D&D (2024) One D&D origins playtest survey is live

[Grendel_Khan]

Hopefully they do listen to those of us who haven't had time in the 2 weeks they gave us with their playtest.
I mean, am I expected to end my ongoing campaign to make up new characters and play one session and understand what's going on in the game?
I can tell what I don't like by looking at it because I'm very experienced with 5e. I can head off what's going to be a problem at my table.
For example, I know that characters don't need a power boost. I know that DMs don't need their ability to damage characters to be lessened. I know that I don't like Inspiration or other forms of metacurrency.
If they actually gave us a playtest and adequate time to do it, I'd be more inclined to do so. What they posted was half-hearted and incomplete. (Like, how can we test taking away DM crits when they provide us with nothing to take its place?)

Yeah, trying to get playtest feedback after just two weeks is legitimately bizarre, and makes the whole thing seem sketchy.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I noticed they didnt ask about the half races.

Mechanically distinct half-races are probably more problematic than some of the other stuff that they already scrubbed from 5e for being steeped in racial essentialism. Other than a few hobbyist blog-style websites and podcasts, I haven't heard much fuss about it yet, but I could see it being thinkpiece and Twitter fodder for people looking for racist elements in D&D2024.

They could possibly choose to put racial heritage 1st level feats in the game so that a player could pick up some traits from the other parent like Darkvision from the beginning. They could also possibly have a mixed character give up their background ASIs and feat to get the benefits of two races, but that might play into some miscegenation tropes as well.

WOTC may not want go down that road at all for futureproofing from possible critique reasons. There is a certain faction on Twitter that refers to D&D as "that racist Dragon game" and WOTC is particularly sensitive to those sort of criticisms due to past issues in the game. WOTC didn't yield on changing the word "race" to some other term which some have demanded, so not including mechanically represented half-race characters may be part of their compromise to those arguments. They certainly don't want to have to issue a revised PHB in 2022 because stuff like mechanically distrinct half-races that seemed fine to most people in 2022 are deemed racist or cringe in 2027. I have concerns that they may still get some major pushback on their use of the term "race" and there is only so much futureproofing that they can do about those sort of things since it is an ever evolving discussion.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. Yeah, that seems a problem. While it doesn't bother me much, it's clearly a controversial topic. Maybe they already scrapped the idea after seeing all the rage, so they don't need feedback on it.

Most likely it is a fait accompli thst will be in the final rules no matter what and they aren't looking for feedback on it.

 

[Parmandur]

I think your post underscores exactly why they should weight actual play responses more than "read it" responses: people are more inclined to double down on existing opinions without actual experience. If they really want to playtest this stuff then they need people to play it.

That said I am not convinced that the playtest isn't mostly marketing, not least because they aren't giving us the whole game at once and are asking for feedback without much time to actually test.

It's not that kind of playtest, it's the same as UA always has been, a smell test. Present some options, let people read then, ask how they feel about them.

 

[Parmandur]

It could also be about change management. Curious to see if CritRole adopts these new rules in their game tonight as 'enlisted leaders' to help with the transition.

Half the changes are already house rules Matt Mercer uses.

 

[Parmandur]

When should we expect the next playtest packet?

Probably around the 15th, give or take. New material mod month, after the last round of surveys is closed.

 

[Weiley31]

Half the changes are already house rules Matt Mercer uses.

Or stuff that 3PP has beaten WoTC to. For example, ability scores tied to backgrounds was done in Iron Kingdom: Requiem.

 

[Reynard]

I hope before the 15th, but I fear we get it after the survey window closes.

That means I can get 3 sessions using the UA including tonight. It's not enough but it's better than nothing.

 

[Parmandur]

I dunno ... we still got the psion.
I probably think that 5e needs more change than most other players (and WotC) do. In my mind, the game is pretty much worthless after 6th level or so.

Yeah, there really don't seem to be any in-depth system changes coming. Just revisions.

 

[Parmandur]

Probably because they’ve already made up their minds on the matter.

Yeah, I assume that part is in like Flynn. I told them I liked that change, but they should lose the word "Race" and not have Dwarves be genetically smiths.