D&D General Which Sacred Cow Will Be The Last To Slaughter?

[Reynard]

NOTE: This is supposed to be fun.

As D&D goes through changes into the foreseeable future -- and there is no reason to belive it won't continue to exist -- some of those changes are sure to be the removal of vestigial elements. At the far end of the timescale, when morlocks are pretending to be eloi, what will the last of D&D sacred cows to go?

 

[pogre]

Zero to Hero. Which is a little different than just levels. Lots of games without levels improve PCs as they go.

 

[Scribe]

Tough one. Most of those are already dead or near dead. I went with Levels.

 

[Oofta]

I know this is a mooving topic and some people want to milk it for all it's worth, but I think it's a bunch of bull. I guess I don't really have any steak in the topic, i just think it behoofs me to horn in with my own cheesey comments.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Same here, almost dead... levels will probably be one of the last to go, but I voted ability scores. They keep subsiding despite having no use as a scale (as evidenced by race) nor as a very strong impact in game (just a few ability bonus here and there...) but I feel they could keep them, meaningless, for a very long time. They might be the vestigial tail in D&D.

 

[overgeeked]

Zero to Hero. Which is a little different than just levels. Lots of games without levels improve PCs as they go.

Uhm. It's already gone. 1st level characters haven't been "zeroes" since WotC took over. PCs in 5E start out almost as superheroes.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Knowing my luck?

Bards.

But I will keep pushing that rock up the hill, because doggonit, we should all look forward to a life of happiness, puppy dogs, and no bards.

 

[Krachek]

At the base a DM describe, players tell what they want to do, DM describe back.
No need for level, hit points, xp, or the others.
Much more interesting would be, the next sacred cow to slaughter!

 

[overgeeked]

Ability Scores. These are already vestigial. The only thing that matters is the bonus. Unfortunately.

Classes. These are likely to last a good long while. They're archetypes and as such have more "pull" with the fans and potential fans than some of the others. Likely one of the last cows standing.

Races. With the recent changes and options, race is pushing closer and closer to meaninglessness. But they're also archetypes, so they're in the running for last cow standing.

Hit Points. With the high amount of healing, low monster damage, and encounter design so wildly in favor of the PCs, hp are basically pointless book keeping after the first 2-3 levels.

Vancian Magic. With the proliferation of non-vancian casters WotC has set up the possibility to de-emphasize vancian casting. I think it will last a long, long while before it finally goes. It's too iconically D&D.

XP. It's basically already on the way out with milestones and story-based advancement.

Levels. XP is only relevant in regards to levels, so there's no point in tracking the same info twice. Like ability scores. The only thing that matters is the modifier, not the score...the only thing that matters is the level, not the XP. So levels will last longer than XP, but will levels outlast the other stuff?

The DM. There are 2-3 things that define something as an RPG. One is having a Referee, GM, or DM to run the world. D&D already tried a soft elimination of the DM in 4E and that didn't seem to go over very well. So this will likely be the last cow standing.

 

[pogre]

Uhm. It's already gone. 1st level characters haven't been "zeroes" since WotC took over. PCs in 5E start out almost as superheroes.

Progression then - D&D still has PCs at fairly weak starting power level compared to a lot of other RPGs.