Ruleset differences with D&D 5e

[Myzzrym]

Hello there folks,

We've noticed that we haven't put up a list of what is different between our game rules and the D&D 5e Ruleset, which have confused a fair amount of experienced players into thinking that some design decisions where bugs. Note that most often than not, when there are variations between the tabletop Ruleset and Solasta, it's not on purpose (it is a bug), but on a few occasions it's by design.

Let me share with you the differences:

Vision & Light

On Tabletop, when fighting against heavily obscured creatures (for instance in a thick fog or in total darkness without darkvision), you are effectively considered as "Blinded" - meaning you should not even be able to target them. Many DMs will accommodate with Perception rolls to allow you to fight by sound, smell or whatever it is that better fits your character roleplay-wise in a case by case scenario, but there is no clear and definite rule for that (RAW you are blinded and that's all).

In Solasta, there is a clear separation between the player and the characters, as you see everything from above like an observer - meaning you as the player clearly see the creatures on screen, but your characters don't. And that it would create a lot of frustration if we didn't allow blinded characters to attack at all.

Which is why in Solasta, even while blinded (be it in a thick fog, total darkness or even when affected by the Blindess spell), characters (and creatures!) can still attack and trigger opportunity attacks - although with disadvantage.

Advantage & Disadvantage Stacking

On Tabletop, the rule is very clear and simple - not matter how many sources of advantages / disadvantages you have, they cancel out. This is notably great because it makes it easier on the players and the DM to avoid having to track how many advantages / disadvantages are involved, making every roll faster.

However, in Solasta as the computer's the one doing the heavy lifting, we opted for a system where if you have more advantages than disadvantages, you will still roll with advantage (and vice versa). Think of it as a simple system of +1 and -1, with one advantage and one disadvantage the score goes to 0 and you roll normally, otherwise you will roll with advantage or disadvantage depending on the balance.

Dancing Light

On Tabletop, Dancing Light produces 4 different lights that you can move around certain conditions (no light can be further than 20' from another light, etc etc). On Solasta, Dancing Light produces a single ball containing the 4 different lights merged together. Also, on Solasta Dancing Light produces 10' of Bright Light + 10' of Dim Light instead of just 10' of Dim Light.

Why the change? First, micromanaging 4 additional units (light source) and adding all the rules and restrictions made the spell very tedious to use, which is why we switched it to a single (bigger) light. As a result, we increased the brightness of that light - which also make it useful to non-Darkvision characters (since having only 10' of Dim Light would do nothing for them otherwise as they need Bright Light).

Proficiency & equipment

On Tabletop, you can technically use any equipment you want even if you're not proficient with it - you just don't get any bonuses and proficiency modifier. On Solasta, we've currently disabled equipment you're not proficient with, preventing you from equipping the item.

This one is more to help the less knowledgeable players to avoid frustration when they don't understand why their character doesn't have the bonuses they should - it might change in the future, but for the moment we think it's for the best.

Weapon swapping

On Tabletop, depending on your DM you may or may not be able to swap weapons on the fly - for instance, according to the rules donning on / off a shield takes quite some time! In Solasta we allow to swap weapons once per round (free action).

Considering how often you may need to swap between melee / ranged weapons and/or get a torch out, we felt like it would slow down the pace of the fight a bit too much if we went with the actual Tabletop Rules there.

Homebrew Archetypes

We often have people asking "why aren't you adding Battlemaster / Forge Domain / Bladesinger instead of your Homebrew archetypes?"

Keep in mind that we're using the SRD 5.1 license, not the full D&D 5e license - meaning we simply can't. We're not allowed to, that's how copyright goes. We are allowed a single SRD archetype for each class (such as champion, or life domain).

Additional Spells

Similarly, some people are asking about Green Flame Blade, Toll the Dead or Word of Radiance - those spells are not SRD.

Long story short, spells that are not in the Player Handbook are not SRD (and even some that are in the PHB aren't SRD, such as Hex) - so we can't use them. As for spells like Friend or Zone of Truth, they simply aren't there because we haven't implemented anything to use them on. As you know the entire game is voiced, and creating special lines of dialogue for every "social" spell isn't possible for our budget :(

Proxy Spells and Line of Sight

Alright this one is a lot less clear, since not everyone agrees on Tabletop either. Proxy Spells are what we call spells like Spiritual Weapon, or Flaming Sphere - spells that create a new unit that you can move around as the caster (so different from summoning a wolf for instance).

