D&D (2024) What is "compatible"?

[TerraDave]

Not only that, but being able to play a newPHB Ranger with a Tasha’s or whatever subclass. Being able to take fears from any official 5e D&D book regardless of which PHB you built the character from.

I can't decide how hard it will be to be compatible with the supplements, or how much that limits changing the core books.

The ranger is such a special case that it can have its own treatment. But, if, say, the new PHB rogue has some long-rest recharge abilities, but most rogue archetypes in Tasha's or Xanathar's doesn't, does this matter?

And at some point, they will want to supplement the supplements. Maybe many years from now, or maybe sooner. But it will come up. With the monster books they are already doing it, before releasing the new core books.

 

[TerraDave]

Or, in revising the core books, they just find stuff in the supplements that also need to change.

 

[Blue]

If you are talking about the 2024 announcement the wording wasn't "compatible", it was "fully compatible".

I read that to mean that you can 100% create any existing character. No grandfathered characters will need a single change. So changes like recalibrating the encounters-per-day, as much as I would dreadfully love such a thing, can not be on the table.

I think we'll get exactly what they have shown us with Tasha's. Races with ability scores assignable, and possibly changing the name from "race".

Classes with purely optional (so not required on existing characters) new features, like existing sorcerer subclasses getting free spells. Classes with more choices for features, allowing you to replace problematic ones as well as just give new options. Both of these were in Tasha's as well.

In other words, I read "fully compatible" as "you can create the exact same character as before and run it with other characters with no more problem then right now (which might be a level of problem), but there will be new options that might make you want to create it a different way".

 

[Umbran]

I read that to mean that you can 100% create any existing character.

I wouldn't read it that way. I think it means that if you have an existing character next to a new one, nothing is going to break.

No grandfathered characters will need a single change. So changes like recalibrating the encounters-per-day, as much as I would dreadfully love such a thing, can not be on the table.

I disagree. If they've decided that the current number of encounters per day is off for the classes already extant, then they could update that.

 

[MarkB]

I’m also wondering how this will play out on dndbeyond. wen looking up Stuff in a players handbook will it merge the two related aticles with markings for each in the document etc.

Their current approach is to use the original version of a thing when you access it from a particular book (subject to errata), but the most current version when accessing content outside of books (i.e. looking at the full list of character classes).

 

[jgsugden]

Can I pick up and use my old adventures with the new rules, and run the new adventures with the old rules? If yes, then it is compatible. If no, then I lament it is not compatible, gnash my teeth, cry at the storms of despair, and then spend a couple minutes making the necessary modifications.

Honestly, it is a non-issue. I can take Age of Worms, Shackled City, and other 3E adventures and run them in 5E with little or no preparation outside reading the 3E version and spending a couple minutes with the encounter builder on D&D beyond for a few of the encounters. The core of the game is storytelling, and the only change in editions that complicated the storytelling was into and out of 4E (and it wasn't terribly complicated either - just different enough to note). Beyond that, we're just talking minor tweaks to maintain balance.

I imagine that these new 5.5 rules will rebalance a few things that could be better (GWM, SS), clarify a few vague rules (stealth), rebalance a few class features (as we saw with the ranger already), etc... you'll likely be able to run with the old version of the feats or the new ones without breaking the game. You'll likely be able to use the old version of the vague rules or the clarified ones with no real difficulty. You'll likely be able to run either the old or new version of the ranger. All in all, it'll be fine and we'll make a bunch of hullabaloo about things that do not really change the game.

 

[Blue]

I wouldn't read it that way. I think it means that if you have an existing character next to a new one, nothing is going to break.



I disagree. If they've decided that the current number of encounters per day is off for the classes already extant, then they could update that.

If what you were saying was the case, they'd call it "compatible". I think that by calling it "fully compatible" that they are making a stronger statement. For example, changing number of spell slots per level, part of reducing the expected number of encounters per day to more where people run it, is not "fully compatible".

 

[Blue]

Can I pick up and use my old adventures with the new rules, and run the new adventures with the old rules? If yes, then it is compatible. If no, then I lament it is not compatible, gnash my teeth, cry at the storms of despair, and then spend a couple minutes making the necessary modifications.

Honestly, it is a non-issue. I can take Age of Worms, Shackled City, and other 3E adventures and run them in 5E with little or no preparation outside reading the 3E version and spending a couple minutes with the encounter builder on D&D beyond for a few of the encounters. The core of the game is storytelling, and the only change in editions that complicated the storytelling was into and out of 4E (and it wasn't terribly complicated either - just different enough to note). Beyond that, we're just talking minor tweaks to maintain balance.

I imagine that these new 5.5 rules will rebalance a few things that could be better (GWM, SS), clarify a few vague rules (stealth), rebalance a few class features (as we saw with the ranger already), etc... you'll likely be able to run with the old version of the feats or the new ones without breaking the game. You'll likely be able to use the old version of the vague rules or the clarified ones with no real difficulty. You'll likely be able to run either the old or new version of the ranger. All in all, it'll be fine and we'll make a bunch of hullabaloo about things that do not really change the game.

What you want is one thing. But if they are claiming to deliver something "fully compatible" (and carry through on their claims), then they aren't providing something that will need modification. For example there might be new, additional feats that are like GWM and SS that you call out, but they won't invalidate the existing GWM or SS and still be fully compatible, since that will require changes on existing characters.

 

[Umbran]

If what you were saying was the case, they'd call it "compatible". I think that by calling it "fully compatible" that they are making a stronger statement.

Eh. They are making a MARKETING statement. They were also saying that 5e would be "modular" and we know how that turned out.

Don't hang much import on specific word choice years before release.

 

[Lyxen]

Eh. They are making a MARKETING statement. They were also saying that 5e would be "modular" and we know how that turned out.

It turned out very well as far as I know, so I have high hopes for full compatibility.