D&D 5E 50th Anniversary and beyond

[Lyxen]

I think the changes better reflect the D&D universe as it has been portrayed the last ten years.

Actually no. First, 5e is less than 10 years old, so it was not portrayed that new way except recently, after about half its life so far. Moreover, it certainly does not represent any universe of D&D published so far, just the way the game is forced to evolve under external pressures which actually have little to do with the game itself, which has actually been more or less consistent with itself for... well, actually, we are nearing its 50th anniversary.

Furthermore, anything is totally wild speculation at this stage, for example the lineages who sent some people in a crazy frenzy with the UA release have now been completely suppressed from the last two official books, which means that they remain just an artefact of Van Richten, my guess is that they won't make it into the anniversary changes. But again, wild guesses - including mine just above - is all we have.

 

[Charlaquin]

Hi
We‘ve been told there will be some sort of revision of the rules and aspects of the game for the 50th anniversary in 2024

The things we know about are:
Starting stat bonuses no longer being tied to race
The removal of character age, height and weight as factors
Changing monster and NPC spells to Actions rather than being the same as PC spells
Not having alignment tied to race and which in turn leads to the reduction of racial conflict
Presumably incorporating the class abilities from Tasha’s into the core game
Adventures carrying trigger warnings

Please forgive me if I’ve missed or misquoted anything. I don’t want to dredge up old and repeated arguments about the merits or lack of them for these points but I was wondering if anyone believes these changes will result in them stopping buying new product?
I personally don’t agree with many of the changes and as I’ve got a bit of a backlog of adventures I’ll probably stop buying new stuff when the revised rules come out. Does anyone else feel less than excited?

Cheers
Geoff

The only thing that I would note is that not all monster spells seem to be getting changed to general actions, just the ones that contribute to calculating the monster’s CR.

Personally, I find all of these changes to be for the better (well… I’m not super keen on removing age and height/weight descriptions, but I don’t consider that a significant loss). But I’m worried about what other changes might be coming down the pipe that we haven’t seen so clearly telegraphed. I really, really don’t want to lose short rest based recovery, especially for warlocks. And I could see them potentially getting rid of experience points or making them an optional rule, which I would hate. I don’t know, I’m excited for the 50th anniversary revisions, but worried that they might be a mixed bag for me.

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

Thanks for the comments. I tried to keep my language neutral and purposefully kept my arguments out of my post. I’m not sure why D1Tremere decided to decide that I was being biased and proceed to tell me how wrong I am. I too believe that the changes are reactionary to changes to current concerns but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best reactions or indeed that a reaction was required. I’m a bit of an all or nothing person which is just how my collectors mentality works so I would find it hard to make selective purchases going ahead. If this is truly what the majority wants then fair enough but I think I’ve done most, if not all of the WotC surveys and I can’t recall being asked about any of these things so it does seem a bit odd that they have decided that this is the way forward. None of the changes offend me to the point I’m flipping the table over but they are enough to make me think that the modern version of the game is not for me. There’s plenty of content from the previous 48 years for me to play until the end of my days.

 

[Faolyn]

Not having alignment tied to race and which in turn leads to the reduction of racial conflict

Doesn't follow. Removing alignment won't get rid of conflicts. You can still have epic wars between orcs and elves, if you want there to be, but there needs to be something there other than "orcs are evil and want to kill elves, while elves are good and are fine with killing orcs."

You know, reasons like wanting land or resources, or getting revenge for something.

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

Doesn't follow. Removing alignment won't get rid of conflicts. You can still have epic wars between orcs and elves, if you want there to be, but there needs to be something there other than "orcs are evil and want to kill elves, while elves are good and are fine with killing orcs."

While I agree and hope you are right, I think WotC will avoid a “race attempts to take over the world” storyline for a while. It could be an interesting take if Elves or Dwarfs were the antagonists next time round though

 

[clearstream]

Hi
We‘ve been told there will be some sort of revision of the rules and aspects of the game for the 50th anniversary in 2024

The things we know about are:
Starting stat bonuses no longer being tied to race
The removal of character age, height and weight as factors
Changing monster and NPC spells to Actions rather than being the same as PC spells
Not having alignment tied to race and which in turn leads to the reduction of racial conflict
Presumably incorporating the class abilities from Tasha’s into the core game
Adventures carrying trigger warnings

Please forgive me if I’ve missed or misquoted anything. I don’t want to dredge up old and repeated arguments about the merits or lack of them for these points but I was wondering if anyone believes these changes will result in them stopping buying new product?
I personally don’t agree with many of the changes and as I’ve got a bit of a backlog of adventures I’ll probably stop buying new stuff when the revised rules come out. Does anyone else feel less than excited?

One should never wish one's life away, but I say roll on 2024.

I am looking forward to it with mild apprehension, but not for any of the reasons you list. I'm far more concerned to see a really great piece of design around rests, and some careful rethinking of some skills. Also concentration: I am really curious if that will be touched.

 

[jayoungr]

The removal of character age, height and weight as factors

Response: I don't things these things have any defined rules at present. Much like "Race", the impact of age on a person varies based on culture and lifestyle so that makes sense.

Height and weight sometimes affect whether a trap/hazard is triggered or not. (Example: "The bridge is old and unstable. If more than 50 pounds is placed on it, it will collapse.") For this reason, I would be quite surprised if they get rid of those factors altogether.

 

[Scott Christian]

Actually no. First, 5e is less than 10 years old, so it was not portrayed that new way except recently, after about half its life so far. Moreover, it certainly does not represent any universe of D&D published so far, just the way the game is forced to evolve under external pressures which actually have little to do with the game itself, which has actually been more or less consistent with itself for... well, actually, we are nearing its 50th anniversary.

I will give you a little more than half, how about the last seven years.


What you say is true. When 5e first came out, it definitely had a 2e vibe in my opinion; harkening back to a consistency that had been around for a long time. The way the races, spells, classes, and equipment were described, it created consistency within the lore (again, my opinion). But things rapidly changed, and I don't just mean at Wizard's. The changes have happened at a much faster rate, than say, when guys or gals were not looked at with some hesitation when they played a PC of the opposite gender. And I agree with you, much of this is due to external pressure. I am not sure that is any different than any other time there were changes. But it does seem to be happening faster.

Furthermore, anything is totally wild speculation at this stage, for example the lineages who sent some people in a crazy frenzy with the UA release have now been completely suppressed from the last two official books, which means that they remain just an artefact of Van Richten, my guess is that they won't make it into the anniversary changes. But again, wild guesses - including mine just above - is all we have.

100% agree. Speculation. But there are such things as trends, and many can see where the trend is going.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't think we "know" anything for certain. For example, while I doubt it will be, stat bonuses being variable could be a variant rule with the current adjustments being the default.

Hmm. I hadn’t considered that, but it would actually make a lot of sense.

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

Hmm. I hadn’t considered that, but it would actually make a lot of sense.

It would. If they do decide to have variable bonuses to be the default rules, I’d like to think that there wouldn’t be any harm in them giving defined fixed bonuses as an option but that isn’t what we’ve seen in recent releases