Too much innovation?

Hrm. The less than positive reaction to response to some of the changes I tried in my last session got me thinking. I've tried to change up quite a few things to improve the game. But I think I need to stick to changes which have an important benefit. Too many changes, especially changes which make the game more difficult, will likely not be well accepted by players.

I'm probably going to see a lot of flak for removing constitution, charisma and wisdom for instance. The benefits of the alternate ability scores is a somewhat subtle. So I should seriously consider whether I really need alternate ability scores.

On the other hand, removing the experience budgets has a huge impact on time spent prepping for the game and is a frequent complaint by GMs, so revamping the CR system is a change that should stay. I don't think players will really mind rolling extra damage dice anyway.

I guess the TYPE of change matters. For instance, changes which make the playing the game easier for players may be better appreciated than changes with more subtle benefits. For instance, players are less likely to complain about more flexible spell casting systems which so happens to also solve "linear warriors, quadratic mages".

On the same note as revamping the CR system, I think removing the need for counting squares has a very significant side-benefit: reducing the preparation load of the GM (no need to draw map grid). "Maps" are easy enough to prepare on the fly, complete with props and environmental terrain. Just use a couple of playing cards to denote the combat zones, and have some general props prepared beforehand (tokens for trees and the like). Sensory pleasure-seeking players would love it.

I suspect the endurance/HP system needs to be axed though. Creating tension and improving how the players play the game and thus increase their enjoyment of the game may be a bit to subtle. I'll probably keep the danger associated with hitting zero HP though: roll death save as soon as you are reduced to zero HP.

Hrmpppph. It's really a pity though. The endurance system would have fixed some issues in my spell system as well. (I wanted sorcery-style spell casting slots to refresh every minute. But if I did that, it would make healing spells too powerful. Unless healing spells only recover endurance...)

I'm feeling a little disappointed though. I've already got a lot of interconnected systems which work well together.

Guh. Maybe I'm overthinking things again.