Look, here's the issue...
The Dungeons & Dragons 5E game that practically every single one of us is going to be playing will be a STANDARD game. Why? Because one table will include a ranger (which ain't Basic). One will include a half-orc (which ain't Basic). One will include skills (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic). One will include overnight healing to full HP (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic). One will include artifacts (which ain't Basic.) One will include dual-wielding (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic).
For all of us that want any or all of these things... we will be playing the Standard game. We will buy the three books that will include all of these rules, we will read the very first section of the Player's Handbook that will spend probably 15 pages explaining the "Basic" version of the rules... and then once we read the rest of the book we're going to start cherry-picking bits and pieces to ADD or REPLACE the rules in the Basic section. Then the game is good to go.
That's what's going to happen for 95% of us.
The only time that's NOT going to happen is two reason: 1) if there's a 5E "Red Box" product that ONLY has the Basic rules in it. Or 2) if a table of experienced players decide they want to play a Basic game SPECIFICALLY because it's trying to emulate a BECMI type of experience.
As far as #2 is concerned... they WON'T CARE that the only healing available to a party is either natural healing overnight (however much that ends up being), Potions of Healing, or a Cleric casting a Cure spell. Because that's what D&D had back in the 70s, and that's what they are trying to get back to.
For Group #1... the whole point of having a BASIC game is that you open it, you read the short bit of rules, and you play it. You aren't required to DESIGN the game by selecting various rules options to use when you play. The rules are the rules. You use them, you play them, you enjoy them (hopefully). And thus you want a SINGLE HEALING PARADIGM for the Basic rules. Because for new players trying to learn the game, having a SINGLE RULE is easier to play and easier to understand.
The question then becomes... for this Basic game with only ONE healing style... which way do you go? Do you use Hit Dice? Do you use Wound/Vitality? Do you use "hit points return completely following every rest"? Or do you use the same rules (as close as you can get) that existed in the original D&D game... which (I believe) is meant to be slow natural recovery, the occasional Potion, and a couple Cleric spells?
WotC has chosen to go with the latter it appears for the time being.
Now the other issue is everyone grasping at what Mike said about clerics being required and getting all worked up. But as is the case every time any of the designers and developers mention ANYTHING about the game... people take isolated sentences and then blow things out of proportion, never wondering for just a moment that perhaps they were just speaking off the cuff and thus weren't not going into COMPLETE DETAIL about what their turn of phrase was actually a part of.
Is a cleric required in a Basic game? That depends entirely on what Mike actually meant. Perhaps he meant that yes, to play Basic D&D the ONLY way you are allowed to play it is if every table has one fighter, one rogue, one wizard, and one cleric. Or did he mean that a cleric is required because the way combat works, if you don't have a cleric to heal people, all characters WILL DIE no ifs-ands-or-buts. Or did he mean that a cleric is required *if* you wanted characters to regain hit points FASTER than through normal overnight recovery?
Which one is it? We don't know, do we? No, I don't think we do.
And THAT'S the issue. We're all rewriting rules to counter a problem that we might not actually understand or even exists in the first place.
And until Mike comes out and says specifically what the ACTUAL rule is... trying to blow up the Basic game into another Standard game is incredibly pre-mature. ESPECIALLY considering it doesn't sound like they've actually even DECIDED on what the Basic healing rule is going to be!
The Dungeons & Dragons 5E game that practically every single one of us is going to be playing will be a STANDARD game. Why? Because one table will include a ranger (which ain't Basic). One will include a half-orc (which ain't Basic). One will include skills (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic). One will include overnight healing to full HP (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic). One will include artifacts (which ain't Basic.) One will include dual-wielding (which doesn't look like it'll be Basic).
For all of us that want any or all of these things... we will be playing the Standard game. We will buy the three books that will include all of these rules, we will read the very first section of the Player's Handbook that will spend probably 15 pages explaining the "Basic" version of the rules... and then once we read the rest of the book we're going to start cherry-picking bits and pieces to ADD or REPLACE the rules in the Basic section. Then the game is good to go.
That's what's going to happen for 95% of us.
The only time that's NOT going to happen is two reason: 1) if there's a 5E "Red Box" product that ONLY has the Basic rules in it. Or 2) if a table of experienced players decide they want to play a Basic game SPECIFICALLY because it's trying to emulate a BECMI type of experience.
As far as #2 is concerned... they WON'T CARE that the only healing available to a party is either natural healing overnight (however much that ends up being), Potions of Healing, or a Cleric casting a Cure spell. Because that's what D&D had back in the 70s, and that's what they are trying to get back to.
For Group #1... the whole point of having a BASIC game is that you open it, you read the short bit of rules, and you play it. You aren't required to DESIGN the game by selecting various rules options to use when you play. The rules are the rules. You use them, you play them, you enjoy them (hopefully). And thus you want a SINGLE HEALING PARADIGM for the Basic rules. Because for new players trying to learn the game, having a SINGLE RULE is easier to play and easier to understand.
The question then becomes... for this Basic game with only ONE healing style... which way do you go? Do you use Hit Dice? Do you use Wound/Vitality? Do you use "hit points return completely following every rest"? Or do you use the same rules (as close as you can get) that existed in the original D&D game... which (I believe) is meant to be slow natural recovery, the occasional Potion, and a couple Cleric spells?
WotC has chosen to go with the latter it appears for the time being.
Now the other issue is everyone grasping at what Mike said about clerics being required and getting all worked up. But as is the case every time any of the designers and developers mention ANYTHING about the game... people take isolated sentences and then blow things out of proportion, never wondering for just a moment that perhaps they were just speaking off the cuff and thus weren't not going into COMPLETE DETAIL about what their turn of phrase was actually a part of.
Is a cleric required in a Basic game? That depends entirely on what Mike actually meant. Perhaps he meant that yes, to play Basic D&D the ONLY way you are allowed to play it is if every table has one fighter, one rogue, one wizard, and one cleric. Or did he mean that a cleric is required because the way combat works, if you don't have a cleric to heal people, all characters WILL DIE no ifs-ands-or-buts. Or did he mean that a cleric is required *if* you wanted characters to regain hit points FASTER than through normal overnight recovery?
Which one is it? We don't know, do we? No, I don't think we do.
And THAT'S the issue. We're all rewriting rules to counter a problem that we might not actually understand or even exists in the first place.
And until Mike comes out and says specifically what the ACTUAL rule is... trying to blow up the Basic game into another Standard game is incredibly pre-mature. ESPECIALLY considering it doesn't sound like they've actually even DECIDED on what the Basic healing rule is going to be!
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