D&D (2024) Pie in the Sky 6E

[Steampunkette]

Wizards: Spells
Clerics: Invocations
Druids: Primalism
Bards: Songs and Leitmotifs
Warlocks: Spells, but Evil
Sorcerers: Raw Magic
Psions: Psionics

And then make them all different.

Like... Wizard/Warlock Spell entries:

Acid Splash
Conjuration Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: VS
Duration: Instantaneous

Cleric Invocations:

Cure Wounds
1st-Circle Restoration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Requirements: Holy Symbol, Prayer

Druid Primalism:

Thorn Whip
The Green Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Implements: Strip of Vine or Leather

Bard Leitmotifs:

Vicious Mockery
Humiliation Cantrip
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V

Different "Schools" for different classes. Different requirements, components, implements, things like that. Whole separate lists that give them more flavor...

And then you cast "Detect Magic" and you find some "Storm Magic" and know it wasn't a Wizard who put the spell into effect, but a Druid. Or a "Vengeance Effect" and know it was a Cleric. Also gives different casters things to talk about as the Wizard tries, in vain, to categorize everything the Druid or Cleric or Bard does in terms of the eight schools of magic they were taught... Meanwhile the Sorcerer laughs and talks about how pure magic is just the energy of the universe that -some- people can manipulate directly, rather than relying on chants and wiggling fingers.

Yes. It -is- needlessly complex from a certain perspective. Why do you ask?

 

[TwoSix]

Remove all feats, ASI and 90% of class powers from the PHB. PC become awesome with the magical items and artifacts they find during their adventures. They could put feats, ASI and more class powers in an Advanced D&D books. Letting the DM and players choose which type of game they want. It would be more modular.

This! This with bells on!

Pie in the sky, I want to see D&D move away from complex character building to specific visions and towards diegetic character growth through play.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

This! This with bells on!

Pie in the sky, I want to see D&D move away from complex character building to specific visions and towards diegetic character growth through play.

This: get most of the your race/class features are low-level, then gain more use of them as you level up.

No way I'm waiting 9 levels to avoid difficult natural terrain when I'm a damn ranger! 14 level to hide as a bonus action!?

 

[TwoSix]

This: get most of the your race/class features are low-level, then gain more use of them as you level up.

No way I'm waiting 9 levels to avoid difficult natural terrain when I'm a damn ranger! 14 level to hide as a bonus action!?

Yea, exactly this. Leveling gives you some more hit points and a few points of proficiency bonus, maybe some stat increases. Everything else you gain is from the magic items you find (or build) and the NPCs you befriend.

 

[Celebrim]

Better or any real support for running chases (similar to Hot Pursuit), crafting, aerial combat (facing!), naval combat, mass combat (bring back Battlesystem in some form), and dominions and dynastic play. Support for natural blessings and curses. Support for divine intervention. Support for holy sites, holy days, astrology, and magically tainted areas or nodes of power. Support for spirits, shamanism, and animism. Support for horror and madness. Disease and injury support. Support for 'man vs. nature' scenarios. Support for fumbles, spell fumbles, and stunts. Rebalance win button spells. Truly useful religious supplements (see Book of the Righteous). Exploration as a true pillar of play. Functional guidelines for running social challenges/encounters. Reduced number inflation with play as the goal of play and not leveling as goal of play.

Return D&D to it's roots as a world simulation and stop trying to assume what game is going to happen at the table and just support the game you think I'm going to play or want to play. Let my table decide where the focus of play is. Let my decide what the difficulty and tier is going to be. Sell me minigames that extend the game. Stop selling alternative chargen as the focus of what your rules offer.

It often makes me really wonder what play at some of these designers tables is like. Are their players so tame and lacking in creativity and novel desires that they really think they are offering functional rules? I feel like I have to write a couple of pages of house rules after practically every session because of the huge areas that players want to explore that the game system doesn't cover, and that is true of actually expansive rules sets and not just the overly narrow "the game is about chargen and combat" rules of 4e and 5e.

 

[overgeeked]

Go ahead. Let it out. What do you REALLY want from a 6E that you know you aren't going to get?

I want the game to be one page long. That's it. I want it to be mostly free-form with a few bits of mechanics to have some structure and dice when necessary. Anything more than that just leads to arguments, rules lawyers, and power gamers.

 

[Umbran]

Go ahead. Let it out. What do you REALLY want from a 6E that you know you aren't going to get?

An edition change in which the fans don't use it as an excuse to be complete jerks to each other.

 

[Stormonu]

(Actually, I don't want a 6E, but if it were up to me...)

Return of negative ability mods to race so modifiers balance out to 0.
Hit point bloat gone - after 9th level, you only get your Con modifier to HP gain; high-level monsters have much less HP.
The game only covers going up to 15th level. Seperate book for the likes of 16th to 30th.
Saving throws and Skills use the whole ability score instead of just the modifier, so there's an actual difference between the likes of a 14 and a 15.
A one-book version of the game that combines PHB + DMG + MM.
My homebrew becomes the default world. Failing that, Greyhawk.
A built in fighter/magic-user style class (Battlemage)
Boxed set versions of all the old campaign worlds, similar to the Spelljammer format (drop the adventure book, make it a rulebook with mechanics, a monster book and add a travelogue that details the campaign world.
The return of 32/64 page modules, with two yearly hardcover campaign length adventures.

 

[Bill Zebub]

This: get most of the your race/class features are low-level, then gain more use of them as you level up.

No way I'm waiting 9 levels to avoid difficult natural terrain when I'm a damn ranger! 14 level to hide as a bonus action!?

The problem I see with this...because I encounter it when I'm homebrewing stuff...is that it can feel like ALL of the abilities are intrinsic to the class. So you front-load it and...then what?

Two options I sometimes use:
1) The abilities start off weaker and get stronger at higher level. This works, but can feel uninspired when you don't get 'new' stuff just 'improved' stuff.
2) Give the class a list of options, and you choose one from the list at various levels. E.g. battlemaster maneuvers or sorcerer metamagic.

 

[Reynard]

Return D&D to it's roots as a world simulation and stop trying to assume what game is going to happen at the table and just support the game you think I'm going to play or want to play. Let my table decide where the focus of play is. Let my decide what the difficulty and tier is going to be. Sell me minigames that extend the game. Stop selling alternative chargen as the focus of what your rules offer.

I really like this articulation.