought. Instead of separating stamina and mana, could just have "energy" that magic or physical abilities drain. If you cast a big spell, you are physically tired also. Or if you just exhausted a bunch of physical energy, it's more difficult to cast a spell.
I would love to have mana be dynamic, like you can spend an action to roll to charge your mana, with higher rolls generating more mana. But keeping mana in your body can be dangerous, causing damage if you don't spend it quickly. This would allow for those epic anime moments where a caster spends action after action to gather more and more mana that chips away at their health until they finally unleash that supercharged spell, then collapse from the effort
Hey Coach! I may be interested to learn how to DM this system in tHE FAAAR future. It will be the first time I attempt to DM. My question is: do you think there will be an add-on or something to do it through Fantasy Grounds? It'd make it so much easier to learn how to DM (and well, I also only ever played DnD online so far).
He has a team that is working on stuff like that (I think). I don't know if they will do fantasy grounds, but I think they will take it to Foundry. I haven't looked too much into it because I use Owlbear Rodeo which doesn't have an ingrained system.
There is a rather good implementation for Foundry VTT on the level of the last Alpha 0.6.x of the Playtest. So there you are covered. In my experience FVTT is nowadays the first VTT someone steps up to do the system. For FG I was a lot into more core as that allowed for systems to be played that were not supported otherwise.
One thing i dont like (or maybe don't understand) why do only martials can grapple? If i am playing a sorcerer who's prime attribute is strength, i should be allowed to grapple a normal character, or try to trip them down
@@ДюсековИльяс I read the whole alpha to figure it out.... So the rule is, Anyone can grapple, but only maritals can do "grapple maneuvers" So grapple maneuvers makes them unique, but spell casters can try to grapple, shove, disarm and other simple stuff, but anything that requires a skill / maneuvers, that's something only maritals do
Does this graft on to 5e / is there a conversion method ? I just got into ttrpgs and just learned some 5e - I like a lot of this and want to support the project as well as utilize these concepts. Just want to know if there is any aim to use it in 5e or if it’s standalone?
For easy reference, wouldn't it make sense to name the chapters for the rules they are about, instead of #1-5? I mean, it's not a WatchMojo video of top selection movies of the 90s with tension for the next pick. This is an informative video.
A question about Action Points: You mention regularly about diminishing returns on Attacks, what about movement? If you spend all 4 points running, do you move 5x4 squares? Or is it something like 5+4+3+2?
You move 5 squares per AP spent. No diminishing returns on movement, just checks. Also it only applies to each type of check. You could, for example, cast a spell and then make weapon attack without incurring the multiple check penalty as they are 2 different types of checks.
Not exactly the same, but Open Legends also had (has) a very fun stacking advantage/disadvantage system, and probably the coolest thing in that system is the exploding dice whenever you roll the max number on a dice. That always felt amazing. I haven't had a chance to play DC20 but it looks very interesting so I've been following the Alpha and keeping my eyes out. Are they're going to be any digital tools for like character creation/VTT support in future?
Does this stacking crits actually works backward? I mean if my spell fails does the backlash get worse the lower the role is? That would be cool. Also, if every cantrip can be individually enhanced, does the same go for every weapon? This way the disapointing weapon system could be redeemed a bit.
OK I confess I'm still a little confused. Is DC20 a hack of 5e like Level Up A5e? Is it something like the Tales of the Valiant? Or are you swinging for a new system entirely?
DC 20 WOOW i am loving the 4 action point system becouse of all The potential. 4 action points give game masters and players soo much room too do soo manny difrent things and change up the strategy on the go I cant wait too see higher levels and see all the potential difrent actions players and monsters can take in the future good luck too you and the team cant wait what mecenics you all come up with I love the potential of DC20 ❤❤ cant wait too see whare it goes in the future
Love rules 1 and 2 and 3. However, both of these can be added as homebrew rules to any groups' game. How does these two need a separate core rule book? Good job on promoting creative roleplay of combat, social, exploratory in this video.
The action Surge of this system destroyed the game for me... what is the Point of Using Action Surge to gain more actions but you cant use them for attack ? maybe you can use them for spells but thats nothing for a fighter, Really disappoint me.
