D&D (2024) What do you want & expect to see in 2024's 5.5e?

[UngeheuerLich]

I want tweaks, not revisions. I'm ok with adjustments to Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master, a clarification to the stealth rules, etc... however, I do not want them to massively overhaul the game. Essentially, I think they hit roughly the right balance going from 3E to 3.5E. Repeating that level of adjustment would be a good target.

More or less.

3.5 did some things well... but it started the shift the game from theater of the mind to battlemap play. It also fixed some things in the wrong direction (for example prestige classes became the way to fix multiclassing, instead of just fixing mticlassing).

On the other hand, game stayed more or less compatible and older 3.0 option were replaced peace by piece with more modern 3.5 options. So I agree with the amount of changes that should happen.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So, marketing tells me that 6e will be in 2025 or 2026!

I would echo that small fixes seem right. I would like to see multi-classing rules and feats fixed. I would not like power creep to fix 'X class that sucks'. I like 4e monsters and it look like things are heading that way more or less. Not a fan of monsters being player races, but I'm old and get it.

I thought 3.5e did fix some 3.0 things and was fine so this should be ok as well.

I really would like multiclass rules to stay mostly the same. They work out very well at our table and produce flavourful and mostly balanced characters.

I think there needs to be general fix with how extra attack and cantrips scaling works. They don't play well with each other.

 

[Steampunkette]

And for silliness' sake:

Full Backwards compatibility!
Rules to transfer characters between 5.5e and 2e so you can make those 5/2 rounds with THac0!
BECMI to cover Epic Levels for 5.5e.
4e Tablespace Play!
1e Racial Class options for 5.5e characters. Why play an Elf Wizard when you can play an Elf-Elf?!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

1. Battlemasters maneuvers being available to all martial classes, with battlemaster having more known/more usages/higher dice.

Having all character number of maneuvers know, number of d6 dice to fuel them equal to proficiency bonus.

2. rework of races

3. Rebalancing martials to be a little bettter comparing to full casters.

HDs/HPs by classes:

d12: barbarian, fighter, monk
d10: artificer, paladin, ranger, rogue
d8: bard, cleric, druid, warlock
d6: sorcerer, wizard

also have all d10 and d12 classes at least 1 fighting style and one Extra attack feature.
d8 and d6 get their with some special features of certain sub-classes.

4. rework bard and warlock as 2/3 casters, similar to 3.5e
1st level spells at level 1
2nd at lvl 4
3rd at lvl 7
4th at lvl 10
5th at lvl 13
6th at lvl 16
7th at lvl 19

5. Make short rests short again. 5-10 mins long. 1hr is not a short rest.

6. Sub-classes from level 1.

7. limit of abilities to 18(+4)

I would be sad to see bards back at 2/3, but that would be acceptable in the 5e framework. You could add artificer to 2/3 casters as well.

Limiting stats to 18 in general or making it more costly would be appreciated. Actually I would like stats to not increase at all or have them interact mostly with skills and not too much with class abilites and attack bonuses.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

5.5e is just a placeholder for the minor edition change until it has a proper name.

Right, I don’t think that it is a minor edition change. It’s errata and some new material.

 

[dave2008]

I'd like to be able to download pdfs of the core books, (and other books), when you purchase them. I have no desire or intention to invest in D&D Beyond.

I used to be the same way, but once I gave it a chance I don't think I could go back. Beyond is just so much more useful than a PDF, I actually avoid my huge library of PDFs.

 

[Olrox17]

I would be sad to see bards back at 2/3, but that would be acceptable in the 5e framework. You could add artificer to 2/3 casters as well.

The improvement in design space would be huge though. We could have spellcasting-focused subclasses that give access to high level spells, so, say, a Lore Bard would be exactly as it is right now. Then, new subclasses that don't get those high level spells, would have to get something else in return. Possibly something unique and awesome.

Personally I think all full casters should be turned into 2/3 or half casters, and all half casters should be non-casters, by default. Then, we can let subclasses give back or improve spellcasting where needed, and we can finally have awesome spell-less paladins and rangers, swordmage wizards with unique, relevant abilities, non-OP moon druids...good stuff.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The improvement in design space would be huge though. We could have spellcasting-focused subclasses that give access to high level spells, so, say, a Lore Bard would be exactly as it is right now. Then, new subclasses that don't get those high level spells, would have to get something else in return. Possibly something unique and awesome.

Personally I think all full casters should be turned into 2/3 or half casters, and all half casters should be non-casters, by default. Then, we can let subclasses give back or improve spellcasting where needed, and we can finally have awesome spell-less paladins and rangers, swordmage wizards with unique, relevant abilities, non-OP moon druids...good stuff.

I agree with the first paragraph... but the second one is too much.
The cleric, ok. The sorcerer, maybe. The wizard, no.
Paladin and ranger... maybe.
They have been half casters for quite a while now and I do think it diffefentiates them from fighters.
Or you just make all of them fighters and have some wilderness or holy subclasses. I could subcribe to that.

 

[Olrox17]

I agree with the first paragraph... but the second one is too much.
The cleric, ok. The sorcerer, maybe. The wizard, no.
Paladin and ranger... maybe.
They have been half casters for quite a while now and I do think it diffefentiates them from fighters.
Or you just make all of them fighters and have some wilderness or holy subclasses. I could subcribe to that.

Heh, I understand what you mean about the wizard, but I'm just a huge fan of the 4e Swordmage. No 5e gish is even close to how good of a gish the Swordmage was, even after they re-introduced a few of its signature abilities, like Booming Blade.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I really don't see the point of changing the caster types of so many classes. Because all that ends up happening is you replace those high level spell slots they no longer get with just magical class features. So rather than having several different options to choose from at high level (IE their spell list), the class instead just gets one single magical "thing" at various levels instead. How is that considered an improvement in gameplay? What is such the problem with getting to select 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells that we keep insisting they get taken away from certain classes? I just don't get it.