Why do a d20 Version?

There is a SRD for DnD 5.0 that was used initially to assess migrating Incarna to a d20 approach. Incarna™ reflected the “gritty realism” (see 5th Edition DMG p. 267) perspective and lethality missing in the common tropes most often presented in ©Dungeons and Dragons™. The HP and AC mechanics were really no more than an endless pursuit of pluses and adjustments. With 5th edition, many of these approaches are defined variants and now work well in a balanced DnD system that matches the flavor of Incarna. The “Incarna D20 Branch” (originally begun in 08/2015 – see original BLOGSPOT work & original announcement) is a branch of the Incarna game which incorporates D20 rules with a set of custom essential guidelines (essentially a “home brew“) to produce a custom variant. Incarna is proud to also stand as a still fully independent and unique approach (“Incarna Core”/iCore™).

2016 BLOGSPOT WORK: Kelly Berger, Mario Kundzins, Tom Potter, Troy Lancaster, Larry Dobson, Arabus Grenier; No order of importance.
Continued Work evaluating materials on DnD Beyond.

Blogspot Summary

  • The rest mechanics reflect a video game approach. Its too fast to express the lethality of real damage and healing. Hence, we adopted the recommended approach of Gritty Realism from the DMG. Long Rests a week, short rests a night.
  • Passive Defense is thought very poorly of – people coming from percentile systems like Runequest, Stormbringer and other chaosium™ games prefer it. Active defense using skills in DnD 5 would require too much breaking of game balance, so the Resilience of items (armor) was used as a means of both employing an active defense (with limited uses) and the wear and tear of items (also absent in d20).
  • Hit Points and Hit Dice are not reflective of the actual meat value Incarna used with active defense (dodge, soak, fatigue damage, etc.); HP is viewed as actual Health, and HD would not be regained each rest. Instead, a standard healing rate per night of rest, impacted by accomodations, care, and nutrition like Incarna will be used.

Evaluation: Rule of Averages Approach

Revisited + Assessed: So we originally took the position that using all averages would speed things up. With proficiency bonus and other effect and circumstances its just not true for all players, though mostly because they were just not used to it. As an in-game contract, GMs are going to allow dice rolling and let players choose averages – as long as its consistent. We found that 100% of new players OVER TIME preferred using the rule of averages.