So far, I've actually been simplifying how 5E D&D assigns features to classes for my own purposes. After all, in 5E and traditional D&D the role of the Rogue is the "skill monkey", and these systems assign value to extra skills and expertise. If we look at all the 5E classes as a whole rather than one or two features, we could roughly summarize their features as follows:
| Class | Figtr | Paldn | Rangr | Barb | Monk | Sorcr | Wizrd | Clerc | Druid | Rogue | Bard | Warlk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HD | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Caster | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Armour | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Weapons | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Skills | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Tools | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Martial Ability | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Domain/pact boon | 1 | |||||||||||
| Expertise | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Total Value | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 11 |
Well, that's nice for a bird's eye view but doesn't really help us so much since I've decided to separate the value of skills and expertise from the other class features. I just figured folks will be interested to see the work I put into looking at the various classes as a whole.
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Let's put that bird's eye view aside and go back to the Feature Point (FP) system we were designing in Part 1. Our target is to figure out the value 5E places on Sneak Attack. Sneak Attack gives an extra 1d6 damage upon meeting the conditions, which is an average of 3.5 damage. Seeing as how every party should have a warrior who will stand next to an enemy, the conditions for sneak attack really are not difficult to meet. So sneak attack's value should be no less than 3FP.
If we apply the same process as we did in Part 1 to the Rogue, we'll see that the Rogue gets simple weapon + light armor + d8 hit dice + expertise + 2 extra skills + sneak attack (we'll regard Thieves’ Cant as fluff with no FP value). At least we know the value of the first three: 1+1+1=3, but we don't have a value for expertise + 2 extra skills + sneak attack. Somehow those add up to about 9 FP in our system. Expertise should have at least the same value as the 2 extra skill points if not more since expertise gives double proficiency bonus in two skills.
So it could be:
a) Expertise = 3, 2 skills =3, sneak attack =3
b) Expertise = 2, 2 skills = 2, sneak attack = 5
c) Expertise = 3, 2 skills =2, sneak attack =4
d) Expertise =1, 2 skills =1, sneak attack = 7 (highly doubtful)
So according to our weightage system, 5E assigns a value of about 3 to 5 FP for sneak attack. I'm leaning towards 3 or 4 FP. In our system, it's likely we need to give the rogue-ish character concepts a bit of a hand since we aren't assigning extra skills/expertise as a class feature. If we bump up sneak attack from d6 to d8, we should similarly bump up it's cost to 4 to 6 FP (I'm leaning towards 4 to 5).
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Notice I keep saying how 5E assigns value to various features, not how a classless system should do so? Our estimate on how 5E assigns values to various class features is a good place to start, but we can fiddle with the numbers to better suit our system. We could for example decide to assign a value of 8 or 10 to wizard spellcasting instead for 9 because we really really want an even number. Why do we want an even number? For one, a classless system really benefits from having half wizard spell-casting progression paths. For example, the Warlock spell progression. There are a lot of folks who'll want to build a character with limited access to wizard spells, so to accommodate them there should be limited wizard spell-casting options. Half of 10 is 5.
Also, we have to consider what happens when the PC reaches level 2.
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Let's look at what the fighter gets at level 2 in 5E. From his class features he gets 6 more hit points and action surge. The wizard gets 4 more hit points, one more level 1 wizard spell slot, and arcane tradition. So does that mean 2 more hit points and action surge is equal in value to an extra spell slot and arcane tradition? Not really. The fighter is in fact investing towards his extra attack which comes online at level 5, 11 and 20.
Taking 5E's level by level progression system really doesn't work for a classless system. To understand 5th edition's level progression, we really need to look at 3rd edition which introduced the concept of taking an individual level of a class as a form of multi-classing. Back in 3rd edition, every level of Fighter/Paladin/Ranger/Barbarian contributed to a +1 bonus to attack (called a base attack bonus). Once you hit +6 base attack bonus, you got an extra attack at +1 base attack bonus. This gave made every level of these warrior classes more meaningful, so players had reason to invest in pure warrior classes.
5E however did away with the base attack bonus system due to the principle of bounded accuracy. Quite a brilliant bit of design there, IMO. Instead, players need to invest in levels of a specific warrior class in order to get those much coveted extra attacks, which instead hit for full damage. Extra attacks from different warrior class in 5E (fighter/paladin, ranger, barbarian) do NOT stack with each other.
