D&D (2024) 2024 PHB Feats and Misc discussion

[Charlaquin]

Which is kinda odd in my opinion. They said they were shifting cultural traits from race to background, but there’s no way to gain the traditional racial weapon and armor proficiencies from your background. Maybe this choice will make more sense as we get more context, but right now it feels like Weapon Master and lightly/moderately/heavily armored (sans the +1 in Str/Dex/Con) would have been obvious candidates for 1st level Feats.

On this note, I want to propose a couple of Feats:

Dwarven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Dwarven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the battleaxe, hand axe, light hammer, and warhammer.
Armor Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with medium armor and shields.
Weight Distribution. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.

Elven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Elven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow, and shortbow.
Armor Proficiency. You gain proficiency with light armor.
Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.

You could make similar ones for other cultural styles.

 

[Charlaquin]

Doesn't help that it's not how official character sheets are designed.

Indeed! Very frustrating. There were other designs during the playtest that worked better, but people insisted on having spaces to pre-calculate their bonuses. Cause I guess adding two one-digit numbers and one two-digit number together is too much to ask.

 

[Sir Brennen]

On this note, I want to propose a couple of Feats:

Dwarven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Dwarven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the battleaxe, hand axe, light hammer, and warhammer
Armor Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with medium armor and shields.
Weight Distribution. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.

Elven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Elven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow, and shortbow.
Armor Proficiency. You gain proficiency with light armor.
Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.

You could make similar ones for other cultural styles.

Yeah, I think this would be the best way to go to replicate previous racial cultural benefits. The Dwarven "Forge Wise" trait should get a similar one as well, though probably would need another benefit or two to make it feat worthy. And a new trait to replace it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe they don't want the Wizard to start out with more armor proficiencies at 1st level?

But non-casters starting with a spell is fine. I dunno, just seems weird to me.

 

[Aldarc]

But non-casters starting with a spell is fine. I dunno, just seems weird to me.

Not sure. Armor boosts your AC, which seems to have more of a passive effect in combat (i.e., survivability) than most cantrips. I suppose I have less issue with the Linear Fighter getting some minor magic than the Quadratic Wizard getting armor.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

On this note, I want to propose a couple of Feats:

Dwarven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Dwarven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the battleaxe, hand axe, light hammer, and warhammer
Armor Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with medium armor and shields.
Weight Distribution. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.

Elven Combat Training
1st Level Feat
Prerequisite: None
Repeatable: No

You have been trained in the traditional Elven fighting style. You gain the folllwing benefits.

Weapon Proficiencies. You gain proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow, and shortbow.
Armor Proficiency. You gain proficiency with light armor.
Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.

You could make similar ones for other cultural styles.

I love it. Preserves the potential for a cultural background to let a dwarf wizard use armor or an elf rogue use a longbow, but doesn't enforce that cultural heritage on the street urchin who never met another dwarf or elf, and doesn't give the race a feature useless to half the classes who just get the relevant proficiencies anyway (or only useful using Tasha's rules to swap duplicate weapon proficiencies for a ridiculous number of extra tools or whatever).

 

[CleverNickName]

Not if we all "HATE IT!" when the survey arrives!

Nah, they'll just work extra-hard to convince us that we don't actually hate it. I wouldn't be surprised if 6E isn't already 90% written (or more). 2024 is only 16 months away, after all, and it takes time to put a book together. They don't have time to completely rewrite it, and scrapping it isn't really an option either...so...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Nah, they'll just work extra-hard to convince us that we don't actually hate it. I wouldn't be surprised if 6E isn't already 90% written (or more). 2024 is only 18 months away, after all, and it takes time to put a book together. They don't have time to completely rewrite it, and scrapping it isn't really an option either...

I mean, I think that generally holds true for the core mechanical decisions they've made.

I think in terms of specific features of specific races and such they are a lot more willing to work from feedback. Ultimately very little of the game hinges on a dragonborn's breath weapon.

 

[CleverNickName]

I mean, I think that generally holds true for the core mechanical decisions they've made.

I think in terms of specific features of specific races and such they are a lot more willing to work from feedback. Ultimately very little of the game hinges on a dragonborn's breath weapon.

I was speaking to the general attitude of "if enough people say they hate it, they'll change their minds," implying that the playtesters can use the surveys to direct the project. Wizards of the Coast will be looking for feedback on stuff they've already decided--not asking us for direction, or new ideas.

 

[Charlaquin]

wouldn't be surprised if 6E isn't already 90% written (or more). 2024 is only 16 months away, after all, and it takes time to put a book together. They don't have time to completely rewrite it, and scrapping it isn't really an option either...so...

I mean, with the previews playtest packets coming out monthly and surveys following two weeks after, I think it’s abundantly clear that this is the case. But, I also think they have an idea what changes are most likely to be controversial, and are prepared to walk them back if the responses to them are too negative. Like, you can see in the video how much they hedge the critical hit changes and emphasize “this is JUST AN EXPERIMENT!” Because they know it’s not likely to go over well. But they’re putting it out there anyway, maybe partly as “censor bait,” and because hey, maybe folks won’t mind as much as they expect.