D&D 5E 2024 D&D is 2014 D&D with 4E sprinkled on top

[pemerton]

I really don't understand why so many people insist that 2e is hugely informing what 5e is. Where are the mechanics?

<snip>

Where is the 2e in 5e?

They have very similar procedures of play: the GM decides what's at stake, and what follows from any successful check (especially out of combat).

EDIT:

I think that the 2e in 5e is more about vibe than mechanics, particularly in regards to GM empowerment and the role of the GM as storyteller.

This too!

 

[CreamCloud0]

Imagine for a minute I am a an extremely powerful mythic hero and I enter a thorp of 50 people. Average farmers, bakers, cobblers, good wives, etc. I institute a policy that I will train every one of them to be an adventurer and eventually reach a level where they can do an impossible task. (Cleave a mountain, divert a river, swim up a waterfall, etc). I have the power and resources to train them all and keep them alive until they reach said level. Additionally, they are slavishly devoted and will do everything in their power to accomplish this goal.

How many of those 50 people will be able to accomplish that impossible task? One? Ten? All fifty? Zero?

The answer you provide is essentially my concern with this system. If everyone is able to do impossible things with sufficient time and devotion, then the world should be full of people doing impossible things. Not everyone, but lots of them. If we say not everyone has the spark needed to reach that level, then we have to say why. Is it genetics, magical aptitude, supernatural blessing? Why are some able and other not?

Hercules is mythical because he's the only person in ancient Greece who can do that kind of epic stuff. There are other great heros, but none of them can divert a river. Jason is favored and Odysseus clever, but neither are matching Hercules in power. He's got some great parentage to thank for that.

Which returns me to my original question: how many people in that thorp have the potential to be Hercules?

most people in our world possess the potential of training to become an athlete or a doctor, so you tell me why we aren't up to our armpits in olympic runners and brain surgeons? it's exactly the same reason why.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I'm fine with magic, or gremlins if you prefer,

i would prefer if we didn't, we don't need to add unnecessary jargon to the discussion.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

most people in our world possess the potential of training to become an athlete or a doctor, so you tell me why we aren't up to our armpits in olympic runners and brain surgeons? it's exactly the same reason why.

I've taught a bunch of complete duffers who went on to do Medicine, so I'm not sure you comparison works. The biggest factor is parental wealth. Same with top athletes.

 

[CreamCloud0]

How would you personally define "magic"? I think that's what we're missing from what seems to me to be an increasingly semantic discussion.

magic IMO is a type of energy, a type of energy that can be used to alter reality, but as with energy, heat is not light and force is not sound, and categorising all extraordinary phenomena in DnD as 'magic' is like categorizing all forms of energy as heat.

if we compare magic to electricity, atoms are held together with electromagnetic bonds, it helps shape them, but we don't consider a rock, a tree or person to have a current running through them, the presence of magic at that micro level alters the potential properties of objects at the macro level but if i chopped up a log with a stone axe you wouldn't say electricity (magic) was involved.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I've taught a bunch of complete duffers who went on to do Medicine, so I'm not sure you comparison works. The biggest factor is parental wealth. Same with top athletes.

wealth may be a superficial factor in their ability to get the training, but it doesn't alter their underlying capability to learn.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

wealth may be a superficial factor in their ability to get the training, but it doesn't alter their underlying capability to learn.

Everyone has some ability to learn. One to one tuition makes a huge difference, since you can target the curriculum to the student. I know, because I do it. And you pay more, you can get better teachers. Simple as that.

 

[GobHag]

I do unironically want worlds where stuff like blade wind attacks to be part of normal combat tactics.

Why yes, Knight-Captain, the fact that your stomps can't crack the earth is the reason your stuck in some podunk town.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Well that's the Meta-game reason for sure. But what's the in-fiction reason?

I don’t care about the in-fiction reason, because I am playing a game, not reading a novel.

And yes, I know this is probably an irreconcilable difference in outlook.

 

[Joshua Randall]

What about the players who want to RP as Conan, not Hercules?

Are we now going to assert that Conan is a totally normal dude who could’ve existed in our real-world Earth, and that Conan never transcended human limits in any way?

Because that is LUDICROUS.