I'm trying to not be a Pathfinder Stan, but it's hard. Rule 1 is just Pathfinder, but worse, because you now need to remember more than 4 degrees of success, and subtracting 5 is harder than subtracting 10 (Mutants & Masterminds did a +/-5 system for years before PF2, and it never went anywhere). Rule 2 would be an improvement on Pathfinder, by combining actions and reactions, but allowing the stacking disadvantage to be nullified by spending action points just encourages attacking twice. Everything else isn't even remotely unique. World of Darkness, and DnD 3.5 (and pathfinder) all have combat maneuvers. WoD and Shadowrun (and pathfinder) have influence systems. You've made some cool ideas, but DC20 just feels like you aren't fully conversant with the history of RPG game design outside of 5e.
The ideas may not all be entirely original, but do they have to be? Isn't there value in combining the better parts of other systems all in one cohesive place? It's easy to pick out an individual rule and say "this system did it better" but a system isn't made by doing 1 thing well. If DC20 can take the best of all worlds and unite them I would argue it would create a better overall experience than another system that did 1 thing better. P.S. I'm bias, I think DC20 is a great system personally, but no system is for everyone. If you like Pathfinder better, that's obviously an extremely popular and dope system and nobody can fault you for liking it.
One thing I will say is that the Action Point system DOES encourage those who are good at just attacking to attack twice, but it seems like there will be way more options and encouragement in class abilities to do things that help party members in one way or another, which is very exciting. I was in a game just last week and saw more than once a character who was not in a good place to use their own combat abilities still trying when we had plenty of people who could use a help action, including a beefed up NPC for the combat.
Tbf, a core part of TTRPG game design is to take the bits you love from other games, what inspires you, to create a new blend. 🙂 No game is fully new. Like, PF2 is a super solid system but PF1 was in large part D&D 3.5e reimagined (& that's fine) :)
@RangerIV there is, but The Dungeon Coach seems to not fully understand *why* these old systems worked or didn't work. I like his ambition, but I doubt execution.
Then go all-in on stacking disadvantage. More variety of actions in combat is good, why let the player remove that by just spamming attacks? Given the chance, players will optimize the fun out of the game.
This could easily have been a top 50 rules 4 hour video. Those community polls were so hard to choose.
Love the way spells can scale by adding extra mana points. It feels so much more thematically natural.
DC20's combat system is so dope that after a 2 hour combat ends my first thought is, "I still have resources, let's see more bad guys!" where as in 5e after about an hour I'm like, "Ok this was fun, let's wrap it up now." Combats in DC20 feel like a tactical battlefield strategy game.
Off-turn player engagement is the heart of DC20 for me.
It keeps players paying attention because they are always on if they have the reaction for it
I have had players say that DC20 asks, “How bad do you want the thing,” in response to Coaches favorite thing about DC20…granting yourself advantage.
I’m a little surprised that the prime attribute wasn’t on the list. I think that’s one of the most intriguing rules for character creation that allows to make very unique characters.
Just started watching videos on DC20 and im really liking it.
The only other game I know of where you could put your all into trying to succeed was the Marvel Universe RPG from the early 2000's. It didn't use dice, instead opting for what they called 'stones.' You had stones of health, and stones of energy, and you had stones to build your character. Your turn was about deciding how much energy you needed to spend. Each turn, you only replenished some of your energy, but if you wanted to, there was nothing to stop you from spending all of your energy in a single turn to accomplish something big, knowing that you would be weak for the next round or two while you recovered. It was a good system that just didn't catch on.
This is the first time I am hearing that! I’ll go check it out right now!
Woot! Looking forward to the Kickstarter!
Its beautiful how you van see how everything coalesces into a beautiful system.
Kickstarter coming SOON
As someone who's recently started taking a crack at creating their own TTRPG after deciding that 5e is just not cutting it for me anymore, the cohesiveness and quality of what you have created, and the positive community you have built around DC20 and the rest of your content over the years is an immense inspiration. I have been poring over DC20's latest Alpha lately and it is just... so good. You sir, are amazing and I am so very happy to have discovered your content years back, and then rediscovered it in the last few months, lets make that Kickstarter explode out the stratosphere!
Hey dungeon coach, I love your new system. Its amazing how streamlined all the rules seem to work, so creative and well thought out.
