D&D 5E New L&L is up

[Kobold Stew]

Find Familiar is not on the Basic spell list. That surprises me, but of course it can still be i the PHB.

 

[CM]

It looks like planar travel is far harder in 5e without Plane Shift.

 

[BoldItalic]

Also, can we just start calling "the basic rules" the much shorter: "basic"? Or is that going to be too mind-blowing for grognards?

How about we call it 5B ?

 

[Nagol]

View attachment 62431

 

[Dausuul]

It depends what you're looking for. From a narrative point of view, that's a lot of inspiration for different character concepts. If you're only interested in mechanical combinations then it will feel like a lot less variety, obviously.

Sure, there's plenty of inspiration; I think what Ruin Explorer is objecting to is the idea that you can calculate inspiration by working out the number of mechanical combinations. If I have already played an elf wizard acolyte and a dwarf wizard acolyte and a human wizard acolyte, the prospect of playing a halfling wizard acolyte is not likely to fire my imagination with new ideas. A halfling rogue soldier, now, that's new and different.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Sure, there's plenty of inspiration; I think what Ruin Explorer is objecting to is the idea that you can calculate inspiration by working out the number of mechanical combinations.

Precisely so.

 

[Klaus]

Sure, there's plenty of inspiration; I think what Ruin Explorer is objecting to is the idea that you can calculate inspiration by working out the number of mechanical combinations. If I have already played an elf wizard acolyte and a dwarf wizard acolyte and a human wizard acolyte, the prospect of playing a halfling wizard acolyte is not likely to fire my imagination with new ideas. A halfling rogue soldier, now, that's new and different.

But the number of mechanical combinations isn't aimed at a single player, but at the party. So if Bob has played a human wizard acolyte, Rob has played a dwarf wizard acolyte and Jimmy has played an elf wizard acolyte, this doesn't mean Timmy would want to give a halfling wizard acolyte a shot (and as far as wizard acolytes go, they're pretty distinct, with one beign a sage-type, the other is an armored axe-wielder, one is an archer and the last one if a sneaky archeology professor).

 

[am181d]

Precisely so.

The point of the math isn't that one player can play 140 characters (or whatever it works out to) but that individual players at the table have a lot of room for differentiation. (Presumably no one is going to create every possible race/class/background combination for play, even in this stripped down version of the rules.)

It's plenty of options to get folks started, but not to much that they won't be tempted to buy the PHB if they enjoy playing and want more options.

EDIT: Ninja'd.

 

[Dausuul]

But the number of mechanical combinations isn't aimed at a single player, but at the party. So if Bob has played a human wizard acolyte, Rob has played a dwarf wizard acolyte and Jimmy has played an elf wizard acolyte, this doesn't mean Timmy would want to give a halfling wizard acolyte a shot (and as far as wizard acolytes go, they're pretty distinct, with one beign a sage-type, the other is an armored axe-wielder, one is an archer and the last one if a sneaky archeology professor).

I don't see why this is any different from "Bob has played a wizard who was a fireball-slinging pyromaniac with anger management issues; Rob has played a wizard who was a charming, urbane manipulator; and Jimmy has played a wizard who was a dangerously curious scholar eager to delve into forbidden lore. Now Timmy wants to give wizard a shot, as a power-hungry mercenary with dreams of carving out an empire and ruling as a sorceror king."

The diversity here is coming from the players, not the mechanics.

 

[Klaus]

I don't see why this is any different from "Bob has played a wizard who was a fireball-slinging pyromaniac with anger management issues; Rob has played a wizard who was a charming, urbane manipulator; and Jimmy has played a wizard who was a dangerously curious scholar eager to delve into forbidden lore. Now Timmy wants to give wizard a shot, as a power-hungry mercenary with dreams of carving out an empire and ruling as a sorceror king."

The diversity here is coming from the players, not the mechanics.

The diversity is coming entirely from the mechanics:

- Human wizard acolyte has no special abilities beyond class, so he's pretty much the classic evoker, with a religious background.
- Dwarf gets proficiency in axes and, IIRC, armor.
- Elves get bows and swords.
- Halflings get bonuses to hide.

Now from those mechanics, the different players can draw different inspirations. Like so:
- Human is a worshipper of the god of knowledge. Prefers utility spells.
- Dwarf is a runepriest-type follower of the god of the forge. Prefers combat spells like shield and magic weapon.
- Elf is a wandering priest of the god of the hunt. Prefers cold and thunder spells.
- Halfling follows the trickster god who stole fire from the other gods and gave it to mortals. Prefers fire and illusion spells.

Now *there* you can see the players' imagination spicing things up. Same class, same background, and all play very differently.