In Solasta, you can't attack with your Proxy Spell if your caster doesn't have line of sight on the target - meaning you can't move your Spiritual Weapon around the corner to attack an enemy you can't see.

Casting multiple Proxy Spells

Although some Proxy Spells such as Spiritual Weapon do not require concentration, Solasta only allows one active proxy spell per caster. This means you can't have both Spiritual Weapon and Flaming Sphere active at the same time - casting one will remove the other.

Some Spells have minor adjustments

You may have noticed Spiritual Weapon does not deal damage on the first turn after being cast. This is currently due to a technical limitation, as both summoning the Spiritual Weapon and attacking with it takes a bonus action, with the exception of the turn it is summoned. This exception has not been implemented.

If you find anything that deviates from Tabletop Rules that is not mentioned above, please make sure to post here so I can either add it to the list - or add it to the Bug List :p

[Neuromancer]

I think you did a great job because things have to be Solastan as well. For ruining 5e see: Baldurs Gate 3. Why have you closed off primed weapons?

[Neuromancer]

Originally posted by mxpoet:

The main take-away i have from this list: it's a REALLY short list. Short. Like. I am so impressed at how few deviations you needed. Brilliant.

Agreed. And playability is close to perfect. In BG3 there are gaping holes everywhere including problems with jumping. I've seen your animations get better too. Love the goblins.

[Neuromancer]

Originally posted by glries:

On the camping behavior, +1 on characters being surprised way too often and then being in "magic sleep." For normal sleep, the alert character should be able to take a single action to wake EVERYONE else, or maybe use a free action to shout which would give all a save to wake. Also, you cannot tell me that casting a friggin lighting bolt through the center of camp will have zero impact to the sleepers. The opponents could do almost anything they wanted and have no possibility of waking the other characters. Madness. Ok, that last part could be a technical thing because fixing it would mean knowing which things have a chance to wake others and which don't, but the single-action-to-wake-all thing seems doable. I liked the game, but the name could easily be changed from Solasta to Kill 'em while they're Sleeping! ...or maybe that's the name when in Ironman mode.

For camping HELL try BG3. I've noticed attacks on the Solasta camp are waking people (humans and dwarves) up now. You can also use an action to wake someone up depending on the severity of the situation.

[Dorok]

There's more Homebrew than what is listed in OP. I quoted:
- End of module when character die and can't be instantly revived.
- Rogue can't use hide as a bonus action, seeing the disaster it is in BG3 EA, that's probably a mostly required Homebrew.
- There's no jump action, D&D rules around jump could be bizarre and feel unnatural, but the point remains, jump should be an action option, not a mechanic dependent of "DM" no you can"t jump here or there, only there and here.
- Crafting no way respect the D&D rules on that, that's not one Homebrew but multiple Homebrew. In all honesty I'll admit that D&D crafting is pointless for a standard D&D video game RPG.
- Characters backgrounds can hardly be explained with D&D rules. That said, it's out of my understanding that for D&D 5e standard party size is 4, Backgrounds are Homebrew tempering this weird design, but in my opinion the error is to not have party of 6 no matter the D&D 5e standards.
- Carry rules default option, but yeah an option allows enable the standard rules. The point remains that it's Homebrew for default option.
- Rule to hide is no way standard, no matter the light level and the distance if an enemy has a LOS to the character the action is impossible, nice find, but no standard D&D.
- Crossbows allow multiple shoot during a turn without any extra feat to allow it.
- Picklock is allowed even without any proficiency related to the activity.
- There's no Multiclass at all. I'm not sure it's unfair to add that, missing rules is still Homebrew, remove Dodge action is missing dodge and is Homebrew.
- There are many missing spells.

[Cormellion]

Its way closer to 5e than BG3 by far. I like some of the home brew too, but yes there i a lot of homebrew... Devs make good DMs IMHO. ;) It works and is a good assimilation of SRD rules in a computer game.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Been playing via XBGP lately.

A couple of minor deviations I don't see listed in the top post of the thread:

* Solasta does not seem to let you cast a quickened 1-action cantrip after using your action to cast a 1-action cantrip. This is legal in tabletop, but Solasta doesn't let you, since you can't even access the 1-action cantrips to be able to quicken one.

