D&D 5E 30 speed for all! Halflings, Gnomes, Dwarves were feeling left behind?

[The Human Target]

The online polls WotC did were not the entirety of their playtest feedback.

Also in regards to the OPs comment about speed in 4e (and ignoring the snideness of the remark.)

4e Halflngs have speed 6 (like humans.)

Dwarves have speed 5, but don't suffer a movement penalty for wearing heavy armor.

Gnomes have speed 5, and get no compensation for it. This has been remarked upon many times as being kind of lame, especially as it means gnomes in heavy armor move at speed 4. Which is horribly weak.

Pixies have a speed of 4, but can fly at 6.

Elves have a speed if 7, in spite of not being twice the size of humans.

 

[The Human Target]

The problem with being real here, is that people think it's unfair that short people with short legs can't move as fast.

There is this pervasive aura of entitlement that I'm seeing:

Humans have +1 to everything, making all demi-humans equivalent but -1 in all but two (but oh no, we can't actually give anyone a penalty, because that would be mean. Oh so mean.)

First level fighters have to be able to hit on every attack, or certain gamers might cry and throw their D20s across the room.

Halflings or other smaller races might fall behind and the orcs might catch them, and there's no precedent for Orcs catching halflings and there being an entire adventure spring up around trying to save them. Oh no. Have to put in roadblocks to force the party to stay together. Halflings have to be able to keep up with a horde of charging orcs three times their size.

Take a deep breath, reread this post, and try to understand how hostile and self righteous you are.

 

[Jester David]

The problem with being real here, is that people think it's unfair that short people with short legs can't move as fast.

It is unfair though, in the sense than balancing a bonus with a penalty is discouraged in some schools of game design as the penalty might not universally apply. In this case penalizing melee characters over those who can attack at range.
It's really a matter of personal priority. Does balance trump verisimilitude or vice versa?

There is this pervasive aura of entitlement that I'm seeing:

"Entitlement" might be the wrong word. Just different priorities. For many the best way to balance is via symmetry. Hence why being small barely affects weapons and doesn't affect carrying capacity.

A few optional rules might be nice for those of us who do want small to be a mixed blessing.

 

[Wulfgar76]

You know what - let me scale this back a bit. Because there is something I care about here, and that's the completely insanely toxic way in which a small group of people are pushing for very specific - and, to my mind, regressive - changes in Next's design. Because Next doesn't have to be a game I don't want to play.
/SNIP/
Because like I said - D&D Next didn't have to be a game I didn't want to play. And letting the loudest naysayers - the people arguing that something simply should not exist in the ruleset - drive game design is a bafflingly insane way to design a game.

Thankfully the reactionary, nonsense-spewing haters are most assuredly not driving the development of D&D Next.

Anyone who loses their mind over Damage On A Miss, and drafts ridiculous 'Open Letters to Mike Mearls' over it, are the last people they want in the focus group.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

All races having a speed of 30 doesn't bother me much. Definitely not as much as the lack of racial penalties. And there's the advantage of just knowing that PCs have a speed of 30.

It definitely doesn't bother me from a verisimilitude aspect because size is only one factor in speed, and in fact many small creatures have evolved to be fast. A dwarf or halfling isn't a human with dwarfism, or even a short human. Cheetas run faster than house cats, but are also faster than lions. Some small humanoids could be slower, others may be spry.

Where it bothers me a little is how it defies a bit of D&D history--wherein halflings and dwarves are slower than humans and elves. I do think that racial speeds were never really given serious consideration in the past, or size wouldn't be the deciding factor, but that's beside the point.

Still, I'm okay with this change. An advanced races module is already something I find desirable, so let speed differences live there, alongside racial penalties and flaws.

 

[The Human Target]

All races have a speed of 30 doesn't bother me much. Definitely not as much as the lack of racial penalties. And there's the advantage of just knowing that PCs have a speed of 30.

It definitely doesn't bother me from a verisimilitude aspect because size is only one factor in speed, and in fact many small creatures have evolved to be fast. A dwarf or halfling isn't a human with dwarfism, or even a short human. Cheetas run faster than house cats, but are also faster than lions. Some small humanoids could be slower, others may be spry.

Where it bothers me a little is that it defies a bit of D&D history where halflings and dwarves are slower than humans and elves. I do think that racial speeds were never really given serious consideration in the past, or size wouldn't be the deciding factor, but that's beside the point.

Still, I'm okay with this change. An advanced races module is already something I find desirable, so let speed differences live there, alongside racial penalties and flaws.

A reasonably expressed opinion. Well done sir.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

D&D is an abstract game, entirely lacking in verisimilitude. Shall we argue about the lack of realism in chess next?

 

[Obryn]

Thankfully the reactionary, nonsense-spewing haters are most assuredly not driving the development of D&D Next.

Anyone who loses their mind over Damage On A Miss, and drafts ridiculous 'Open Letters to Mike Mearls' over it, are the last people they want in the focus group.

Yeah, I went and turned my rant into a forum post. Your input is, of course, welcome.

 

[Wulfgar76]

A reasonably expressed opinion. Well done sir.

Jeff Carlsen always is sagacious in his replies. I too welcome whatever words he bothers to grace us with.

 

[The Human Target]

Jeff Carlsen always is sagacious in his replies. I too welcome whatever words he bothers to grace us with.

For the record I like different races having different speeds, if you're going to have tactical movement in the game.

As long as each race is balanced against itself and the others.

But there is a right way and a wrong way to express oneself.