D&D General 6e guesses

[sevenbastard]

Anyone looking for verbiage to be outraged about because it doesn't perfectly match their preferred ideology will be satisfied.

Thats a relief. I was woried for a minute we might run out of things to be outraged about or even worse become civil on the internet.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

5e added "bounded accuracy", a design principle which is supposed to keep numeric bonuses to d20-based rolls from skyrocketing. I think - and hope - that 6e is going to expand upon this by adding "bounded mortality". This design principle is meant to prevent hit point bloat, but also raise the stakes for combats by making the fights matter (more difficult to fully heal, for example). D&D has previously reacted quite slowly to trends in gaming. I think "bounded mortality" will be a reaction to the success and traction of Shadowdark and similar games. It certainly won't make D&D as deadly as any of those games, but move a couple of nudges closer to them.

 

[Zardnaar]

we had a thread about what we hoped for recently, not going to rehash what I would like it to be.

As far as what I expect it to be, unfortunately I expect more of the same in the next release. Timid tweaks to the base game in the name of compatibility to the back catalog.

For a true 6e, sales have to tank, until then they will just keep on polishing the surface / putting new lipstick on the same old pig, depending on how much you like 5e.

This.

Eventually 5E will run out of steam. They'll avoid the rage if the vast majority want something new.

I expect that to happen around 2031-34.

What I suspect will happen with an actual 6E.

Skills superficially similar to 5.5.

Redone classes. Feats, spells etc.

Move towards simplification.

Adventuring day probably 2-4 encounters.

Tougher monsters and things like greater magic resistance to be used more.

Design making it easier to run and implement on Beyond. More complex harder to program imho.

 

[Clint_L]

That kind of depends on how well the revisions to DndBeyond work. If they can build a more flexible system than they can make pretty major changes if they ever wanted to do so. While that flexibility is not simple, it's not impossible either. The 5.5 version may have been limited to what DndBeyond could do and may be part of the impetus to rewrite much of it.

I should have been clearer: I am not talking about what DDB can handle mechanically, I'm talking about DDB in its primary function (from WotC's perspective) which is as a shop/library/brand authenticator. They aren't going to make changes that undermine DDB by invalidating all of the purchases that I have already made, or they'll divide their consumer base again, which is exactly the old TSR problem that the OneD&D philosophy seeks to avoid at all costs.

So you're not going to get any big systems changes. You'll get constant, incremental change, maybe a bit more than normal if they want to sell new core books, but that's it. There won't be a divide like 3e/4e/5e unless the current user base collapses and they basically decide that there is more upside to starting over again.

I think folks are reading WAY too much into WotC conceding to call the current version "5.5e." That's just tossing a bone to fans and helping 3PP know how to label their product. I don't think they are at all concerned about that labeling in their planning, like they have to go "bigger" because this version ultimately got called 5.5e. I think they'll just put out what works with their ongoing strategy and let it be called what it will be called, once again, while continuing to simply label their own product "Dungeons and Dragons" and letting selected 3PP use that moniker as well.

Their ongoing strategy is all about brand cohesiveness. It is a rejection of the old TSR model of editions, it is built around DDB and I think you have to consider any predictions in that context.

 

[Clint_L]

Thats a relief. I was woried for a minute we might run out of things to be outraged about or even worse become civil on the internet.

Any day now...

 

[Clint_L]

I'm also curious why anyone would want radical change to the current system. It's obviously working well for a huge number of people, if you want something similar but a bit different there are tons of great options (Pathfinder, Level Up, etc.), and if you want something different at a systemic level but still in the fantasy genre, there are also a ton of great options (Daggerheart, etc.). So what's the upside to breaking 5e?

 

[bsss]

I'm also curious why anyone would want radical change to the current system. It's obviously working well for a huge number of people, if you want something similar but a bit different there are tons of great options (Pathfinder, Level Up, etc.), and if you want something different at a systemic level but still in the fantasy genre, there are also a ton of great options (Daggerheart, etc.). So what's the upside to breaking 5e?

Yeah, I agree, I think D&D simply isn't in any kind of position where it needs to change because of any other product or perceived market limitation or anything, I say even as I much prefer other products. It's doing too well that the only changes that "make sense" to me seem to be something we can't foresee (some unclear shift in preferences or styles across the industry that risk their position) or they change the whole system for purely financial reasons --- but even that doesn't make sense, because I think they'd rather sell DDB subs (as you indicated) than new books that invalidate the old (and harm the stability of their "marketplace").

 

[payn]

I'm also curious why anyone would want radical change to the current system. It's obviously working well for a huge number of people, if you want something similar but a bit different there are tons of great options (Pathfinder, Level Up, etc.), and if you want something different at a systemic level but still in the fantasy genre, there are also a ton of great options (Daggerheart, etc.). So what's the upside to breaking 5e?

Folks have their reasons, but I think the underlying one is that D&D is the crown of RPGs for better or worse. Folks naturally want the most popular RPG with all the benefits of development and product offerings to go in the direction of their fancy.

 

[Minigiant]

This.

Eventually 5E will run out of steam. They'll avoid the rage if the vast majority want something new.

I expect that to happen around 2031-34

Exactly.

My guess is 5.5e runs out of steam in 2030. 6e is announce late 2030 and published 2032.

What I suspect will happen with an actual 6E.

Skills superficially similar to 5.5.

Somewhat.

I see skills being skills being simple like 5.5e but have a couple core uses like 3e and 4e. Like you could make a DC 20 Medicine check with a healers kits to heal better.

Redone classes. Feats, spells etc.

Move towards simplification.

Adventuring day probably 2-4 encounters.

I expect Spells and Maneuvers to be generalized and simplified so they can be referred in feats, classes, subclasses.

Like Great Weapon Master would just give you Cleave and Graze and upgrade them if you already have it.

This would make it easier to run and program as there wouldn't be a bunch of separate things to add on.

Thats how modern video gaming works. Keywords.

 

[Brendan Byrd]

Small iterative changes that are largely compatible with the 2014 rules so that the best selling back catalog of all time remains sellable.
But the internet will be very angry and force the 6e label on the company despite them choosing something benign like 60th Anniversary Edition

6e-th Anniversary Edition?