D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Micah Sweet]

D&D also has to contend with video games now as some place where new players have their fantasy expectations from, and in many video games even the warrior types have "spells" (like a ground slam shockwave attack).

D&D has had to contend with video games for quite some time now.

 

[Neonchameleon]

No.

It's because the only fulling scaling subsystem in 5e is spellcasting. Feats don't scale. Manuevers don't scale. Runes don't scale. Ki doesn't scale.

So most classes and subclasses tap in the only scaling subsystem as they are vehicles for progression.

It's a mix.

On the one hand it wouldn't matter if the fighter did a thousand damage per sword swing if they had the same 30' of movement and 5' of reach they did at level 1. They still can't deal with kiting casters (without ranged weapons) or walls of force or teleportation. Fighter damage scales but the concept needs to.

On the other feats should be multiplicative (a 50% increase in your chance to hit makes a 50% increase in your damage per hit worth more) but the scalars and number of feats are so low.

 

[Minigiant]

It's a mix.

On the one hand it wouldn't matter if the fighter did a thousand damage per sword swing if they had the same 30' of movement and 5' of reach they did at level 1. They still can't deal with kiting casters (without ranged weapons) or walls of force or teleportation. Fighter damage scales but the concept needs to.

On the other feats should be multiplicative (a 50% increase in your chance to hit makes a 50% increase in your damage per hit worth more) but the scalars and number of feats are so low.

It's not about numbers.

There are not higher tier Manuvers. No higher tier Feats. Epic Boon Feats were canned. Level 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 feats never tried.

Infusions scale. There are level 6, 10, and 14 infusions. But Artificer isn't in the PHB and classes that might sense touching it like rangers or rogues can't touch it in the PHB.

 

[Neonchameleon]

It's not about numbers.

There are not higher tier Manuvers. No higher tier Feats. Epic Boon Feats were canned. Level 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 feats never tried.

Infusions scale. There are level 6, 10, and 14 infusions. But Artificer isn't in the PHB and classes that might sense touching it like rangers or rogues can't touch it in the PHB.

This is not a theoretical problem eith sufficiently deft design though it is very much a practical one. Feats, to scale, could be multiplicative.

Imaginr the following effects.

• Triple your jump distance and always count as having a running jump
• Jump a height equal to your long jump distance
• "Triple jump" - if you just jump you may make three full jumps as part of your move, the third being double the length of the other two
• When you try to land on someone's head make an attack roll. Do damage equal to the distance moved vertically this turn

None of them are OP for a low level character. But between them Mario can do a stupid amount of damage and leap up cliffs. Low level effects being multiplied.

 

[Azzy]

I liked the ideas that Bruce Cordell had, the only person at WotC who was really into psionics. Based on what 3.5e psionics got, the answer is basically "All of the above". The Far Realms, Victorian influenced New Agey stuff with crystals and ectoplasm, along with Buddhist (Tibetan Tulpas aka Astral Constructs) and Hindu (the Siddhis of Yoga aka Psionic Disciplines) influenced concepts all thrown into what's Psionics.

Personally, I liked the flavor of the 3.5e Psion and really wish that they'd had run with that.

 

[Minigiant]

This is not a theoretical problem eith sufficiently deft design though it is very much a practical one. Feats, to scale, could be multiplicative.

Imaginr the following effects.

• Triple your jump distance and always count as having a running jump
• Jump a height equal to your long jump distance
• "Triple jump" - if you just jump you may make three full jumps as part of your move, the third being double the length of the other two
• When you try to land on someone's head make an attack roll. Do damage equal to the distance moved vertically this turn

None of them are OP for a low level character. But between them Mario can do a stupid amount of damage and leap up cliffs. Low level effects being multiplied.

Sure. However WOTC went out of their way to minimize stacking in manners they didn't intend. So most subsystems ended up scaling poorly.

 

[TrippyHippy]

D&D also has to contend with video games now as some place where new players have their fantasy expectations from, and in many video games even the warrior types have "spells" (like a ground slam shockwave attack).

I’m not certain that D&D is contending with video games as much as people assume. D&D should set it own standards on such things as its own tabletop medium.

I guess it depends on how inclusive and generic a fantasy RPG you want to make D&D. Other fantasy RPGs - including alternative forms of D&D - manage with a different balance. For me, official D&D seems to keep incrementally pushing more and more in the direction of escalating powers.

Each to their own, just not a direction I care for.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Personally, I liked the flavor of the 3.5e Psion and really wish that they'd had run with that.

The Elan Psion was so incredibly versatile. Just a dream of possibilities....

 

[MNblockhead]

Jeez, psionics? Really? I and everyone I game with must be in the minority, with no interest in this. Especially when they started with crystals and ectoplasm stuff.

I don't care for psionic PCs in my D&D either, but luckily for us, pages can be flipped past and links on DnD Beyond need not be clicked.

 

[Weiley31]

the order of operations is that the DM describes the situation, the player declares an action, and the DM adjudicates the action using their judgement and the rules.

I don't know how that equals out to Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sallie.