# Aim
##### A Writeup
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# Weighting Accuracy
Dungeons and Dragons hosts a variety of ways to augment and change the standard attack pattern in a character, most of these ways involve things like using abilities and casting spells. For all of the different ways to change the scope of combat there in lies no effect that allows the Player to target specific portions of an enemies body in order to gain an advantage. This would ideally impart a disadvantage on the enemy's front at the cost of risk for the character to use such an effect, and the result would be the Player having to understand where the weak points on an enemy are, and how to calculate that risk effectively. Aim plans to fill that role, but it is not without cost on the part of development, because there is nothing close to the idea of Player-side situational action use in 5e.
### Understanding Accuracy in D&D
Just as a creature's armor class does not justify whether or not you completely miss a target or plunge your blade deep into its flesh, your attack bonus does not justify your accuracy in a general sense. Having a +10 bonus to attacks does not necessarily mean that you will always hit the enemy in the weakest points nor does it mean a +0 will always scratch against the surface. The concepts of mechanical bonus and initial meeting conditions (DCs) are to be used to describe the flow of combat. A sufficient understanding of your character's impact in battle can lead to certainty in decision making. To reduce the game, however, to simply whether or not meaningful actions are being taken, and the accuracy of one's attacks being added to a sum that calculates the result of combat may be what D&D came from, but it's not what it represents. Because therein lies a vital flaw within a system that runs off of that premise.
By Broadening the design space that 5e already works with, we are running the risk of displacing the system we are intending to patch. By carefully crafting Aim such that it models only the general characteristics of spellcasters and spells the system runs no risk of major displacement.
### Linear Fighters / Quadratic Wizards
To quantify actions as damage dealt along with the accuracy to generalize, or average the combatant's usefulness means that we can analyze the game at a designspace level. Though D&D was never meants to be viewed in this light I think it plays an important rule in distinguishing real Players from blatant metagamers who wish to abuse the system for what it's worth. It's clear if you've ever played with a Wizard in your party, that by the time they get 3rd level spells slots, their usefulness appears to exponentially increase. As characters increase in level, the amount of useful and powerful options for spellcasters become abundant, but martial classes like the Fighter remain stagnant with the same abilities getting marginal but fair buffs.
Take for instance, Fireball. This spell was intentionally made overpowered to pay homage to the legacy that Fireball has as a spell. The spell is good regardless as to whether you are fighting one tough monster or many minions. It simply increases in strength when there are more.
It is a DM's job, as you may understand, to counteract the spell and allow for more complex combat as a result, but overtime it has become abundantly clear to me, as well as others that with more and more powerful spells coming into play around the 8th level it becomes understandably difficult to make encounters unique and different without fear of the spellcaster ending it all with one useful spell. One such option that the martial classes could not get there hands on until very high levels, or in some case, ever. This creates as situation where everyone eventually either makes a spellcaster, or their martial class gains spellcasting in some form or another. This limits the scope of available characters at higher levels, as you make more interesting characters without spellcasting you choose to gain less usefulness. In a campaign where usefulness is imperetive to gaining recognition as a hero, this will simply not do.
### Enter Aim
Aim is described as an action that allows useful options at will from any class that uses weapons at the cost of inaccuracy on a mechanical basis. It is described as the following:
> The **Aim** action can be used to impart a condition, impairment, or effect on hit. Make a weapon attack on a creature within range with disadvantage. You cannot gain the benefits of advantage on this attack unless you use inspiration, in which case the effects both cancel.
>The result of this attack is determined by the DM on a situational basis.
Understandably, this is vague and may need more practice and explanation in order to understand how it is used and when it should be used.
### Example Usage
Your party ambushes a pack of Goblins in the night, during your surprise round your party members go and attempt to subdue most of the Goblins so they can't call for reinforcements. All seems to go well until one straggler attempts to make himself known. Before he is about to call for help your ally tackles him to the ground, the goblin crawls free and is about to blow your entire cover, so you take the opportunity to silence him for good.
Upon hitting the Goblin with aim the DM decides that upon dealing damage the Goblin gains the bleeding impairment, at the start of his turn he will take damage and he can no longer speak. As the encounter progresses you worry about one less Goblin blowing your cover, and you have effectively taken him out in one strike as he slowly dies due too bleeding out.
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# Situational Awareness Chart
| Bonus | Example Valid Body Targets | Example Results |
|:-----:|:--------------------------:|:---------------:|
| Disadvantage | Torso, Arms, or Legs | Prone, Deafened, or Bleeding |
| Normal | Feet, Head, or Joints | Restrained, Stunned, or Minor Wound |
| Advantage | Eyes, Throat, Hands, or Critical Organs | Blinded, Muted, Major Wound, Disarmed, or Paralyzed |
### Using Aim Incorrectly
By choosing an invalid option based on the situation, the character will reap the consequences of their choice. By choosing a critical area like the eyes or throat while you wouldn't normally have advantage on the attack you instead reap the benefits of a valid location one **bonus type** lower than your current bonus type. If you take the Aim action and use it incorrectly while you would have neither advantage nor disadvantage, you reap only the benefits of Aim while you would have disadvantage. If you would have disadvantage and use it incorrectly, you gain no effect.
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>##### Special Errata
- Rogues do get the benefit of sneak attack if they would have had advantage on the attack.