D&D (2024) The impending mess that will be backwards compatibility

[Vaalingrade]

An added effect that some (not all, it sounds like) player characters can have is still less sweeping than the 3.5 weapon changes, IMO, but obviously, we haven't seen the new proposed weapon rules.

Did the 3.5 changes have any effect besides doubling down that Small characters should just be rogues and casters?

I don't think either of those change how adventures will run across the board.

I don't feel like adventures are the major focus of backward compatibility, but rather mixed edition parties.

The difference in spell casters in particular is more of an issue on the player end and even then, I think most players' characters use the same spells on a regular basis and don't really take advantage of the wider list of spells available to them most of the time. YMMV.

Previously most weren't saddled with the expectation of reading the DM's mind as to what tomorrow's encounters will be.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Please new halfling art.
Please new halfling art.
Please new halfling art.
Please new halfling art.
Please new halfling art.

Hasbro: "Guys! They can't stop talking about the halflings in the 2014 PHB! We need a ton more of those big-headed weirdos in 2024!"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Previously most weren't saddled with the expectation of reading the DM's mind as to what tomorrow's encounters will be.

Most players, IME, use the same tools on every problem. It's fireballs all the way down.

I think this change will matter to an exceedingly small number of power user players.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Hasbro: "Guys! They can't stop talking about the halflings in the 2014 PHB! We need a ton more of those big-headed weirdos in 2024!"

~destroys planet to prevent this~

 

[Micah Sweet]

There has ‘always’ been a PHB, DMG and MM. You can tell the versions apart by the cover

So now we're differentiating PHs by cover art? But several of them have had the same text with different art.

This would have been so much easier if they just called different books by different names.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

You brought it up...

no, @aco175 brought it up.

 

[mamba]

So now we're differentiating PHs by cover art?

what do you mean by ‘now’

Player's Handbook (4e) - Wizards of the Coast | Dungeons & Dragons 4e | Dungeons & Dragons 4e | Dungeon Masters Guild

Player's Handbook (4e) - The first of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game.The Dungeons & Dr

www.dmsguild.com

 

[Emberashh]

The number of folks who will be scared away is far smaller than the larger pool of new players (seriously, if you have been playing for 10 years or more, you are in the minority of all D&D players now) who will be happy that their friend can buy a PHB in 2025 and it won't look like a wildly different game to most of them.

Honestly, they can afford to lose 100% of the grognards, who are a lot less important to them than all the new and younger folks.

The issue is that growth is never infinite. Chewing through new players with crud while doing little to retain (or worse, deliberately doing the opposite) a player base means eventually nothing you make is going to sell anymore.

 

[Umbran]

"Not if you called them stink blossoms" ~ Bart Simpson

Bart vs The Bard. Choose your life coach.

I think the community has made it plenty clear that there's way more elements than just function at play when it comes to D&D.

I don't speak for "the community," nor does anyone else here. I spoke for myself. If there's folks that care about things that don't actually impact function of the game, I don't see why that's a concern for my own personal response to these things.

 

[Vaalingrade]

The issue is that growth is never infinite.

HOW DARE YOU.