Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana probably coming to D&D website (Reddit AMA)

[MerricB]

i agree - I dont like big adventures, the old boxed set adventures/monster dungeons, that sort of thing. I want lots of little adventures to pick and choose from mostly. Happily Goodman Games seem to be releasing some cool, short stand alone adventures. As long as someone is making them, I'll be happy.

There are seven 3rd-party companies that have released 5E adventures so far, even without a proper license. I'm really looking forward to Necromancer Games' Quests book.

(See my sig for my list of available 5e adventures).

Cheers!

 

[Trickster Spirit]

I will not be surprised if they continue to update Basic with monsters, some time after whatever supplement comes out with them. So, monsters, for free!

I'd have been a little more cynical, but I'm honestly surprised how many MM critters they've already made freely available in Basic and the supplements. I'd not be at all surprised if new monsters first see daylight in Basic - I'm just expecting a hardcover MM2 at some point with some exclusives too.

 

[MerricB]

I think the assumption that we will ever get a MM2 is a longshot. That sort of product appears to be exactly the sort of thing they have been trying to hint at (without directly saying) "we aren't going to make that sort of thing."

I'm getting the opposite feeling. I'm feeling much more that we'll see very limited additional player options, as they are the biggest causes of a system's bloat because they provide more combinations of stuff, which rarely is properly balanced.

New monsters just give new toys for the DM, and that's a lot more manageable.

Cheers!

 

[Hussar]

I can see that MerricB. When is the last time you saw multipage threads bitching about the balance implications of a given monster or monster book? About the only thing I can think of is how monsters interact with various versions of Polymorph spells. But, that was a problem with Polymorph, not a problem with the monster. The solution has never been, "Restrict the game to core monsters"!

 

[MerricB]

I can see that MerricB. When is the last time you saw multipage threads bitching about the balance implications of a given monster or monster book? About the only thing I can think of is how monsters interact with various versions of Polymorph spells. But, that was a problem with Polymorph, not a problem with the monster. The solution has never been, "Restrict the game to core monsters"!

Well, perhaps Monster Manual 3 for 3E, which had a seriously different view of what CR meant than MM1.

Apart from that: not all that much!

Cheers!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I sure hope you guys are right. I'm completely on board with restricting bloat--I just need to give the classic critters in my multiverse 5e stats.

 

[Hussar]

I haven't actually sat down and looked at this, but, how hard is it to make monsters in 5e? In 4e, it was ridiculously easy, and in 3e, I really struggled. Where would 5e fall in that spectrum?

 

[MerricB]

I haven't actually sat down and looked at this, but, how hard is it to make monsters in 5e? In 4e, it was ridiculously easy, and in 3e, I really struggled. Where would 5e fall in that spectrum?

It's pretty easy. It will be a *lot* easier once the DMG is out. Mike Mearls said that there are ranges of values for each offensive CR and defensive CR, and you average the two CRs to give the result.

Mathematically speaking, the save, attack and skill values are calculated from attribute scores and proficiency bonuses; AC is either set at a value or calculated (light armour), and that's about it. There aren't the huge number of modifiers that 3E had. It's generally just two numbers added together. Or three in the case of DCs. (8 base + prof + abil modifier).

The major problem is just not knowing the expected ranges, although Surfarcher's monster analyses have got us a lot closer.

Cheers!

 

[Blue]

Well, personally, I think the multiclass rules for 3e and 5e are not very good. In 3e, my own house rule is that multiclassing does not grant the armor and weapon proficiencies. After first level you had to take the appropriate feat either through level acquisition or an appropriate class bonus feat.
As for the cleric itself, I already stated I think the class design is poor- the class armor proficiencies is among the many elements for which I don't care.

Well, if you are houseruling away the whole subsystem that makes pushing things off to 2nd or 3rd a good thing, sure, put everything at 1st. That's not generally applicable to playign at large, so it still shouldn't be a redesign for everyone. Sorry if you had put that in an earlier post then the one I had replied to - with 108 replies I don't always have top of mine what each poster said in all of them.

 

[Psikerlord#]

There are seven 3rd-party companies that have released 5E adventures so far, even without a proper license. I'm really looking forward to Necromancer Games' Quests book.

(See my sig for my list of available 5e adventures).

Cheers!

Sweet! thanks for this