That doesn't really work for a classless system though, because there isn't a class to invest levels in. We're using a Feature Points system to buy features, so we want warrior classes to have something to invest their feature points in every level rather than something they only get after 5 levels. Warriors such as the fighter need to improve their damage output as they level up, at least eventually.
If we want to stick to the principle of bounded accuracy (We should. It's a good principle), there are not many options. Every level, warriors can invest their FP in increased damage with their weapons. In order to maintain the value of martial weapons vs simple weapons, how much FP they can invest and how much damage bonuses they can get should depend on their weapon proficiency.
And so we could use something which looks like this:
| Feature | FP cost | Requirement | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martial weapon proficiency | 2 | - | Proficiency in martial weapons |
| Martial weapon proficiency 2 | 2 | char level 2 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 3 | 2 | char level 3 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 4 | 2 | char level 4 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 5 | 2 | char level 5 | 2x Damage dice, 1 Cleave per round |
| Martial weapon proficiency 6 | 2 | char level 6 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 7 | 2 | char level 7 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 8 | 2 | char level 8 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 9 | 2 | char level 9 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 10 | 2 | char level 10 | 3x Damage dice, 2 Cleaves per round |
| Martial weapon proficiency 11 | 2 | char level 11 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 12 | 2 | char level 12 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 13 | 2 | char level 13 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 14 | 2 | char level 14 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 15 | 2 | char level 15 | 4x Damage dice, 3 Cleaves per round |
| Martial weapon proficiency 16 | 2 | char level 16 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 17 | 2 | char level 17 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 18 | 2 | char level 18 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 19 | 2 | char level 19 | Damage + 2 (+3 for twohanded) |
| Martial weapon proficiency 20 | 2 | char level 20 | 5x Damage dice, no cleave limit |
And for simple weapons:
| Name | FP cost | Requirement | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple weapon proficiency | 1 | - | Proficiency in simple weapons |
| Simple weapon proficiency 2 | 1 | char level 2 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 3 | 1 | char level 3 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 4 | 1 | char level 4 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 5 | 1 | char level 5 | 2x Damage dice, 1 Cleave per round |
| Simple weapon proficiency 6 | 1 | char level 6 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 7 | 1 | char level 7 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 8 | 1 | char level 8 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 9 | 1 | char level 9 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 10 | 1 | char level 10 | 3x Damage dice |
| Simple weapon proficiency 11 | 1 | char level 11 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 12 | 1 | char level 12 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 13 | 1 | char level 13 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 14 | 1 | char level 14 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 15 | 1 | char level 15 | 4x Damage dice |
| Simple weapon proficiency 16 | 1 | char level 16 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 17 | 1 | char level 17 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 18 | 1 | char level 18 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 19 | 1 | char level 19 | Damage + 1 (+2 for twohanded) |
| Simple weapon proficiency 20 | 1 | char level 20 | 5x Damage dice |
Phew. But we're not nearly done! We need to calculate how much FP the fighter uses every level. The fighter now gets 2 more hit points than the lowly wizard every level, so that's 2 FP. He invests in Martial Weapon proficiency for the damage bonus every level, so that's another 2 FP. We want to have some additional FP for the Fighter to invest in other fun features. Say another 2 FP. Altogether a PC should gain 6FP every level.
But the wizard's spell progression costs 8 to 10 FP? Well, no it doesn't after level 1. Think about it. At level 1, the wizard spends 8 to 10 FP to get access to wizard spells and gains 2 level 1 spell slots. At level 2, the wizard the wizard invests into wizard spellcasting and gets 1 more spell slot. Should 1 more level 1 spell slot cost the same amount of FP as 2 level 1 spell slots at level 1? Players will correctly value it at half the amount of FP. If we value wizard spell progression at level 1 as 8FP and 4FP every level thereafter, it fits into our model quite well since we want to have a bit left over for fun bonus features. (6FP per level - 4FP leaves 2 FP per level)
And so:
| Name | FP cost | Requirement | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wizard spell-casting 1 | 8 | - | (see Full caster spell progression table) |
| Wizard spell-casting 2 | 4 | char level 2 | " |
| Wizard spell-casting 3 | 4 | char level 3 | " |
| Wizard spell-casting 4 | 4 | char level 4 | " |
| Wizard spell-casting 5 | 4 | char level 5 | " |
And so on so forth.
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