D&D 5E 50th Anniversary and beyond

[Lyxen]

Well, the thing that would concern me is if they release 5.5/6E versions of the PHB & MM. If that would then make the originals unavailable in Beyond, I'd be mighty unhappy. From past experience, I haven't seen D&D's electronic fare continue to support retired product (other than PDF).

Again, I might be wrong, but I expect the changes to be minimal, at most at the "option" level of the current ruleset, certainly not what people would call a 5.5 or even a 6e. In which case, my concern would be about the amount of options, but hopefully the streamlining will also remove a number of those, hopefully the lesser used ones (and I hope that WotC's contract with DDB allows them to get analytics on those, they would be really useful in making the change, probably even more than a huge playtest, especially in terms of value for money).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, I think that decision was pretty baffling to, like, everyone. The only way I can square it is to figure they wanted to make a broad rule that PC races only tell you what your individual character is like, not about the lineage broadly. Your individual elf character can have +2/+1 to any ability scores, and the race rules for elves won’t tell you any differently. If you want to know what most elves’ ability scores are like, it’s in the monster manual. Likewise, your individual elf character can be anywhere from 1’9” to 9’11” tall, and the rules for the elf race won’t tell you any differently. If you want to know how tall most elves are, it’s in the random heights and weights table.

That’s my speculation on it, anyway,

Does that mean the PC races will actually be in the MM? Cause right now they really aren't, outside of vague suggestions in the NPC section.

 

[Charlaquin]

Does that mean the PC races will actually be in the MM? Cause right now they really aren't, outside of vague suggestions in the NPC section.

No, I’m saying I think that’s where you’ll have to look to find the “default” ability score increases. If I recall correctly, the current monster manual has guidelines for how to adjust an NPC’s stats to apply a race to it, including ability score adjustments and some features. I wouldn’t be surprised if that sticks around, and would then be how folks who want a set of default racial ASIs could determine what they should be.

 

[SkidAce]

Absolute, complete nonsense. Less than a month after this new revision of the 3 Core Rulebooks were announced, we got an Unearthed Arcana for 6-limbed Psychic Ant People, the first Ooze race in 5e, Spacefaring Robot Gnomes, and Swashbuckling Space Monkeys with Flying Squirrel Skin-Flaps. If WotC suddenly decided to simplify D&D's races into "6" rubber monsters and characters all with the same body mold with a different head stuck on", they never would have published even a playtest version of those races, and given very specific cultural differences that would exist between those races due to their inherently non-human nature (the Hadozee with their monkey-based social structure, Thri-Kreen with their sleeplessness and psychic powers, autognomes from their strange relationships with their parent race, creators, and constructed nature (which I like to call "the Pinnochio Effect"), and Plasmoids with being literal sentient oozes with amorphous bodies and social structure).

You're entitled to your opinion on whether or not you like these changes, man, but don't make up BS about the motivations or direction of the game because of your dislike for the changes. It's clear to me that WotC still wants races to be diversified from one another, they just want it to be done in different ways from the standard (and perhaps cliché) stereotypes that used to be reinforced in 5e's (and all previous editions') PHB, DMG, and MM.

So, no. You're wrong. Utterly incorrect in this vast leap of "logic". Keep whatever opinion you want, just don't make nonsense up, please.

I kinda think they were joking/being sarcastic...

 

[Blue]

Hi
We‘ve been told there will be some sort of revision of the rules and aspects of the game for the 50th anniversary in 2024

The things we know about are:
Starting stat bonuses no longer being tied to race
The removal of character age, height and weight as factors
Changing monster and NPC spells to Actions rather than being the same as PC spells
Not having alignment tied to race and which in turn leads to the reduction of racial conflict
Presumably incorporating the class abilities from Tasha’s into the core game
Adventures carrying trigger warnings

These are not the 2024 release - we already have all of these. They aren't worth talking about for the 2024 release. Continuing what we already have is sort of the assumed default. It would only be worth talking about if you thought one of the new trends wouldn't be there.

What we actually suspect for the 50th Anniversary Release is that with an in-depth class-feature survey and an individual spell survey they are likely to be redoing a number of things from the PHB, while "maintaining compatibility". If ti was just class features they could maintain full compatibility by just having new features you could sub in for problematic ones like they did with the ranger, but the spells also being investigated they may do more than that.

 

[Stormonu]

Does that mean the PC races will actually be in the MM? Cause right now they really aren't, outside of vague suggestions in the NPC section.

More likely a Xanethar/Tasha's level book, where it can be compiled for ease of use by players. Though it may be showing up in the Jan+ new monster book - but I think that's a poor place myself to do that sort of thing; MM's are more a DM-side tool, and less likely to get player buy-in.

At some point though, chasing down the changes is going to get tedious to root through a bunch of add-on books and it will make more sense to roll them into the base PHB/MM/DMG. Question will be when, and what exactly will be implemented. The game is always in flux and in development, and the rulebooks are snapshots of that development process basically.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No, I’m saying I think that’s where you’ll have to look to find the “default” ability score increases. If I recall correctly, the current monster manual has guidelines for how to adjust an NPC’s stats to apply a race to it, including ability score adjustments and some features. I wouldn’t be surprised if that sticks around, and would then be how folks who want a set of default racial ASIs could determine what they should be.

So it'll be those vague suggestions I mentioned. I think it's a mistake to force people to puzzle out what a typical dwarf/elf/orc etc. Is supposed to look like in the MM. If anyone can be any alignment, then the PC races should have entries alongside the orcs and kobolds, or pull all the humanoids out altogether and provide general descriptions in the NPC section.

 

[Charlaquin]

So it'll be those vague suggestions I mentioned. I think it's a mistake to force people to puzzle out what a typical dwarf/elf/orc etc. Is supposed to look like in the MM. If anyone can be any alignment, then the PC races should have entries alongside the orcs and kobolds, or pull all the humanoids out altogether and provide general descriptions in the NPC section.

I’m just guessing as to how I imagine it might be laid out, not trying to place a value judgment on if that’d be a good way to do it or not. I could also be totally off-base with my speculation; I have no special insight into the matter, so my guess is as good as anyone else’s.

 

[Bolares]

Do you think they will do something with bonus actions? It's the biggest part of the game the designers have criticized in public, but I don't know how seamsless you can make using 5e and the new books if they do away with bonus actions...

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’m just guessing as to how I imagine it might be laid out, not trying to place a value judgment on if that’d be a good way to do it or not. I could also be totally off-base with my speculation; I have no special insight into the matter, so my guess is as good as anyone else’s.

Fair enough. I have to say I am putting a value judgement on it for my own perspective.