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

[Kobold Stew]

How do you think the new books will change your game?

We’ve been told there will be guidance on how previous materials are to be used, and that will shape how it works in practice. At the same time many popular ideas/subclasses are being spruced up, and it might not be practical to keep old versions in play. (For now, I’m just thinking of player-facing material.)

Throughout the playtest, I've found myself uninterested in backwards compatibility. It has been important to the community. Is it still? I don’t know. I assumed I’d want a hard reset, but as I look at Tasha's, MOTM, and Xanathar's, there are still a few subclasses, spells, and species I want to keep in play, at least until they get refreshed in post-PHB 2024 books. So I'm picking Soft reset.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Kobold Stew]

My personal soft reset (things I'll keep until they get replaced):

Spoiler: MOTM

I think all the PC species presented here remain viable in the light of what it appears races will be in 2024. Eventually I expect they’ll take another crack at most of these, and that MotM will go out of print like Volo’s has done. In the meantime, though, this book (or at least the player-facing section) seems written with 2024-compatibility in mind.

Spoiler: XANATHAR’S

1. Subclasses: I’ll be sad to lose subclasses like Horizon Walker and Scout, but I don’t think I’ll be fighting for them or see players wanting to play them. I’d like there to be a grave or death cleric, too, but I’m not committed to it being the Grave cleric in Xanathar’s. I want to keep Divine Soul Sorcerer – It’s such a great subclass – though a stronger solution would be just to houserule that Sorcerer can pick any non-wizard spell list, and let them play with that.

2. There are a lot of spells here, that won’t be in the 2024 PHB. The standouts additions for me are all lower-end spells: Magic Stone, Absorb Elements, and Shadow Blade. I’d love to see all of them in the 2024 PHB, but if they’re not there, I think I want to keep them in my game.

The rest? I’m content to wait until they get freshened up post-2024.

Spoiler: TASHA’S

1. Artificer. Great class; deserves to be ported forward.
2. Sidekicks. A Brilliant addition, easy to carry forward.
3. Subclasses: Wildfire Druid, Soulknife Rogue, and whichever of Rune Knight and Psi Warrior doesn’t make the 2024 PHB.
4. All the feats: Any feat with a +1 ASI becomes a level-4 feat, and all of them can come forward.

What have I missed?

 

[Clint_L]

I've already been incorporating the new rules. Although my monk is way better, overall the game doesn't feel different and the switch has been seamless. Once the new books are on DDB, it'll be even easier, if anything.

 

[demoss]

This is missing the option "I'll keep using the old books, probably incorporating new stuff gradually"

 

[Kobold Stew]

This is missing the option "I'll keep using the old books, probably incorporating new stuff gradually"

I find this fascinating. Have you done tht with any previous books? Seen them published but only allowed the use of them bit by bit? I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I've already been incorporating the new rules. Although my monk is way better, overall the game doesn't feel different and the switch has been seamless. Once the new books are on DDB, it'll be even easier, if anything.

Yes, of course. I'm thinking more about keeping things in play once PHB 2024 is out. I am not convinced that they will keep the older books in print (both physically and in the DDB) and that will obviously affect things.

 

[overgeeked]

I find this fascinating. Have you done tht with any previous books? Seen them published but only allowed the use of them bit by bit? I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing that.

We did that with AD&D and 2E. Took a few bits 2E we liked and incorporated them into our AD&D game, but did not switch to 2E.

Also do that with 5E. Some stuff is just too busted so it’s banned outright.

 

[Kobold Stew]

We did that with AD&D and 2E. Took a few bits 2E we liked and incorporated them into our AD&D game, but did now switch to 2E.

Ha ha ha. Fair enough. That was 35 years ago.

Also do that with 5E. Some stuff is just too busted so it’s banned outright.

That, I think, is one of the advantages of the hard- or soft-reset options.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

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

 

[overgeeked]

Ha ha ha. Fair enough. That was 35 years ago.

We still play our AD&D plus bits of Basic and 2E game. We didn’t allow Unearthed Arcana either. We skipped 2E (except what we swipped), skipped 3E entirely, and jumped in on 4E and 5E. We still mostly prefer the AD&D hybrid. There’s a couple people around here still playing AD&D in the sense that they never updated to anything later. At least not long term.