Cantrips can take a hike

I've decided to get rid of cantrips in my 5th edition games. There's no real reason behind the removal other than I don't like cantrips but lets try to divine one anyway.

Let's take a look at all the cantrips:

Acid Splash
Blade Ward
Booming Blade
Chill Touch
Control Flames
Create Bonfire
Dancing Lights
Druidcraft
Eldritch Blast
Fire Bolt
Friends
Frostbite
Green-Flame Blade
Guidance
Gust
Light
Lightning Lure
Mage Hand
Magic Stone
Mending
Message
Minor Illusion
Mold Earth
Poison Spray
Prestidigitation
Produce Flame
Ray of Frost
Resistance
Sacred Flame
Shape Water
Shillelagh
Shocking Grasp
Spare the Dying
Sword Burst
Thaumaturgy
Thorn Whip
Thunderclap
True Strike
Vicious Mockery

The cantrips marked with red text are purely meant to do combat damage. (Notably they also have some form of combat trick.) Those in blue text are combat tricks, i.e. their purpose is to impose advantage/disadvantage or manipulate combat to some degree. In other words wargamey stuff. Finally green text stands for cantrips that permiss an otherwise out of control ability that must be bogged down with clauses in order to maintain "balance".

If we eliminate these three types of cantrips from the list we're only left with:

Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Minor Illusion
Spare the Dying

Admittedly I actually like these cantrips because I think they are simplistic enough to be taken advantage of by a quick-witted player. However I think the list is too small to keep cantrips as a mechanic alive.

So let's try something different.

Let's say that magic users can perform the miracles outlined in these cantrips at will by right of being magical. A magic user can call forth a ball of light. She can summon an ethereal hand, fix a broken wheel with no tools, implant messages in the minds of others, and create sounds and images that aren't present currently.

Likewise lets say that clerics can spare the dying through touch alone. (Unless they're evil. Then they're touch probably makes things die quickly.)

The cost for these miracles shouldn't be too high. In a spell slot system I imagine they wouldn't cost a slot at all. If spell points are being utilized, 1 point seems sufficient.

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Stunts

In 5e D&D fighter's have a subtype that get these cool sounding things called maneuver dice. They're actually d8s that let fighters do stunts. Unfortunately they are little more than vehicles for bonus damage in that system. So in OSR fashion I thought I would see what other places I could take maneuver dice and make them a little more interesting.

First of all, they're called stunt die. Maneuver is a laborious word and it sounds boring after the umpteenth uttering. Stunt is way simpler and rolls of the tongue like a machine gun. (stunt! stunt! stunt! stunt!).

Next every class has a single stunt die. This should probably be a d8 for fighty classes (i.e fighters), a d6 for not-so-fighty-but-still-fighty classes (i.e. specialists, clerics), and a d4 for not-remotely-fighty classes (i.e wizards).

The maneuver die can be used when attempting stunts. You roll the die alongside your attack and if you hit and the stunt die meets or beats a TN, determined by your referee, your stunt happens! Don't worry if you miss because if you do your stunt die goes up a level (i.e d8>d10>d12> ...). It also goes up a level if you land a crit or someone fumbles against you. but beware! Your stunt die levels down if you fumble, are hit by a crit or a stunt.

The increasing-decreasing levels encourages sides to compete for the upper hand. Eventually PCs and monsters alike will be flying around kicking like they're in an Ang Lee film just so the other side doesn't style on them.

Here's an example of the mechanic in action. Fangrot the Fighter really hates the look in that orc's eyes, so he decides he wants to pluck one out with his trusty dagger. He tells the ref. The ref thinks gouging someone's eye out should be fairly difficult so he assigns a TN of 6. Luckily Fangrot has been pretty showboaty this combat and has leveled his stunt die up to a d10. He rolls his attack...and hits! He rolls his maneuver die...and it's a 7! Fangrot holds the orcs eye in between his thumb and forefinger as he mocks the creature's painful screams.

For those refs concerned about which TN is suitable for which stunt, most of the time 4 is acceptable for simple actions. These are usually the "I want to disarm X" or "I attempt to shatter his shield" type actions. Add 1 or 2 to the TN for each factor you think makes it harder (i.e. X is wearing a weapon chain or the shield is adamantium). If you want to be cheeky make it harder every time your players say "and" because usually stunts with "and" thrown into the mix are more complex and therefore more difficult.

You could also tack on bonuses to the stunts die's result, be it bonus damage or dismemberment.