D&D (2024) First playtest thread! One D&D Character Origins.

[dave2008]

Ability Score increases in the playtest:

So I guess everyone saying Tasha's was not optional was wrong? I'm looking at you @Maxperson - I think.

 

[Rikka66]

Accidentally Crit leading to a character death? What is an accidental Crit? And are your players aware that getting into monster fights can lead to death?

If I had to guess at the thinking of a person I've never met...

"Ok, if this hits it will likely take the Wizard to zero. These players are new, the enemies would have reason to capture them, so I'll have them just knock them out with no death saves involved, that won't be too punitive annnnd I crit and killed him."

That kind of scenario. I can get it. I don't like killing players. They have to really screw up in the face of information they knew for me to feel it was "deserved". But at the same time it is cutting out some spice from encounters. I'll be considering whether this is something I keep, unlike say, automatic success/fails from 20's/1's, which I know I won't use.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I'm just posting what he said or implied. His point was that monsters have "crit powers" like a dragon's breath that are controlled by the DM (with still some recharge variability for "fun"). So the DM can chose to kill the players instead of it happening accidentally when you roll a crit out in the open.

A DM never “accidentally” kills a player. It’s either the will of the dice or he does it on purpose.

 

[Justice and Rule]

I will still use them because the function differently in our game, but it is not stupid. In reality crits on a 20 are bit silly. I prefer the PF2 approach to crits as it is related to skill not luck (though a bit less exciting at the table).

Sure, but D&D has to be more bound by nostalgia. At the least, it feels like a smart move that could open up for interesting design.

They just need to release some actually good monster design rules and it'd be a huge step up!

The crit changes sound like a positive thing for magic casters if they come with associated changes to magic no longer expecting "what if they crit when casting this spell" as if that was the norm. Thinking of spells & nonspells as different discrete things rather than one as a subset of the other but only in a few ways is a mess

They really need to rework spells in general. PF2 had a good idea of lessening the power of magic, but generally getting a result on anything but a "critical success" (beating the save by 10+), even if it was a much smaller effect. It works quite nicely!

Hopefully we see some real reworking of magic. It would go a long way to improving the system.

 

[Scribe]

And This new twice on Tieflings will need a lore explanation.

"Remember how we hamfisted a massive change into Tieflings? Well you can forget that."

And the people rejoiced.

 

[Weiley31]

Oh look....Powerful Build still exists.........as is and completely ignoring the update that is Hippo Strength.

 

[Scribe]

Animal headed people qith magical wings.

Ah, I see.

 

[Justice and Rule]

If I had to guess at the thinking of a person I've never met...

"Ok, if this hits it will likely take the Wizard to zero. These players are new, the enemies would have reason to capture them, so I'll have them just knock them out with no death saves involved, that won't be too punitive annnnd I crit and killed him."

That kind of scenario. I can get it. I don't like killing players. They have to really screw up in the face of information they knew for me to feel it was "deserved". But at the same time it is cutting out some spice from encounters. I'll be considering whether this is something I keep, unlike say, automatic success/fails from 20's/1's, which I know I won't use.

Yeah, while some randomness is nice, just icing someone randomly as a DM becuase you rolled a 20 can just feel... not good? Sometimes it works, but I'd rather that be the result of something I did instead of just "will of the dice", so to speak. Designing monsters to hit hard and their rechargeables be their "criticals" would probably help make that feel better, and it allows you to strategize a bit around those situations: a monster is much more dangerous when they have their rechargeable, but you go in on them if they don't have it back up.

OMG, THEY COULD BRING BACK BLOODIED AND ALLOW MONSTERS TO GET A FREE RECHARGE OFF IT!

 

[reelo]

Also it can cut down on players saying "You didn't crit me! Show me the roll!"

I consider it good practice for DMs to roll all of their attack and damage rolls out in the open for everyone to see.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Love how they do the bullet points of each feats and conditions. Way easier for my players who have a harder time reading English.