D&D General 6e guesses

EzekielRaiden · 2026-03-09T10:13:20+0000

delericho said:
I think 6e will come sooner than you'd expect, will change more than you'd expect (probably leaning hard into AI, either in design or the use of AI players/DMs), and then fall into the "even editions" rule where the game all-but-dies shortly thereafter (though not necessarily because of anything to do with the edition itself).

Then 7e will release a few short years after that and lean hard back into nostalgia in the same way as 3e and 5e.

...Wasn't 2e the longest-lived edition of them all? For the "AD&D" line, I mean.

Zardnaar · 2026-03-09T10:20:50+0000

EzekielRaiden said:
...Wasn't 2e the longest-lived edition of them all? For the "AD&D" line, I mean.

11 years vs 12. 13 if you coint 1E reprints in 1990

EzekielRaiden · 2026-03-09T10:36:18+0000

Zardnaar said:
11 years vs 12. 13 if you coint 1E reprints in 1990

Okay. Still, 11 years when 1e lasted all of....13 years IF you decide that "there's literally only a monster manual, nothing else" counts as the game having launched. (For my part, I put 1e's launch at 1978, because at that point you had the rules to actually PLAY the game, even if you didn't have the DMG to tell GMs how to run it.)

I don't think it's remotely valid or accurate to describe 2nd edition as having "all-but-die[d] shortly thereafter".

Frozen_Heart · 2026-03-09T11:07:45+0000

Honestly I'd like 5.5e/6e to have a new player focused 'simplified' set of classes specifically for those who don't want to deal with mechanics.

Like the Tasha's warrior, expert, and mage, but balanced for players to use (and usable on dnd beyond).

That way you can have a section of the game which is far more accessible to new players, working in the same group as another player who wants a lot more mechanical depth.

...m... · 2026-03-09T11:17:06+0000

Marc17 said:
I suspect that the income will be D&D Beyond subscriptions as it will bring in more than book sales. Baring some sort of hail mary play to save a dying game, the next D&D will probably just be D&D Revised or something that doesn't quite match the currently dot system. Powers and abilities will be brought more in line with what can be done in DDB, problematic things will be replaced, to make the VTT play more enjoyable and smooth.

...yeah, once they have the third-party D+D community substantially locked into the platform, it'll be easy to drag that community along whatever shifts in monetisation best serve hasbro's interests...

...m... · 2026-03-09T11:22:22+0000

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
I will eat a commonly available bug of your choice if WotC makes a big deal about the anniversary of B/X or Mystara. We'll get an article on whatever their website of choice is in 2031 at most.

...oh, i don't expect them to treat the anniversary as a motivational factor for that update, more a banner of convenience when the brand happens to be due its seven-year-refresh; twice each fifteen years...

Minigiant · 2026-03-09T11:24:36+0000

EzekielRaiden said:
Origins are likely to get some attention too. They're popular, but they're pretty...lean. I could see them becoming a bit more hefty, as long as really Simple Straightforward options remain right at the top and reasonably balanced

Thats why I see a rejiggering of Weapon mastery, Maneuvers, and Luck points to beef the number up level 1 options.

lycanthropejeff · 2026-03-09T12:12:34+0000

aco175 said:
5e has done so well, like 3e when it came out. Not sure what they would want to change like making 4e seemed to change a lot and people we not sure it was the same 'feel'. So to change the edition enough to buy all new everything and still be D&D night be hard.

What to dump and what to keep and what to change. I might dump subclasses and add something like 4e with gaining a choice of powers at certain levels. This might allow each class to not be exactly the same at each level. People like feats and it allows some customization, but I think there is some work that can be dome there. Spells can be completely changed to me with losing half of them or limiting them to only some classes.

There might be things not touchable and are too sacred. The ability scores, the HP, weapons, armor, that kind of thing.

I would love to see more customizability to subclasses. Whether that means dropping the mechanic altogether for the Feats/Power/&c. thing which is cool or reworking in another way would be nice to play.

delericho · 2026-03-09T14:42:47+0000

EzekielRaiden said:
...Wasn't 2e the longest-lived edition of them all? For the "AD&D" line, I mean.

Technically there were only two editions of AD&D...

But 2nd Ed is a really odd one - according to the various sets of sales data that were posted here a few years ago, it sounds like sales of the edition, or at least individual titles within the edition, dropped like a stone pretty much immediately after the core-three dropped. The edition seems to have survived mostly because TSR was so badly run they didn't even realize they should pull the plug.

All that said, the eventual demise of TSR was very little (or perhaps nothing) to do with the quality, success, sales, or anything else to do with 2nd edition. It just happens that that was the current edition when the game almost died. (And, likewise, the 4e era apparently saw Hasbro getting really close to pulling the plug, but again for reasons unconnected with the actual content of that edition.)

I was mostly joking. Mostly.