D&D (2024) Is the 5E player base going to split?

[John R Davis]

It will have people going different ways. For different reasons. The rules changes, the art, the feel, etc.

Its not a problem.

 

[TwoSix]

I think that not everyone will buy or use the 5.X revised books, but I'm pretty confident the changes will be minimal enough that you can use a character with a 2014 PHB class, a Tasha's subclass, and a Ravnica race in the same game as a character with all 5.X rules.

Changing how you build a character doesn't make editions incompatible. It only matters if the character building final outputs are different, like how 3.5 got rid of some skills and replaced them with others.

I don't think 5.X is going to do something like have classes give 6 skills baseline, change the proficiency bonus scaling, or have races now give +5 total mods to stats. Nothing that impacts the underlying math.

 

[payn]

It will split, but be mild. Some folks will make it out be Armageddon.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Sure, at least a dozen folks will for whatever reason "split". Regardless of how you define such.

But, regardless of how you define split, and (almost) no matter what the changes in 5.5 are, the vast majority of folks will just go along and adopt. Sure some waters might be muddied. But other than those of us who pay attention and feel a dog in one fight or another, everyone else will just play whatever is put on their table. Not because they are indifferent, but because spending time with their friends (or making new ones) is more important than if a gnome has a set of ability score modifiers or if they can pick and chose their abilities bonuses (or any other rule that may change).

I agree, in play most people won't care. The real question is, who is going to throw another $200 at a set of core books that, according to many on this board, offer very little actual change in the game? I'm not sure i would do that even if I liked the changes.

 

[Yora]

As someone who's run one 5th edition campaign for half a year and regards it as "a workable system if out of game factors demand it", any potential new campaign I might start in the future won't motivate me to get new books.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

Of course it will split. These are D&D players. They have a +12 on Opinions.

It will be just like the Great Rift between those who think spellcasters are OP and those who think that's nonsense.
It will be just like the Great Divide between those who play the adventure books and those who Homebrew.
It will be just like the [pick any topic on this forum].

In fact, I am certain this forum has it's golden days still ahead.

Also, only stupid players will allow these updates to break up their D&D group.

 

[Steampunkette]

Probably not.

Some people might be like "I don't like these changes, so I'm gonna still use the 5e rules instead of the 5.5e rules for this stuff. But the rest is cool" and people will throw a tempest in a teacup over it...

But they'll just keep playing their games and no one will really care outside of the occasional forum argument.

Though I anticipate a goodly chunk of the "Old Guard" of D&D will complain, as they often do, regardless of how tiny a given change is.

 

[Lidgar]

As others said, I think it will continue to fracture. Not just 5.0 vs 5.5, but others will step in as Level Up already has.

I'm sure Paizo, Goodman Games, and others will continue to look at opportunities to provide 5E-derrivitive options for those not interested in 5.5.

However, with its huge fanbase -especially now in the VTT environment - I think 5.5 will garner the lion's share of the market, unlike what happened with 4E and Paizo.

Me, I'm just a lawnmower - you can tell me by the way I walk

 

[Jer]

I agree, in play most people won't care. The real question is, who is going to throw another $200 at a set of core books that, according to many on this board, offer very little actual change in the game? I'm not sure i would do that even if I liked the changes.

The thing to keep in mind is that people are still buying the core books and D&D is making Wizards a lot of money as it stands right now. Unlike previous edition changes, Wizards doesn't actually need to apply the defibrilators and get the current player base to go out and rebuy all of the books they already own with a new edition. Historically that's when TSR and Wizards have gone to the new edition well - when the edition's sales have started to slump and they need to revitalize the brand.

They could, if they choose, put out a new printing of the current core books with new art, updated with errata, and no other changes instead of putting out another printing of the current books and probably pay for it on new sales and the (probably larger than you think) group of people who would buy it just for the new art. They don't actually need to make a bunch of changes to get the existing player base to buy new books at this point to keep the game going, and if they decide to go that route I'm afraid it will blow up in their faces.

 

[DEFCON 1]

At the end of the day, the 2024 book will be nothing more than a book of alternate and/or additional rules, no different than Xanathar's and Tasha's. And some people will adopt them, others won't.

If there's any semblance of a "split"... it'll just be the same as it always is: a few people who don't like some of the alternate and/or additional rules will come here on the boards saying the rules are terrible, the game has been destroyed, the designers are lazy/stupid for creating what they did, and that they are going to have to leave the game now because D&D has left them behind, whoa is me.

No different than what happens after every single player-facing book gets released.