Luckily I was able to convince my d&d group to try the alpha for a one shot, so i am very excited.
Controversial thought, is the word point(s) all that necessary. Like mana points, stamina points, action points. In my humble opinion it would feel more streamlined and less gamey/more sexy for a lack of a better description. Just a thought. You are using the word mana at this time stamp, and it just sounds so nice 10:55
How much mana do you have left? This maneuver costs 2 stamina, damm that monster has 6 actions per round.
Re-uploadeded this comment which i sent today to your previous video. Since you released another video today😮
I agree. Aesthetically, I find it jarring to say "points" constantly as a GM. 😂
Can't wait for the kickstarter to drop. One day closer to having this in my hands
If this system can avoid the D&D rules bloat, I think it will be the best D20 system I’ve ever seen. I love your design ideas (I use many of them myself), and then you throw in some excellent ideas on top of the stuff I would have asked for. Can’t wait for June 4.
Where does DnD have bloat? Like what do you mean with that 5e is not particularly complex or nuanced?
It seems like that ship has long sailed for rules bloat for the system lol
@@wrathisme4693 It certainly isn’t rules-lite, but it does seem somewhat more streamlined than 5E. I don’t expect him to grind out huge amounts of supplementary material that synergizes in weird ways with his base game, either. At worst, it will be a treatment of D20 that already includes a lot of things I’d want to house rule.
@@steelmongoose4956 well supplementary material is just a side effect of being popular, It's the core system that desert does not experience rules bloat, in a way that matters at least. I see what he claims the system is more streamlined than physician but I think it's exactly the opposite. combining attack and damage rolls doesn't so much streamline combat as it does replace needing to look at a dice with needing to consult a chart. Combat in 5th edition doesn't take a long time because people are having to roll too many dice, it takes a long time because people don't think about what to do on their turns. Having a ton of different options they each require the same resource (action points) and considering there's a bunch of other things that you can do with your weapon means that turns are going to take way longer
@@wrathisme4693 I’ve been reading through the Alpha, and so far I don’t see it being more swampy than 5E at all. I’m also liking the way the ruleset holds together. Indie creators have the advantage of innovating more, so they won’t be accused of subverting the essence of D&D. Personally, I don’t like a lot of the rules from 1979, and I like to see a more deliberate design. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this game in its final form. It will be fun to see how it turns out, and I think I’ll enjoy running and playing it.
When you play with a larger group, sometimes youll only go a surprisingly low number of times during combats.
The ability to go all in with adv is so beautiful.
Having to wait upwards of 10min for your next turn if everyone actually knows what they are gonna do to just miss on something cool is just gut wrenching to have to wait another 10 min.
IMO the high rolls matter is the greatest addition this game has over so many other D20 games
Woot woot excited for the game!
Granting yourself advantage isn't necessarily broken. It also helps speed up combat. The fight is nearly over, the BBEG is nearly dead, and yet he's hiding in some fog cloud and running away. In D&D it could you easily drag that combat on two or three mount rounds of folks missing, them running off, etc. even though you know you are going to kill them. It's anti-climatic finish and it wastes time. The idea of everyone helping the ranger and him really lining up a really good shot (multiple advantages) is a good core mechanic.
Can't wait for Alpha 7 and the Kick starter to launch. I got the date and time set.
June 4th can't come fast enough!!
Cant wait for the tiers on the KS! Im gonna go big on it!
LETS GO!
It’s almost here. Let’s go!!!
Something about the cover irks me. In the dragon's mouth, the back of its throat is a light purple. At a glance it kinda looks kinda like teeth, and I can't unsee it. Would you consider changing it to red? Either to make it match the flame in the logo or to make it look like the throat of any red blooded creature.
Just take my money!
Your mana, spell evolution, stamina and maneuvers systems are amazing.
Very excited for all of the DC20 rules. Can't wait DC20 Beta. 😊👍🏻
Backed the KS and so hyped for this game!
So with the spellcasting, rolling for spells was one of the (many) things people didn't like about 4e because it made them feel too similar to martials (I actually didn't mind it). So in 5e they gave them a whole lot of auto spell casting with saves to make it feel different. What I like about DC20 is it seems like you have stepped back to that 4e idea but still have enough changes to spellcaster and martial mechanics to make them still feel different
I'm excited
(comment for the algorithm!)
