D&D (2024) Out with the old, in with the new?

[Micah Sweet]

That's because it's the 9th time that the core books have been revised since Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came out in 1978 (and you have to ignore the D&D line before and concurrent to that in order to only arrive at 9). There have been many different naming conventions during that time.

What is an "edition" and what is not, is something of a muddled mess (which makes it "fun" to argue about!) But a DM has to decide to incorporate new rules (or not) whenever new rules arrive. Heck, that even includes errata!

What they haven't done before, however, is make such a rules revision while keeping the title of the book identical and not calling out an edition change. That's never not going to matter to me, and if they won't call it something different, I will. 5.5e works well enough.

 

[SteveC]

And yet we have 3.5 explicitly called out as such. It's a useful distinction, with precedent, and I see no reason (as I am not an agent of a massive maximum-profit-seeking corporation) not to use it.

We'll see how it shakes out.

Exactly. We haven't known really what's coming, but from the latest playtests, it really does have that .5 feeling. The new weapon system for fighters, rebalancing for spells, new monk and druid ... you will really need the new books to stay current. At the same time, the proficiency system is the same as are much of the core rules. But who knows how much else will be updated?

 

[LordEntrails]

I just really haven't worried about it. When the 2024 stuff comes out I'll see what the reviews and opinions are like. I will see how it is implemented in Fantasy Grounds. And then I will decide if I'm going to use some all or none of it.

For me, I'd rather just wait until we actually have it then speculate on what it might be or what I might do with it.

 

[jayoungr]

I wish you'd had an option for "I plan to stick with the 2014 materials for the most part but may incorporate some newer stuff if I like it," because that's where I fall. Since that wasn't an option, I picked "No 2024 for me" because that's my default position--the 2024 stuff is going to have to actively win me over in order for me to use it.

 

[Distracted DM]

Hard Reset for me! I'm waiting to start my next campaign til 5.5e comes out, the schedule slip to September is killing me though

This is something that I could use help understanding- why wait? Are you playing/running other systems in the meantime or do you invest your TTRPG time elsewhere and avoid the hobby for months?

I assume you're running/playing something else- the idea of putting something that you actively enjoy on hold for months n months because a company is going to be putting out a newer version ... I don't mean to demean the choice, I would like to understand it!

 

[Nebulous]

Not switching anytime soon. Still in the middle of Spelljammer and using Level Up rules, so it already feels different than vanilla D&D. Whenever I would switch to a new D&D campaign it would likely be a hard reset with all the 2024 material from scratch. But I don't even know when that would be as I still want to run DCC and Pulp Cthluhu, and only have so much time.

 

[Parmandur]

"A Dumb Bit of Sleaszy Corporate Marketing WotC tried One Time" is hardly "precedent" is it...?

 

[Oofta]

What they haven't done before, however, is make such a rules revision while keeping the title of the book identical and not calling out an edition change. That's never not going to matter to me, and if they won't call it something different, I will. 5.5e works well enough.

Because the title of the current books don't include an edition number. This is a really weird hill, with an obvious answer, that you've chosen to die on.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I will be using 2024 as the Core Rules, but I will keep the 2014 books as well, using them as any other sourcebook resources. For instance:

1. I may still use the Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws if a player wants that kind of RP guidance.
2. I may allow a player to use an older version of a class like the old Monk that has mystical abilities, and the Warlock if the player really wants them. I would even allow the old Druid (for the flavorful non-Wildshape abilities) as long as the player is ok with replacing the ablative HP Wildshape rules. (I will have the older versions of classes available as "older generation" schools and practices and styles.)
3. I may choose to use Legacy monsters and hand out Legacy magic items if I think they are compelling.

 

[Oofta]

"A Dumb Bit of Sleaszy Corporate Marketing WotC tried One Time" is hardly "precedent" is it...?

I don't know that I'd call the lack of a clear edition label on the books "sleazy". They honestly thought this would be the last edition and that the only future for the brand was in selling related products. They did 5th edition to keep the IP alive and thought that other than a few modules they were done.

I also don't see why it really matters all that much, whether or not I think lack of a clear edition label matters, it's water under the bridge.