D&D (2024) Little changes for 5.5

[Paul Smart]

With the announcement of 5.5, what are some of the minor changes you would like to see? For me, it is the following:

1) Three starting arrays, Heroic, Normal and Weak.

Heroic for parties that want to start strong.
18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 12 and one free feat

Normal
No change to starting arrays

Weak for those that want to start as basically peasants.
14, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8.

2) Presdititation, Thaumaturgy and Druidcraft are free for arcane, holy and druidic magic users, respectively.

3) When multiclassing martial classes that all get an extra attack at level 5, you get an extra attack at level 5. Example: Fighter 3, Barbarian 2 = 5 total levels. You get an extra attack.

4) Eldritch Blast is a class feature for warlocks. Also, Hexblade abilities are standard for all warlocks.

5) Make monks playable. See Trentmonks video on how to improve monks and make the changes.

6) Clean up the rules for stealth and hiding.

7) Add a Warlord class

8) Add a Psionic class - subclasses Psionicist (full caster type), Psionic Warrior (half caster type), Psionic Rogue (skill expert)

9) Add a dedicated Gish class - subclasses Bladesinger, Eldritch Knight, etc.

10) Make Bloodhunter and Gunslinger official.

11) Add an alchemist class that works. Also, fix the Artificer.

12) Others as suggested below.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I wouldn't exactly call adding 6 new classes to the 5.5 Player's Handbook "minor changes".

 

[Charlaquin]

I think people’s hopes for the anniversary core books are way too high. I don’t expect much will be changing beyond changing races/ancestries to fit the new model and incorporating optional rules from later supplements directly into the core rules.

 

[Mercurius]

I think people’s hopes for the anniversary core books are way too high. I don’t expect much will be changing beyond changing races/ancestries to fit the new model and incorporating optional rules from later supplements directly into the core rules.

I hear your point, but would be surprised if they didn't tweak some of the classes, in particular the ranger, and maybe monk and sorcerer, as well as incorporate a number of other smallish changes to issues that have arisen over, what will be by then, ten years of playing the edition.

Or as I have said in the past, I don't think this is will be a true "5.5" but it will definitely be more than a "5.1" and probably more than a "5.2." My money is on 5.3 to 5.4...meaning, they'll avoid any backwards compatibility issues (as much as possible), but will use the opportunity to fix certain things and improve the game as a whole.

 

[Charlaquin]

I hear your point, but would be surprised if they didn't tweak some of the classes, in particular the ranger, and maybe monk and sorcerer, as well as incorporate a number of other smallish changes to issues that have arisen over, what will be by then, ten years of playing the edition.

Or as I have said in the past, I don't think this is will be a true "5.5" but it will definitely be more than a "5.1" and probably more than a "5.2." My money is on 5.3 to 5.4...meaning, they'll avoid any backwards compatibility issues (as much as possible), but will use the opportunity to fix certain things and improve the game as a whole.

I agree they’ll likely take the opportunity to make some small tweaks here and there to address frequent sticking points. I’m not sure the ranger needs much more than having the optional class features from Tasha’s in as part of the core class and the improved Beast Master companion in place of the original MM beasts. Maybe a slight buff to Favored Foe, since common perception is that throb over-nerfed it from the UA version? But I don’t expect much more than that (not no more, but not much more). Same for the monk, I think building the optional Tasha’s features right in would go a long way to improving it. Maybe make Patient Defense a reaction instead of a bonus action or something. That’s the level of changes I expect to see - little tweaks here and there, but no big changes or additions like new classes (though I could see them including the artificer in the PHB).

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I hear your point, but would be surprised if they didn't tweak some of the classes, in particular the ranger, and maybe monk and sorcerer, as well as incorporate a number of other smallish changes to issues that have arisen over, what will be by then, ten years of playing the edition.

Or as I have said in the past, I don't think this is will be a true "5.5" but it will definitely be more than a "5.1" and probably more than a "5.2." My money is on 5.3 to 5.4...meaning, they'll avoid any backwards compatibility issues (as much as possible), but will use the opportunity to fix certain things and improve the game as a whole.

I hope you are right as I will buy yawning portal sorts of collections but probably not core books again.

 

[Mercurius]

I agree they’ll likely take the opportunity to make some small tweaks here and there to address frequent sticking points. I’m not sure the ranger needs much more than having the optional class features from Tasha’s in as part of the core class and the improved Beast Master companion in place of the original MM beasts. Maybe a slight buff to Favored Foe, since common perception is that throb over-nerfed it from the UA version? But I don’t expect much more than that (not no more, but not much more). Same for the monk, I think building the optional Tasha’s features right in would go a long way to improving it. Maybe make Patient Defense a reaction instead of a bonus action or something. That’s the level of changes I expect to see - little tweaks here and there, but no big changes or additions like new classes (though I could see them including the artificer in the PHB).

You could be right. I don't on Tasha's and am not up on the various optional and additional rules that have come out. I'm still back on the "alt Ranger" and wondering why that was discarded

 

[Mercurius]

I hope you are right as I will buy yawning portal sorts of collections but probably not core books again.

Someone at WotC said that they want to do more collections, although maybe not always retro like YP. Maybe they sprinkle those in very few years, but I do think it quite possible that we get a yearly adventure collection.

 

[OakenHart]

Honestly my biggest hope with the upcoming revision is more tools to make DMing smoother. For all my issues with 4e, it did make running/prepping incredibly smooth and easy.

They're already making the monster stat block a bit more straightforward which is good, but I'd like to see a return of descriptors/tags on the monster to make encounter building more easy. Bring back 4e descriptors/tags like "brute", "skirmisher", etc. A monster doesn't need to perfectly fit into the tag, but close enough to where a DM can tell at a very quick glance roughly the sort of role a monster would likely play in a given combat.

 

[R_J_K75]

I'm disappointed that they opted for a core rule book revision in 2024 instead of 6E. No matter how big or small the changes are I think its a missed opportunity to update the game to a new edition. Personally I believe its time to explore a different set of core mechanics and move away from the d20 system; it seems outdated to me nowadays and what will be by then 24 years on only more so. 2014-2024 is a good run for 5E and I think its long enough most people would by into a new edition. Minor changes aren't enough to fix what's wrong with 5E for me.