D&D (2024) Dungeons and Dragons future? Ray Winninger gives a nod to Mike Shea's proposed changes.

[Maxperson]

Right, and it is just as optional as the rest, and when it eventually becomes the new core standard, that won’t change that it was optional from release until a book is put out wherein the core races are built in the new way.

Is it?

It can't be anything else. The change to racial ASIs and ability to invent races whole cloth are enough to make a significant change to the default game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Please show me a specific quote wherein anyone said otherwise.

I am addressing a possible issue where a popular style is somehow believed to be more valid than a less popular one. Don't tell me you've never seen that one.

 

[TwoSix]

They knew when Tasha's came out which way things were going to go. Calling those rules optional when they knew they would eventually become the default was pretty darned disingenuous.

Yea, but they're optional for the entire of range games played from 2020 to 2024. That's like being mad at a 2022 car being a hybrid just because the 2030 version will be full electric.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yea, but they're optional for the entire of range games played from 2020 to 2024. That's like being mad at a 2022 car being a hybrid just because the 2030 version will be full electric.

Except that everyone doesn't assume you're driving the 2030 version as soon as it comes out, and all support for the 2022 model doesnt stop forever.

 

[Maxperson]

Yea, but they're optional for the entire of range games played from 2020 to 2024. That's like being mad at a 2022 car being a hybrid just because the 2030 version will be full electric.

No. It's like getting mad at your favorite car manufacturer for saying that a hybrid would be available if you want it, while promising you the gas model would remain their staple, then getting rid of the gas model 2 years later and only having hybrid models for sale.

 

[Parmandur]

November 2020 Tasha's came out.
September 2021 WotC announced 5.5.
August 2022 WotC says it will be adopting Tasha's for the 5.5 PHB.

They knew when Tasha's came out which way things were going to go. Calling those rules optional when they knew they would eventually become the default was pretty darned disingenuous.

They didn't say here that the changes are definitely being adopted wholsale: Tasha's is basically a playtest, it seems to me, and there is nothing disingenuous about putting out some options and seeing what sticks.

 

[Parmandur]

A lot of that comes from the players themselves. I'm no Matt Mercer, but my players will often be much more scared by encounters than the stat block warrants, because they don't know the stat block and can imagine it to be pretty bad.

A single encounter, even a deadly one, isn't going to be a true challenge to the group. That's because of the infernal 5-7 encounter day balance. By the time they get to that 5th-7th encounter, they will be low on resources, perhaps even not at full hit points, and will be at risk of PC death. The challenge is resource management.

Oh, for sure, it's a feature of how 5E is designed to work for players.

 

[Parmandur]

I've never understood that. To me that extra feat and skill proficiency are worth more than +1s in stats that are pretty much all secondary.

Strictly speaking, they are quite equivalent in game terms. Mostly what I've seen is people glaze over and ignore Feats because they discover that they are optional well before they begin to make sense if them. The Background Feat regime will change a lot about how most people approach Feats, I think.

 

[CleverNickName]

Funny enough, one of the last books for 3rd Edition was a Rules Compendium. The nice organized bundle of rules was put out right before the Edition was put out to pasture.


Edit: I looked up the dates to refresh my memory.

3E Rules Compendium - October 2007
4E PHB, DMG, and MM - June 2008

Yep, that's the line of discussion that Team Sixth follows on Reddit. They have a few other stats they like to throw out as well, such as the release date of 4E Essentials vs. the release date of 5E.

Like I said: it will land somewhere in between the two camps. But it won't be in the middle; I think it'll land a lot closer to Team Evergreen.

 

[Reynard]

Some probably would, but I think a lot of players aren’t super interested in digging through a menu of options to find the one they’re going to take that level. Never underestimate the casual player’s aversion to doing anything that feels like homework.

My point is that with the right visual design,you don't have to "dig."

Source: 20-odd years of marriage to a graphic designer.