* Twinning may be considered to be more generously applicable in Solasta than it is in tabletop. With the cuurrent "Sage Advice Compendium", for instance, the 5e designers stated an intent that spells which can target objects are meant to be ineligible, even if you are using them to target a creature instead of an object. If we adhere to that, then Fire Bolt should technically be excluded. This is with their RAI rather than RAW, though, and it's among the bits of RAI that I would personally tend to ignore. :P

[Sentient_Toaster]

Another: Shocking Grasp on a Veteran should be cast at advantage, since the veteran at least seems to be wearing metal armor, but does not appear to be.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Tongues and Comprehend Languages deviate somewhat from the SRD in Solasta. Not that the following matters that much, but they're a bit... blended?

"Tongues", in the SRD, allows the target to (1) understand any *spoken* language it hears, and (2) automatically makes any creature that has any language understand the target when it speaks (whether it wants them to understand or not...). It does not, however, interact with written languages at all.

"Comprehend Languages", allows one to understand spoken languages, but does nothing to help you be understood when speaking. It also allows understanding any written language so long as you can touch the surface, but not to decode secret messages or to understand glyphs that aren't part of a language.


In Solasta, "Tongues" appears to allow one to read documents in languages that none of your characters are proficient in. Compounding the weirdness, there is a "Helm of Comprehend Languages" that does not actually let you cast "Comprehend Languages" like one would expect; it instead lets you cast "Tongues", with the end result that you *do* comprehend written languages like the item name but not the SRD spell it's casting.

[Blitz4]

Originally posted by Myzzrym:

Additional Spells

Similarly, some people are asking about Green Flame Blade, Toll the Dead or Word of Radiance - those spells are not SRD.

Long story short, spells that are not in the Player Handbook are not SRD (and even some that are in the PHB aren't SRD, such as Hex) - so we can't use them. As for spells like Friend or Zone of Truth, they simply aren't there because we haven't implemented anything to use them on. As you know the entire game is voiced, and creating special lines of dialogue for every "social" spell isn't possible for our budget :(

Fallout 1/2 created separate lines of dialogue for stupid PCs, mostly they prevented PCs from speaking to NPCs, but the extra dialogue added a bit of comedy in the game, which not many got to experience. But they didn't followup with that at all with FO3, FO4 even with the crazy budget they had there, maybe because they added voice acting and not many would use it and money for Bethesda is better spent on fixing bugs and buying more duct tape for their old engine. (I'm confident majority of gamers that post on steam forums share my take on what I said about Bethesda's bugs & engine, if that's not allowed here, lemme know and it'll be deleted).

[MayNeeak]

Any plans for Multi Classing? I understand that technically this could be complicated. Just interested really. Otherwise best game i've played in the genre since NWN2.

[PT]

In SRD use of scrolls uses the same action economy as the original spell. Example - Scroll of shield would use reaction, scroll of spiritual weapon would use a bonus action. In solasta every scroll uses an action to activate

[Sweeper]

So i noticed that Mage armor in Solasta doesn't work the same as in actual D&D. MA should set your AC to 13+dex. It doesn't do this. my 18 dex elf wiz cast MA and it goes from 14 ac to 13 when it should go to 17. any one else notice this?

[Bastilean]

Just want to say I am in love with the game play created by Solasta. There may be some discrepancies between this system and the TT, but there is at any D&D table, and I love how you captured the system so well. It's a joy to play. Looking forward to finishing this game and hoping for more in the future.

[Rya.Reisender]

I think there is a huge misinterpretation of the rules in regards to sight in this game. You don't need to be able to see a target to attack it or cast a spell on it in D&D 5e.

Only exception is if a spell itself says "A target that you can see".

[Aquillion]

Originally posted by Rya.Reisender:

I think there is a huge misinterpretation of the rules in regards to sight in this game. You don't need to be able to see a target to attack it or cast a spell on it in D&D 5e.

Only exception is if a spell itself says "A target that you can see".

You do need an unimpeded line to them, though (what 3.5e called "line of effect" - you can't cast through a glass window, even), because if there's an object completely blocking the path then they have full cover and cannot be targeted.