D&D 5E Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, races, and much more

[the Jester]

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE No.

I actually liked the concept of Eladrin (regal, more fey-like, magical) but an entire race that could teleport at will (well, once every 5 minutes) stretched my credibility too far. The world-building implications of such things hurts my heart.

Well, if a short rest is an hour long, it alleviates that problem greatly.

Not completely, granted, but it certainly helps.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Again I ask in all honesty. I have been away from D&D for many years until recently after having played as a teen (right as 2E was coming out, but we were playing Basic) and am finding myself swept up in excitement for 5E. I have also begun reading the Drizzt novels and find them fun fluff. My knowledge of D&D lore, again, is rather minimal.

I can't speak for Rygar, but given that I run Taladas (a 2E-only setting) with 4E rules, I'm not really seeing any barriers to doing so in 5E. Except maybe that 5E uses 3.XE multiclass rules, which kind of conflict with some of the culture-classes in Taladas, but pffft, I'm sure I'll work that out.

 

[Henry]

C) Fifteen people working on an RPG of D&D's stature seems low to me. I hope their playtest department is at least 50 fulltime testers.

What's even more shocking to me is that it means Paizo has more people working on the Pathfinder RPG than Wizards at this point, which is something I would have never conceived just three or four years ago.

I'll also say the last page of the interview has a full picture of the PHB cover art, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I haven't seen artwork that inspiring from WotC D&D in years.

 

[Morrus]

What's even more shocking to me is that it means Paizo has more people working on the Pathfinder RPG than Wizards at this point, which is something I would have never conceived just three or four years ago.

I think I heard that Paizo has about 50 people total. I don't know how many of those work directly on the RPG though - they do a lot of minis, comics, novels, retail, OP, and stuff. I wonder how many people WotC has total?

 

[Henry]

I think I heard that Paizo has about 50 people total. I don't know how many of those work directly on the RPG though - they do a lot of minis, comics, novels, retail, OP, and stuff. I wonder how many people WotC has total?

Yeah, Paizo has I believe a shade over 50 people in the company total - I'm speaking specifically of the RPG department - by the time you count the rpg designers, and rpg & adventure path developers, art directors, etc, they have like 10 to 12 people just in those sections, I think?

 

[Dausuul]

Please forgive my totally newbish question. I ask in all honesty. What keeps people from using settings other than FR with 5E?

5E certainly won't keep you from homebrewing or using non-standard settings. D&D has always had lots of room for homebrew settings, and I am positive 5E will be no different. No edition's core books have given more than a nudge in the direction of a specific setting; I think 3E was probably the nudgiest, but that's not saying much.

The one area where it will make a difference is in published adventures. This is a bit more important for 5E than it was in previous editions, because 5E is leaning more heavily than most on published adventures in the first few months, partly to compensate for the fact that we won't have all the core books for a while. There's always a choice with a prefab adventure: If you make it setting-agnostic, it's easier for homebrewing DMs to use it out of the box, but you can't make use of the depth of a setting's lore. If you tie it tightly to a particular setting, you get all kinds of hooks to add depth and color to the world, but it can't be used in other settings without a lot of rework (and what's the point of using a prefab if you have to do a lot of work to get it ready?).

4E tried going the first route, using the Nentir Vale as a portable mini-setting that could be plopped in wherever. 5E has chosen the second. Personally, I'd have preferred Greyhawk--I like the atmosphere of Greyhawk better; less Aragorn, more Conan--but there was never any question what setting they were going to go with for D&D's flagship. Whatever the merits of the Dragonlance novel line, the popularity of Forgotten Realms as a D&D setting blows all others out of the water.

 

[Thaumaturge]

Hell, I saw more angsty Tanis-clones (I may or may not have played one of these. I cannot confirm or deny!).

Angsty Tanis-clones were, by far, the superior choice.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Hussar]

What's even more shocking to me is that it means Paizo has more people working on the Pathfinder RPG than Wizards at this point, which is something I would have never conceived just three or four years ago.

I'll also say the last page of the interview has a full picture of the PHB cover art, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I haven't seen artwork that inspiring from WotC D&D in years.

I have to agree there. Looking at all the art in the article, which I know I've seen already, but, damn, that's some pretty stuff.

 

[DDNFan]

.

Well, if a short rest is an hour long, it alleviates that problem greatly.

Not completely, granted, but it certainly helps.

Our 4e group visited the Eladrin home town - the amount of mental gymnastics one had to use merely to imagine they could have any sort of society that we'd recognize with that kind of unlimited teleportation was far greater than the amount of work that went into the adventure itself.

Short rests being an hour long means a lot, you could easily get chased halfway around a dungeon or countryside before getting a chance to rest again. It makes the game much more thrilling, and less videogamey.

The great thing about these rules is that they are the default in Basic, thus virtually every adventure will assume such a refresh timer, and that will mean, even if the game isn't as gritty as some of us would like, it's far closer to a classic D&D feeling, makes you feel immersed in the story instead of the story being window dressing in between contrived combat set piece scenarios laid out like improbable bread crumbs towards your Destiny(tm). (as per Kobold press designer's opinions on the new rules).

 

[Hussar]

Our 4e group visited the Eladrin home town - the amount of mental gymnastics one had to use merely to imagine they could have any sort of society that we'd recognize with that kind of unlimited teleportation was far greater than the amount of work that went into the adventure itself.

Short rests being an hour long means a lot, you could easily get chased halfway around a dungeon or countryside before getting a chance to rest again. It makes the game much more thrilling, and less videogamey.

The great thing about these rules is that they are the default in Basic, thus virtually every adventure will assume such a refresh timer, and that will mean, even if the game isn't as gritty as some of us would like, it's far closer to a classic D&D feeling, makes you feel immersed in the story instead of the story being window dressing in between contrived combat set piece scenarios laid out like improbable bread crumbs towards your Destiny(tm). (as per Kobold press designer's opinions on the new rules).

/edit

Made a new thread rather than derailing this one. Sorry about that.