D&D (2024) More People Test One D&D Origins Playtest Than D&D Next

WotC has announced that more people have playtested the first One D&D playtest than the number of people who playtested the entirety of the D&D Next playtest 10 years ago, which led to the release of D&D 5E. The number of people who playtested D&D Next, according to the credits in the 5E Player's Handbook, was over 175,000 people.

In the first week alone, more of you have playtested One D&D than in the entirety of 5e playtesting!

Thank you to everyone who has helped shape the future of Dungeons & Dragons!

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe the background section should have a disclaimer:

These sample Backgrounds are just examples! All of the components thereof are completely fungible. Feel free to change anything that would better reflect your individual character concept.

View attachment 260076

To be fair, the packet does say the following:

When you choose a Background, you have three options:
• Build a Background by using the rules in the “Build Your Background” section.
• Select a premade Background from the “Sample Backgrounds” section.
• Select a premade Background from the “Sample Backgrounds” section and then customize it with the rules in the “Build Your Background” section.

 

[Haplo781]

Ultimately, I'm not sure that the game needs to cater to people who stubbornly refuse to read the part that tells them that they can swap any element they like for any other of the same sort. If someone feels that the examples are somehow straightjacketing them, they are mistaken, and IMO not much more needs to be said on the matter (past clearly stating that you can swap stuff, which they've done, and presumably will do in the finished product).

 

[Parmandur]

But the entire purpose of giving examples is so people have the option to take them all as a package instead of having to make each choice individually.

Another solution would be to put way, way more examples in?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Ultimately, I'm not sure that the game needs to cater to people who stubbornly refuse to read the part that tells them that they can swap any element they like for any other of the same sort. If someone feels that the examples are somehow straightjacketing them, they are mistaken, and IMO not much more needs to be said on the matter (past clearly stating that you can swap stuff, which they've done, and presumably will do in the finished product).

Agreed. And to add to that, as I've said before: Wizards of the Coast cannot design a game under the assumption that the majority of players are going to read the rule in the stupidest manner possible.

If people misinterpret a rule so badly that they miss the entire paragraph that explains the changes and how to use them, it's really not WotC's fault. People misreading the rules is inevitable, and trying to design a game under the assumption that the rules are going to be constantly misread and thus trying to future-proof that is near-impossible.

 

[Maxperson]

Surely they swapped a skill for another skill or any number of customizations, though. That's working as intended, I think.

Yeah. If they had a back story written up and a specific background fit, but it needed a different skill to make sense with the backstory, I'd be like, "Okay, cool. Go for it."

 

[Parmandur]

Agreed. And to add to that, as I've said before: Wizards of the Coast cannot design a game under the assumption that the majority of players are going to read the rule in the stupidest manner possible.

If people misinterpret a rule so badly that they miss the entire paragraph that explains the changes and how to use them, it's really not WotC's fault. People misreading the rules is inevitable, and trying to design a game under the assumption that the rules are going to be constantly misread and thus trying to future-proof that is near-impossible.

They are designing a game to be accessible to asany people as possible ,however, so making everything flow as smoothly as possible is important. Enough posters on these boards seem confused, sonI eonder what they will end up doijg in the end.

 

[Maxperson]

+1 from race, a select list not any stat. No +1 Str from a Halfling for example.
+1 from background, 2 attributes per background to choose from.
+1 from class, 3 attributes to choose from.

Easy.

I'd like to see either 2 +1s from race or background and +1 from the other, and then 1 +1 from class. 4 +1s with the rule that you can have no more than +2 to a single stat doesn't even begin to break anything. Mountain dwarves did not rule the universe.

 

[Parmandur]

I'd like to see either 2 +1s from race or background and +1 from the other, and then 1 +1 from class. 4 +1s with the rule that you can have no more than +2 to a single stat doesn't even begin to break anything. Mountain dwarves did not rule the universe.

It didn't break anything, but that's because they amd the Half-Elf had a different balance between ASI and Feat-like abilities: other Races in 2014 are essentially built around one ASI, one Feat, and one +1 Feat, whereas Halfand Mountain Dwarf are two full ASI's and a Feat (Humans being the weird choice between 3 ASI's or two full Feats and an ASI).

OneD&D Races seem to be consistently a Geat and a half of features, with the ASI and a half put off somewhere else.

 

[Maxperson]

It didn't break anything, but that's because they amd the Half-Elf had a different balance between ASI and Feat-like abilities: other Races in 2014 are essentially built around one ASI, one Feat, and one +1 Feat, whereas Halfand Mountain Dwarf are two full ASI's and a Feat (Humans being the weird choice between 3 ASI's or two full Feats and an ASI).

OneD&D Races seem to be consistently a Geat and a half of features, with the ASI and a half put off somewhere else.

It wouldn't have broken anything regardless. A +1 increase from a stat going to an even number doesn't change things in any noticeable way in game. You literally succeed one more time every 20 rolls on average. Nobody is going to notice that and it's not going to break the game no matter which stat it is on which race.

 

[Scribe]

I'd like to see either 2 +1s from race or background and +1 from the other, and then 1 +1 from class. 4 +1s with the rule that you can have no more than +2 to a single stat doesn't even begin to break anything. Mountain dwarves did not rule the universe.

As long as there are some restrictions or limits, sure. These are flavour additions, its not like the games math is in danger here as you say.