D&D 5E D&D Next Q&A: 01/10/2014

[gweinel]

At last some solid info about DNDNext after sometime.

The first Q&A of the year is about modules and magic items.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dndqa/20140110

In one sentence:

Q1: The Standard game features (feats, multiclassing, etc) that will be made into modules will be in PH, while the other will in a "Dungeon Master-oriented product" (did you notice that he don't mention DMG? Maybe no DMG or a splat-module DM prduct?)

Q2:Radical modules like class-less and no stats game will not be there at the start but maybe in a future product.

Q3:Magic items will not be taken into account while building your adventures (which i find very good) but there will be :design guidelines to help DMs adjust their adventures based on the amount of magic items they’ve given out".

 

[jodyjohnson]

Marketing gets to announce product so he can't say "X will be in Y Specific DM product."

Marketing has to announce it sometime. Winter Fantasy I'd think would be the latest.

That's less than a month away.

http://wintfan.baldmangames.com/Showinfo/showhours.html

 

[TerraDave]

Did not actually say PHB either, it was "player oriented products".

But ya, they are going to have to let retailers now pretty soon what they will be selling.

The whole "adjust adventures based on party items" thing was interesting. That could be some elaborate thing to calculate the effective power level of the party, or just advice saying "if someone can fly a lot, that is a big deal".

 

[DMZ2112]

(did you notice that he don't mention DMG? Maybe no DMG or a splat-module DM prduct?)

I think the opposite, actually -- the fact that he specifically calls out "a player product" and "a DM product" pretty much guarantees that we're going to see a PHB and a DMG this time around. I can see them getting rid of both books for a cheaper single-book release, but they're not going to buck the PHB/DMG trend in favor of some other format. This comes up every edition, and every edition it is shouted down. Now that Essentials has proved the point, it's even less likely.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I love that the magic item Q indicates that the rules won't worry too much about the "YOU MUST CONTROL FOR QUANTITY OF MAGIC ITEMS!!!!!" thing that was trotted out briefly with attunement.

Their reasoning for not including more "extreme" rules changes in the initial release makes solid sense, and I'll be looking forward to seeing what they and other folks come up with! If 5e is as solidly built as 4e was, it shouldn't be much of a sweat to, say, go classless, but that's also not something that most players of D&D will be looking to do out of the gate.

 

[Li Shenron]

One of the least informative Q&A article ever about 5e... But it doesn't say anything bad.

Good to see it clarified that multiclassing will likely be labelled as optional.

BTW "player-oriented product" means the PHB as well as splatbooks, while "DM-oriented product" means DMG and rules supplements similar to Unearthed Arcana. They're just not telling yet what will be included in the core books and what is deferred to later products.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

It's interesting that I believe this is the first real mention of Organized Play for 5e. I suspect the reason he even brought it up is because they are likely considering OP at this time.

Also, as I suspected, most of the optional rules(and likely some that people are expecting to come out with the core rules) sound like they'll come out in another product somewhere down the line.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Can't say I like the wording for question 1. Namely, if the options I want aren't in the PHB and DM, I won't be buying 5e/Next at all. And I was pretty much ready to just pick it up as soon as I saw it on the store shelves.

 

[Mistwell]

Also, as I suspected, most of the optional rules(and likely some that people are expecting to come out with the core rules) sound like they'll come out in another product somewhere down the line.

Uh...he says the opposite. He even uses the word "majority", and then follows it up with speaking to the optional rules which are "most likely to be of use to a large segment of players".

The only stuff he indicates might appear in a product "down the line" is "radical optional rules (like doing away with ability scores and only using the modifiers or scrapping classes and going with a "build your own" model)" and "Major structural changes to the rules". I don't think that is "most" of the optional rules, nor do I think it is stuff "people are expecting to come out with the core rules".

 

[Plaguescarred]

Glad to hear that the majority of optional rules will be found in the DMG