In response to Alan talking about adding Advantage and commenting if another game does something similar: Modiphious Entertainment's Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed of it is a 2d20 system -- where the number of successes on a check can range from 0 to 5.
You have to roll under or equal to your target number to have a success, and by default rolls always use a minimum of 2 dice, but a maximum of 5 dice (through bonuses).
So, technically if something is Difficulty 2 or less and I add bonus dice allowing me to roll 5 dice at once, that is like having triple advantage.
The only thing that comes to mind as being even close to your "Spend multiple action points on things that are really important." would be the "Vital Strike" feat from Pathfinder 1st Edition. It allows multiple attacks to be all stacked into a single strike...roll one attack check, then do the damage of each attack your character would have gotten otherwise added together. Kind of like a throwing your whole effort into one powerful swing.
Action points and how they can be used for a wide myriad of things and reactions beyond just bog standards!
I’ve been eagerly anticipating the Kickstarter ever since I heard about and bought the alpha. My best friend and ForeverDM wants to enjoy combat so badly but has never been able to when we play D&D, and my first thought when I read DC20 is “holy shit he’ll finally enjoy combat”
Props to you and your designers for making an excellent game
June 4th !!! DC20!!!
I remember one player using an action to help a different player up cast sleep (they both had the spell) and shut down an encounter completely.
The table went wild. Every single player said they were more invested in combat encounters with DC20.
Two weeks to go!!
Like the spell enhancments, we basically allow this in our dnd games by allow arcana checks when someone wants to use a spell in a slightly different or more powerful way. Also personally I prefer mana points but don't see the issue with spell slots either. Keep up the good work ill definitely be backing, regardless of finances lol
Gotta say the polls were brutal. Picking between so many good choices.
Kickstarter can't come soon enough.
I really enjoy DC20 videos on the dungeon coach channel. There are so many cool ideas. This video is a good summary of the major stuff that makes the game stand out. I am actually familiar with most of these rules. There are seven, including honorable mentions. Of these, four are so amazing that I end up doing something similar when I design my own game. This would help so much in innovating TTRPGs. The big one is using some major quality of life features from WOW. Magicians get mana This is easier to track, and it provides added flexibility. Martials get mechanics resembling spells and mana. This fixes the martial and caster divide. I thought of these rules right away. Then the video goes over that later. That is good. There are two other ones. One is to use action points like Pathfinder. It reduces confusion around actions and bonus actions. It makes things run smoother. Another thing is ruducing two die rolls per attack to one. I do it differently than DC20 does. Either way there is still a benefit. Less rolling makes combat a whole lot faster. That can lead to a more fun and engaging gameplay. I am even experimenting with not rolloing at all. That show potential for fun. Not only is that really fast, but it also prevents the fun spoiled by bad luck.
There are other rules. I seen the video on ancestry. I am not a huge fan of race systems in RPGs. I like to limit myself to humans, elves and furries. That is just something that appeals to me aesthetically. Having racial features can make the game too cumbersome. However I do see why the ancestry system in DC20 can be appealing. Advanced players would love customizing, especially with mixed race characters. I recently considered putting class features into a feat system. If a player wants any passive bonus besides ability scores, they have to progress through a feat system. Maybe racial features can go into feats as well. There are two rules in this video that is new to me. One is burning action points in order to give advantage. Wow! That is so awesome. This has so much potential for fun shenanigans on the battlefield. I did have two things that are sort of like that. One is blade spells. In my class system, nature magicians take the role of damaging up close. These are classes like shaman and druid. Thier most basic kind of spell is the blade spell. They cast the spell to power themselves up. Then they attack up close. They do a magical sparkle attack that replaces weapon attacks. The spell increases the damage of the attack. It is a one time use. Casting the spell and doing sparkle attack takes up the action economy of the spell. However it is worth it, because the one sparkle attack does so much damage. It make the nature magician function like a rogue. Another case is super powerful spells. This would apply to all types of magic, not just nature. There are cases where spells are twice as powerful as what would be appropriate for the mana cost. A major example is superpowerful damage to one target. There are other things. There is superpowerful healing. There is doing damage or healing to two targets. There can be more. The drawback to this extra power is burning action points. Spells normally cost two action points. I use four action points. There is one melee sparkle attack on top of that. It only works at close range. The superpowered spells take four action points. Two are during the turn. Two are not. There are two varients. Maybe I can even let players choose which one to do. These varients are setup and cooldown. A player can do less actions on thier turn and set aside two action points. This is setup. Action points are saved untill later. Then when one uses the extra powerful spell, they use both the regular action points and saved action points. That is a lot. Alternatively a player may want to use a powerful spell right away. Maybe it is critical moment or something. The player could cast the spell even without saving action points beforehand. They use two action points during that turn. Then afterwards they take some kind of penalty. Maybe it is called negative action points, anti actoon points or something like that. When the player takes their next turn, they only get two action points instead of the regular four. They can do less on thier turn. The penalty subtracted two action points. This is a cooldown. It is a state where one has to take a turn to recover after blasting such a powerful spell. The distinction of setup and cooldoen could be added to DC20 and provide more options. This also apply to any action that can be used as a reaction. It can apply to opportunity attacks, counterspells and that kind of thing. I wonder what the Dungeon Coach thinks of this. One rule in this video I wasn't are of is fleshing out exploration and social pillars. Wow! I am just going to go watch that video now.
