D&D 5E Does this seem to be the edition that was made for splatbooks?

[Sailor Moon]

I don't know about you, but 5th edition seems to have been made for splatbooks and yet I here we are supposed to get a low book rate.

What sold me in the beginning was all this talk of modularity. There is supposed to be all these supplements that support all sorts of various play options in order for people to tailor the game to their needs. I even look at the rules in the PHB and I see them as usuable to play but feeling incomplete. I see the potential for tons and tons of options. Why create a game that is supposed to be chock full of options, but keep the book count low?

 

[Derren]

I don't know about you, but 5th edition seems to have been made for splatbooks and yet I here we are supposed to get a low book rate.

What sold me in the beginning was all this talk of modularity. There is supposed to be all these supplements that support all sorts of various play options in order for people to tailor the game to their needs. I even look at the rules in the PHB and I see them as usuable to play but feeling incomplete. I see the potential for tons and tons of options. Why create a game that is supposed to be chock full of options, but keep the book count low?

You have to look as for why this promise of modularity was made.
4E got pulled and the customer base was in shatters. Only drawing on existing 4E players would not create a large enough customer base to sustain another edition, especially if not all of them converted.

Thats where all the promises of modularity came from. Because no matter how a potential customer disliked what he saw, you could always say that there will be an option to make it differently too keep him at least following d&d.

Will those options ever really come? And will they actually work instead of being a few (poorly working) sentences which will be forgotten as soon as the book is shipped?
I have my doubts.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I’d say that the first edition that formalised Classes was one designed for splatbooks….or not.

It depends on your own attitude to what is ‘complete’ or not. I have the Player’s Handbook, and for my money it’s a pretty complete range of Classes right there. I could see some expansions in some Class archetypal options, as well as more backgrounds. I don’t, however, feel much compulsion to spend more money for these options, when I can just make them up myself.

 

[Phoenix8008]

I think answering this question will have to wait till after the DMG comes out as that is where many of the modular 'dials and plug-ins' are supposed to be. As far as player/character expansion beyond that goes, it's D&D! So it's always possible to expand more and splat book the heck out of everything if they wanted to. They've stated that they want to keep the book count low though, so we'll again have to wait and see if this is true or not (depending, of course, on each persons definition of a 'low book count').

From what I've seen in the PHB and the MM, I'm pretty satisfied with what's there already. But more options are almost always nice (at least until it becomes a never ending torrent of options drowning the consumer in their cumulative costs).

So I would maybe disagree with the premise that this edition is 'made for' splatbooks more than any other edition in the past. So far, I'm happy with what I've seen and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Mercurius]

I think 5E was made for customization, one approach of which would be through splat books. But I wouldn't equate the two; 5E can still be customized, and I imagine that the DMG will both provide advice on how to customize, and examples of possible customizations (optional rules, modules, plug-ins).

Beyond that we'll just have to see. It may be that Mearls will stick to his guns and 5E will be splat-lite, and we'll mainly be seeing stuff in the context of setting and adventure specific content (e.g. the "Adventurer's Handbook"). It may also be that we'll see more splats than Mearls originally intended, for the reason you mentioned - that 5E's modularity allows for it. I'd also like to see what the new game license looks like, because that may allow other publishers to "splat away" and do the dirty for WotC so that they can focus on story arcs. Let's see how this unfolds...

 

[Henrix]

I'm sort of expecting not splat books but campaign options books.

 

[Tormyr]

Just because they promised a modular approach and design does not mean that they will be supplying all of the modules. Many of the discussed options will be in the DMG. A careful player and DM can together come up with something that is new and different but not broken.

 

[Thaumaturge]

No.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm gonna say no, for a few reasons.

1. Mearls said there won't be
2. The structure of 5e, with backgrounds and feats, makes it so you don't need a book full of prestige classes. Just select a background and feat combination from an existing list or...
3. use one of your own creation. homebrew backgrounds are super easy to come up with on your own
4. campaign settings will most likely include backgrounds and feats specific to that campaign (like what HotDQ has)

So with all of the above, I really don't see a need for splatbooks. It looks like 5e can achieve all of that in other ways. I certainly don't see them creating a splatbook that only a small % of gamers would use.

 

[Mistwell]

I don't know about you, but 5th edition seems to have been made for splatbooks and yet I here we are supposed to get a low book rate.

It does not seem to be made for splatbooks from my perspective. I find it to be very complete and already customizable.

What sold me in the beginning was all this talk of modularity. There is supposed to be all these supplements that support all sorts of various play options in order for people to tailor the game to their needs.

Nobody ever said supplements. They always said it would be modules in the DMG, along with the existing customization options such as backgrounds, sub-classes, and feats.

However, as others have mentioned, I think there will be adventure books and setting books which include a lot of modules and options for use with those adventures/settings.

I just don't think there will be splat-books which are purely for crunch, like Complete Warrior or something like that. At least, until the licensing system comes out about 3 months after the DMG (is my guess). Once the licensing system comes out, I expect there will be plenty of third party products with tons of modules - many being fan-made and free.