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

[Bill Zebub]

Or
5. Keep the new weapon only crit rule as a general reduction in power to non-weapon damage with no exceptions and don't care about how or why someone would use a 2014 rogue in a 2024 game.

I personally think it is such a small issue that it will be ignored.

I like rolling all those dice, but it might math out: instead of getting extra sneak attack damage on a 20, you bank it for when you wouldn’t otherwise get sneak attack. And although you might lose it by critting again before you need it, how many times have you wasted it under the old rules with massive overkill?

 

[TwoSix]

I would agree with that. Reskinning feels cheap and lazy to me. I'm sure other people like it though, and good for them.

I try to present other people's arguments fairly when I can, even when I don't agree with them.

 

[Ancalagon]

The changes to the general rules are what worry me, not the changes to races.

You can literally use a PHB 2014 Wood Elf with a playtest background, no conversion needed. So far, so good. But while I agree with most of the general rules changes, the document in total and the video all taken together make me think they are willing to go far enough that you wont be able to make a character using pre and post 2024 books without conversion.

Yep. Exactly. Hopefully they get enough such feedback to change course a little.

This has happened a few times in the past - 1e to 2e, 3.0 to 3.5. They seem to be trying to thread the path where the rules are similar enough that it is backwards compatible... soooort of, but different enough that people want to buy new books.

I wonder what's going to happen to the old 5e digital books - will they just go poof?

 

[Cadence]

Is the biggest benefit of NPCs in the monster books not being stat-ed up like PCs and using spell-like effects instead of spells... that most of them should work the same after the PHB changes?

 

[Bill Zebub]

I would agree with that. Reskinning feels cheap and lazy to me. I'm sure other people like it though, and good for them.

I don’t agree with your cynicism, but I don’t personally enjoy reskinning.

That makes TWO things we agree on.







Did somebody hear thunder?

 

[Aldarc]

I try to present other people's arguments fairly when I can, even when I don't agree with them.

And that is why you're weak and will never win.

 

[MarkB]

I like rolling all those dice, but it might math out: instead of getting extra sneak attack damage on a 20, you bank it for when you wouldn’t otherwise get sneak attack. And although you might lose it by critting again before you need it, how many times have you wasted it under the old rules with massive overkill?

Yeah, I think gaining easier Inspiration so that you can sneak attack more reliably will likely be reasonable compensation for not getting to double SA damage on a crit.

 

[Ancalagon]

I’m not saying I don’t want Common sign language to exist (which would allow deaf and hard of hearing people from across cultures to communicate). I just want other sign languages to exist so that deaf and hard of hearing people can communicate with each other within their culture without being understood by others. That’s the main use for languages in D&D anyway, right? Everyone speaks Common, so you don’t need other languages to be understood. You need them so you can speak to your in-group without being understood by folks outside of it.

As a minority language-speaking person ... wow. Just wow. I know you mean well, but that is incredibly reductive and dismissive.

Ma langue, ma culture existe pour que les anglais nous comprennent pas? Tabarnak....

 

[OB1]

I wonder what's going to happen to the old 5e digital books - will they just go poof?

I imagine that it will be the same as with Volos and Tome of Foes, if you've already purchased, you can access it as 'legacy' tagged content. They could potentially give you the option at character creation to use either rule set (provided you own both).

 

[Justice and Rule]

You are aware that I have been explicitly in favor of decoupling ability improvements from race this entire time, yes?

Ah, my apologies. It didn't come off as such, I suppose.

We're going to have to disagree on this. Learning spells that I can cast once a day (or more often with spell slots), more than a few of which are either situational or keyed to mental ability scores that I likely will not be investing in, is less appealing to my Barbarian than the orc's improved survivability and trait that allows them to get into melee faster.

Only one of them keys off a mental stat (which you get to choose), and while they are situational they are undoubtably useful. Your Orc being more survivable is certainly individually useful, but my Wood Elf Barbarian giving a massive bonus to Stealth to the party with Pass Without Trace naturally instead of having to force a caster to have it is also useful, while also being able to go insanely fast around the field with faster speed plus Longstrider. A Drow Barbarian having better Darkvision and being able to cast Darkness is helpful to the party in a pinch, and if you have any sort of mental stat Faerie Fire is definitely helpful. Having the ability to choose from multiple cantrips (of which there are plenty of ones that don't require stats) is useful, and having a Barbarian who can Misty Step is definitely cool, especially when they are in combat and a friend needs immediate help.

All those abilities are less direct than the Orc's, but they still carry a bunch of utility and usefulness. That's what makes it an interesting choice: having a Barbarian with interesting utility powers that can help the party versus one that synergizes with survivability in combat.