Which D&D "sacred cows" will be sacrificed in 5E?

[M.L. Martin]

The cyncial part of me wants to repeat its prediction for 4E and say "The DM."

More realistically . . . hmm. Nearly every 'sacred cow' left is part of the game's identity and the larger genre it's created--clerics, Hit Points, and the like come to mind--to the point that abandoning them would make the game less familiar to the larger target audience that's grown up on things like Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft. And the d20 will by that point have over a dozen years of marketing as part of the game's identity behind it.

Random damage is one of the only things I can see going away at this point, with the randomness relegated to the hit/miss chance, possibly with an expanded 'margins of success' mechanic based on the critical hit mechanic. That would also allow them to reduce the dice down solely to a d20--or even 3d6 if they want to sacrifice the iconic status for greater accessibility.

 

[xechnao]

Using several d6's would change the probability to a bell curve like distribution. (A single die has a uniform probability distribution).

I would be quite reluctant to replace the d20 with something like a percentile dice system (ie. d100).

I did not say several. Just use a d6. One die. It is enough. If it ties just reroll. This way a d6 can give you up to 36 different results for the times you may need more granularity. Most of the time you won't be tying so re-rolling is not that much of a trouble if it bothers you.

 

[Shemeska]

I thought 5E was going to be all about bringing back sacred cows that 4E wrongfully killed?

This.

I think that there have already been enough sacrifices to the golden calf of 4e, and at this point I'm waiting for a metaphorical Moses to wander down from the mountain with an attitude. Of course, that might get released come August.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Personally and in my opinion, I would like to see the new sacred cow of unjustified simplicity taken out of the game and replaced with a little bit of good ol-fashioned complexity.

I'm not talking complexity that takes a mathematics degree to understand or that will bog the game down in interminable rules arguments or that will slow the game to a round of combat per hour or worse. Just a few nods would be nice to the fact that a hardened ultra-fit warrior will recover from poisoning more easily than the wimpy wizard (if there is such a thing anymore?). Just a few more decision points when creating a character so it can be just a little bit more like how I imagine them being. Complexity that makes me want to sit down with the players handbook and read it and think about it and wonder at the myriad of possibilities, rather than trying to carefully discern the actual differences between the homogenized character-class-lumps presented a specified number of times.

So yeah... less simplicity, more complexity.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise.

 

[The Human Target]

Well, there are the things I want killed and then the things I think they'll kill.

I figure ability scores as abstract numbers and modifiers will for sure be gone.

Modifiers only from here on out.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Classes, levels, armor class, hit points, d20 to hit, dungeons, dragons, spells, magic items, combat and gold pieces.

They will keep otyughs though. The game will be a round-table discussion. The players all play noted otyugh philosophers, scientists, pundits, cultural commentators, orientalists and peril experts debating issues of the day on live TV. And you'll be able to phone in to vote off your least favourite otyugh.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Hmm, discussing the next edition early in the previous edition?

Well, I can hope.

But a bit mroe seriously, who knows. The whole sacred cow concept has always seemed nonsense to me. Many things are kept because they help make a continuity between editions of the same game. Calling such things sacred cows seems to be both harsh and a bit of a way to denigrate things with a very broad brush.

 

[Jasperak]

Books?

EDIT: Maybe I shouldn't cross post.

 

[ggroy]

Hmm, discussing the next edition early in the previous edition?

Well, I can hope.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're already working on a 5E D&D.

As a historical precedent, work on 4E was already underway in early 2005 which was a bit over a year after 3.5E was released.

I would imagine they would want a 5E product ready, if it turns out the 4E "well" runs dry earlier than they anticipated.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

Classes, levels, armor class, hit points, d20 to hit, dungeons, dragons, spells, magic items, combat and gold pieces.

They will keep otyughs though. The game will be a round-table discussion. The players all play noted otyugh philosophers, scientists, pundits, cultural commentators, orientalists and peril experts debating issues of the day on live TV. And you'll be able to phone in to vote off your least favourite otyugh.

Otyughs & Otyughs sounds like my new favorite game. Although O&O Insider is probably slightly more different from D&D Insider than the logos would have you believe.