Unpopular opinions go here

[Bedrockgames]

6e is already non-starting, it's just a new revision of 5e that's coming out next year. Backwards compatible. Keep playing your 5e.2014 characters.

That is what they say in their marketing but it sounds a lot like a new edition to me

 

[Bedrockgames]

This is wrong. Combat gets the most rules, because it's the most complicated. Social is the least complicated and needs very few rules. Exploration is in-between. All three pillars are equal, but the amount of ruled dedicated to them shouldn't be. It would make the game worse if they tried that.

1000 times this. An old debate we aren't going to resolve, but I agree. I find more rules in these other areas of the game, unless they are really sleek and unobtrusive, just get in the way for me

 

[Jd Smith1]

Longevity doesn't necessarily require a mechanical expression, except for something like the age chart. But that still matters mechanically because if you say get aged by a ghost or something, then the longevity comes into play in a potentially significant way

Also, physical differences don't have to. They can be whatever the game wants (description, mechanics, etc). My point is just D&D loses something if races don't have mechanics to back up the physical differences (I think it runs into the humans in funny hats problem).



It can be both meta game and feel. Those bonuses, special abilities etc are concrete things that add to the feel of playing a particular race

I don't play D&D, but both social class and race has serious impact on social interactions.

 

[payn]

Fancy hard to read dice are the worst.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The pillars of play should have roughly equal mechanical weight. Combat has way too many dedicated rules. At most combat should be as involved as social interactions as detailed in the DMG.

All three pillars should have explicit roles you choose when making your character. Tank, DPS, and heals are not dirty words. Nor are face, scout, sage, or various others. Roles are great design that works well. The combat roles have existed in D&D from the beginning. That’s where CRPGs got the idea. Just making roles explicit would go a long way to improve game play and show obviously lacking design space.

I don't think any modern version of WotC D&D has even tried to give the pillars equal mechanical weight (ignoring that they weren't formalized until the current edition).

 

[billd91]

That's like saying Spock is really interesting because he has a +2 Strength. That's like literally the least interesting thing about Spock - that he's stronger than a human. The interesting thing about Vulcans is their faith in logic and their belief that emotions are bad. That's what distinguishes a Vulcan from a human. If a Vulcan was just as strong as a human, it wouldn't suddenly become less interesting or less unique.

Except that being exceptionally strong adds an interesting dimension, not just to the Vulcans in general, but in light of their devotion to logic and repressed emotion and what happens when the repressed emotions break through. How many times did it come up in the show that Spock was exceptionally strong? Not as often as his logic and repressed emotions, but it came up often enough to be a salient point of distinction between him and his fellow shipmates and one worth including in any adaptation of Vulcans in role playing games.

 

[payn]

Being real strong or having super strength is the least interesting way to make a character stand out.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Being real strong or having super strength is the least interesting way to make a character stand out.

But it is a way, and has value in combination with other ways.

 

[payn]

But it is a way, and has value in combination with other ways.

I know you are talking about making races stand out, and imma let you finish, but super strength is still the worst way to do it.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Except that being exceptionally strong adds an interesting dimension, not just to the Vulcans in general, but in light of their devotion to logic and repressed emotion and what happens when the repressed emotions break through. How many times did it come up in the show that Spock was exceptionally strong? Not as often as his logic and repressed emotions, but it came up often enough to be a salient point of distinction between him and his fellow shipmates and one worth including in any adaptation of Vulcans in role playing games.

This is an excellent point. That is exactly the sort of thing you would expect that to have mechanical weight, even if it isn’t the single most important feature of a race