D&D 5E Your one hope for D&D?

[Satyrn]

But I also just don't like dark and gritty stories anymore, because so many of my favorite media has been either rebooted that way, or been turned into it over time, and it seems like 90% of new spec fic media is dark and gritty, or "grimdark", like Game of Thrones.

I . . . I just pictured a grimdark Xena reboot.

Do. Not. Want.

 

[akr71]

My one hope for D&D?

To play more.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think the biggest thing, for me, is changing the way Dragonmarks work. I don't think they've worked great in any edition, to be honest; even in 3.5 they over-emphasized the SLA's when the main point was, at least according to KB, the skill buffs that allowed the Dragonmarked Houses to establish their economic monopolies (and the ability to use Siberys shard magic items, which further allowed them to monopolize certain industries). I have a sneaking suspicion that the SLA's were added to make them worth the feat.

Since I wouldn't want to use feats to express Dragonmarks I'd instead use the Blessings system and indeed focus more on the skill boosts and ability to attune to/use Siberys shard items. I might add a cantrip and then some ritual casting as the mark grows. I'd leave the actual spell-casting to Aberrant marks, to further emphasize how different those are from true marks.

Other than that? I'd tone the "magical war economy" aspects somewhat; rather than concrete mathematical bonuses the mass-produced magical weapons/armor would come with other benefits that would extremely useful for an army at war without providing straight to-hit/damage buffs (like self-repairing armor, blades that never dull, etc.) Any kind of magic artillery (such as eternal wands, or as 5e calls them, wands) would have been rare and powerful; probably what kept Aundair and Cyre in the war in spite of their circumstances. The 5e Treaty of Galifar would likely have included a fairly strict "wand control" policy that would have seen most such items destroyed in light of the Mourning.

There's undoubtedly going to be clamoring for an Artificer class and magic item creation rules, but I'd personally axe that class and have most magic item creation monopolized by House Cannith; schemas for even the most basic magic items are closely guarded house secrets, and again anything that would be regarded as a magical weapon of any kind would be strictly forbidden by the treaty. That's probably not a popular idea so that's more my personal Eberron than anything I'd actually like to see in official support. I mean... I'd be pleasantly surprised if that were the case, but I'd also understand the outcries of heresy that would spark.

An interesting proposal. For me, personally, the item creation stuff defies the basic point of Eberron as a setting, but again, that is a personal preference.

And I, too, have heretical ideas of my Eberron. E.g., my Eberron has technological development as well as the magic development, and things like the Lightning Rail use both. Warforged aren't machines, but their creation does require knowledge of chemistry. I like to add NPCs that are Da Vinci esque, and there are bombs and cannons and guns, at about the level of the early 1600's.

edit: actually, I'd really enjoy a thread on those topics. And/or just "what does your personal Eberron look like?"

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I . . . I just pictured a grimdark Xena reboot.

Do. Not. Want.

I hope that no one wants that, but at his point I wouldn't be surprised by a grimdark reboot of Back To The Future.

 

[Gradine]

An interesting proposal. For me, personally, the item creation stuff defies the basic point of Eberron as a setting, but again, that is a personal preference.

And I, too, have heretical ideas of my Eberron. E.g., my Eberron has technological development as well as the magic development, and things like the Lightning Rail use both. Warforged aren't machines, but their creation does require knowledge of chemistry. I like to add NPCs that are Da Vinci esque, and there are bombs and cannons and guns, at about the level of the early 1600's.

For me, magic item creation is a hugely important factor of the background of the setting, but I have little use for it as an actual gameplay element. I'm sure that would be different had any of my players ever felt the drive to play an Artificer, but we all just kind of ignored magic item creation rules. We did, however, use schemas as adventure macguffins from time to time.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

For me, magic item creation is a hugely important factor of the background of the setting, but I have little use for it as an actual gameplay element. I'm sure that would be different had any of my players ever felt the drive to play an Artificer, but we all just kind of ignored magic item creation rules. We did, however, use schemas as adventure macguffins from time to time.

For us, we didn't like the complication of 3.5 item creation, and simplified things for Eberron, but the reason that stuff mattered for Eberron had nothing to do with PCs making magic items.

Instead, the fact that such items were available, and had market standard prices, trade value, standards of quality, etc, is an enormous part of defining the setting, for us. For my group, if you can't go to a craftsman or merchant and commission or buy a wand or magic sword, and if an ambush by highwaymen will almost certainly never involve defending against such items, we are playing something other than Eberron.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

A good D&D action rpg video game. With combat mechanics that play something like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls, with writing and characters on the same level as Fallout New Vegas, and online coop.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

A good D&D action rpg video game. With combat mechanics that play something like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls, with writing and characters on the same level as Fallout New Vegas, and online coop.

Yes, this!

As long as it can support jumping, climbing, etc like games like assassin's creed or Shadow of Mordor, and has good skill use opportunities, like games like fallout, dragon age, and elder scrolls, I'm all for it.

Oh, and I'd want classes to play differently, even in terms of how they work in combat.

edit: haven't played either of your example games, but from what I've seen of DS, it does play differently depending on class?

I'd kill(not literally) for a DnD game where increasing my Acrobatics skill makes me better at parkour, and increasing my athletics makes me jump higher and further, and climb faster.

 

[Inchoroi]

Some semblance of reasonable healing rules, where spending ten rounds in the Tarrasque's stomach acid, or taking a red dragon's breath weapon straight to the face, resulted in burns which required more than eight hours to heal. Even if it was one HP per level per day, and Hit Dice for healing weren't a thing, that would still go a long way toward making a fun game where the outcome of combat mattered.

I changed it up so that you don't get HP back after a long rest; you have to spend hit dice, just as you would during a short rest. It makes combat downright terrifying, sometimes.

If I had one wish....hm. That's hard.

I don't run FR, or any of the other official settings, so that's out for me. I do miss me some Dark Sun, but that was back then.

I'd have to say some official adventures, shorter ones; oh, also! A continuation of Lost Mines of Phandelver into a 5-15 or 18 campaign. I love sandbox campaigns.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Yes, this!

edit: haven't played either of your example games, but from what I've seen of DS, it does play differently depending on class?

A little. There are several different viable builds to choose from but at the end of the day there are only two ways to kill things: attacking with your weapon or casting spells.

Different weapons have different move sets that will influence how you use them. For instance using a shield and one handed weapon lets you play pretty safe by turtling, big two handed weapons excel at clearing crowds, long weapons let you keep your distance, etc.

Spells let you be safer by keeping your distance but they are a limited resource. For this reason even spell casters typically spec into being able to use a decent weapon. Spells can also be used to buff yourself, heal or for other utility effects like silencing your movements.

I called out Dark Souls because I prefer this slower and more deliberate style of combat over something like Bayonetta. I feel like I have to think more about my actions with a slower pace instead of just frantically trying to input the buttons for a good combo (but I'm really bad at Platinum style action games so I think it's more that in those games I don't have time to think).