Btw, I love the cover of the book! Makes me want to throw down against a Purple Dragon with some friends!
REALLY want a video on that spell system, enhancements sound so interesting, basically just making your spells on the fly
NEVERMIND I FOUND IT
I love almost all of this, but I still think those spell duels are a liability. Just imagine an NPC that duels every spell cast by a player, resulting in a fancy explanation for nothing happening except resources being wasted. As a player, that would feel pretty bad
The DM controls the npcs so they could just not do that
Also no stat blocks have been made for monsters let alone spellcasters
Sounds like a bad dm problem to me
@@Wolfbane971 It'll happen, and so will the reverse with players just countering everything an opposing spellcaster does
Agreed. Everyone having access to counter spell isn't gonna turn out like everyone thinks at the table.
I was just asking and thinking about this on the discord 2 days ago. And what you don't realize is there is no free reaction. So the players are cancelling out their own future actions if they are spell duelling. And if a single stronger enemy uses more mana and has higher stats they get a much bigger bonus and therefor success rate to win the duel.
In the end all that means that 3 players can try to duel one single caster all the time and still not be able to cancel his spells while also wasting a lot of their own actions (half or more).
The help thing is fun, I personally set up help for my own little thing as requiring you to know said skill be it brawling, lockpicking etc, and you use your manuver to instruct someone adding your own skill to their roll. that way a wizard who doesn't know the first thing about swords may not be able to give the fighter pointers (pun intended) but alternately everyone who knows first aid can work together in a close moment all trying to save a downed companion.
Can you compare DC20 to pathfinder second edition? I feel like there are a lot of similarities (like the 3/4 action system) but everything is even more refinded, with pf2e being kind of in the middle between dnd and dc20.
I'd really appreciate a video covering that topic.
This ttrpg is an absolute game changer for the industry.
It will fully replace D&D at our table.
Going back to 5e combat is such a slog.
Interested in how many ttrpg games you've played as this is basically just a mid ground of 5e and PF2 which isn't necessarily bad but it's largely a heartbreaker game mostly based off those games. Hardly too innovative and certainly not "an absolute game changer for the industry"
@Jhakaro I have played D&D since 1980. 1st edition AD&D, 2nd edition AD&D, 3e, 3.5 D&D, 5e, shadowrun, shadowdark, Deathbringer, Knave, Whitehack, my ttrpg Aeternus, Stormbringer, Star Wars, FATE Core, Ten Candles, Maze Rats, One Bag Dungeon, Hero Quest (original), Ars Magica and Cairn.
A mid ground maybe, but the base concepts have inspired me already. 36 years of game mastering, and 43 years of playing ttrpgs, I like being surprised by concepts that are new to me.
I am excited to see where this game goes as it develops.
DC20 was recommended to me by a friend and long time ttrpg player.
I have yet to be disappointed
@@LutherGary17 So you're just caught up in hype then? It's cool if you enjoy it man, have fun! Just everywhere I look on this guy's channel it's people blatantly claiming it as the greatest thing in the world and so on and a huge evolution or revolution in games when it is quite literally just a (somewhat) heavy homebrew yet still retains about 70 percent of its dna with 5e and with Pathfinder, which is itself a clone though it has done well to differentiate itself. Tweaking someone else's rulesets into even an extensive homebrew doesn't make for large innovation or something "game changing" for an industry. It's a blend of copies with a few of his own ideas.
Obligatory comment to interact with the video.
Also, I love DC20 so much. New favourite game. Never going back to D&D
Giving yourself advantage is actually something I have in my system which isn't out yet, but it's in development (for the last almost 4 years now).
I will say we have a lot of similar design concepts, even though the execution is very different, and also we have entirely different games (mine isn't fantasy at all), but yes, it's not the only game. I will say a lot of games do offer various kinds of benefits from meta currencies though, and that's been around forever. Essentially your version makes it so the meta currency is just replaced by action point cost, which is totally reasonable.
Thought. Instead of separating stamina and mana, could just have "energy" that magic or physical abilities drain. If you cast a big spell, you are physically tired also. Or if you just exhausted a bunch of physical energy, it's more difficult to cast a spell.
With magic i always want an option to have little magic or lot of magic.
LETS GOOOO!!!!
Damn you beat me to it.
june 4 cant come fast enough
Gogo DC20 💜💜💜
I would love to have mana be dynamic, like you can spend an action to roll to charge your mana, with higher rolls generating more mana. But keeping mana in your body can be dangerous, causing damage if you don't spend it quickly. This would allow for those epic anime moments where a caster spends action after action to gather more and more mana that chips away at their health until they finally unleash that supercharged spell, then collapse from the effort
Nah, mana is a resource that doesn't come back untill a long rest, specifically to still make spellcasters have the weakness of running out of spells
Let's GO
Will you be at GenCon again this year? I could not find any DC20 events on the registry
Hey coach just wondering how you would build Krillin from Dragon Ball super in DC 20
Hey Coach! I may be interested to learn how to DM this system in tHE FAAAR future. It will be the first time I attempt to DM. My question is: do you think there will be an add-on or something to do it through Fantasy Grounds? It'd make it so much easier to learn how to DM (and well, I also only ever played DnD online so far).
He has a team that is working on stuff like that (I think). I don't know if they will do fantasy grounds, but I think they will take it to Foundry. I haven't looked too much into it because I use Owlbear Rodeo which doesn't have an ingrained system.
There is a rather good implementation for Foundry VTT on the level of the last Alpha 0.6.x of the Playtest. So there you are covered. In my experience FVTT is nowadays the first VTT someone steps up to do the system. For FG I was a lot into more core as that allowed for systems to be played that were not supported otherwise.
Does rolling high on a spell check allow you to add a new effect without mana cost?
When I hear "mix and match", I think "min max".
One thing i dont like (or maybe don't understand) why do only martials can grapple? If i am playing a sorcerer who's prime attribute is strength, i should be allowed to grapple a normal character, or try to trip them down
To make martials unique
@@ДюсековИльяс I read the whole alpha to figure it out.... So the rule is, Anyone can grapple, but only maritals can do "grapple maneuvers"
So grapple maneuvers makes them unique, but spell casters can try to grapple, shove, disarm and other simple stuff, but anything that requires a skill / maneuvers, that's something only maritals do
Does this graft on to 5e / is there a conversion method ?
I just got into ttrpgs and just learned some 5e - I like a lot of this and want to support the project as well as utilize these concepts. Just want to know if there is any aim to use it in 5e or if it’s standalone?
For easy reference, wouldn't it make sense to name the chapters for the rules they are about, instead of #1-5? I mean, it's not a WatchMojo video of top selection movies of the 90s with tension for the next pick. This is an informative video.
A question about Action Points:
You mention regularly about diminishing returns on Attacks, what about movement?
If you spend all 4 points running, do you move 5x4 squares? Or is it something like 5+4+3+2?
I think it's only for things that involve a roll, because the diminishing returns comes from stacking disadvantage
@@LeFlamel yes, that's all I've heard mentioned...
I suggest it'd be good to have it on movement too.
You move 5 squares per AP spent. No diminishing returns on movement, just checks. Also it only applies to each type of check. You could, for example, cast a spell and then make weapon attack without incurring the multiple check penalty as they are 2 different types of checks.
Not exactly the same, but Open Legends also had (has) a very fun stacking advantage/disadvantage system, and probably the coolest thing in that system is the exploding dice whenever you roll the max number on a dice. That always felt amazing.
I haven't had a chance to play DC20 but it looks very interesting so I've been following the Alpha and keeping my eyes out.
Are they're going to be any digital tools for like character creation/VTT support in future?
Does this stacking crits actually works backward? I mean if my spell fails does the backlash get worse the lower the role is? That would be cool.
Also, if every cantrip can be individually enhanced, does the same go for every weapon? This way the disapointing weapon system could be redeemed a bit.
OK I confess I'm still a little confused. Is DC20 a hack of 5e like Level Up A5e? Is it something like the Tales of the Valiant? Or are you swinging for a new system entirely?
15:52 - The fact that the play feels like its everything but still align with a degree of math enforced balance is everything.
Good job man.
Do other dice than d20 even have a place in the game?
Do you have a channel where you GM?
Wohoooo!
DC 20 WOOW
i am loving the 4 action point system becouse of all The potential.
4 action points give game masters and players soo much room too do soo manny difrent things and change up the strategy on the go
I cant wait too see higher levels and see all the potential difrent actions players and monsters can take in the future good luck too you and the team cant wait what mecenics you all come up with
I love the potential of DC20 ❤❤ cant wait too see whare it goes in the future
Love rules 1 and 2 and 3. However, both of these can be added as homebrew rules to any groups' game. How does these two need a separate core rule book? Good job on promoting creative roleplay of combat, social, exploratory in this video.
I do not believe in a Talk Stat or using mechanics and dice to have a conversation. Does your game have a Talk Stat? If so, I am sad I won't play it.
The action Surge of this system destroyed the game for me... what is the Point of Using Action Surge to gain more actions but you cant use them for attack ? maybe you can use them for spells but thats nothing for a fighter, Really disappoint me.
I'm trying to not be a Pathfinder Stan, but it's hard. Rule 1 is just Pathfinder, but worse, because you now need to remember more than 4 degrees of success, and subtracting 5 is harder than subtracting 10 (Mutants & Masterminds did a +/-5 system for years before PF2, and it never went anywhere). Rule 2 would be an improvement on Pathfinder, by combining actions and reactions, but allowing the stacking disadvantage to be nullified by spending action points just encourages attacking twice. Everything else isn't even remotely unique. World of Darkness, and DnD 3.5 (and pathfinder) all have combat maneuvers. WoD and Shadowrun (and pathfinder) have influence systems.
You've made some cool ideas, but DC20 just feels like you aren't fully conversant with the history of RPG game design outside of 5e.
The ideas may not all be entirely original, but do they have to be? Isn't there value in combining the better parts of other systems all in one cohesive place? It's easy to pick out an individual rule and say "this system did it better" but a system isn't made by doing 1 thing well. If DC20 can take the best of all worlds and unite them I would argue it would create a better overall experience than another system that did 1 thing better.
P.S.
I'm bias, I think DC20 is a great system personally, but no system is for everyone. If you like Pathfinder better, that's obviously an extremely popular and dope system and nobody can fault you for liking it.
One thing I will say is that the Action Point system DOES encourage those who are good at just attacking to attack twice, but it seems like there will be way more options and encouragement in class abilities to do things that help party members in one way or another, which is very exciting. I was in a game just last week and saw more than once a character who was not in a good place to use their own combat abilities still trying when we had plenty of people who could use a help action, including a beefed up NPC for the combat.
Tbf, a core part of TTRPG game design is to take the bits you love from other games, what inspires you, to create a new blend. 🙂
No game is fully new. Like, PF2 is a super solid system but PF1 was in large part D&D 3.5e reimagined (& that's fine) :)
@RangerIV there is, but The Dungeon Coach seems to not fully understand *why* these old systems worked or didn't work. I like his ambition, but I doubt execution.
Then go all-in on stacking disadvantage. More variety of actions in combat is good, why let the player remove that by just spamming attacks? Given the chance, players will optimize the fun out of the game.