5e what would you do?

[DumbPaladin]

Well what would be the next level for 4e?

Personally I think WotC should wait a lot longer for an edition after 4e

As much as I would very much love a new edition that isn't 4e, I completely agree with this assessment: releasing a new edition this soon would be a travesty. It would be a huge amount of money and time spent and wasted by the people who ARE actually enjoying 4e.

Future editions should always try to improve upon the past, while adding something new to the mix. It'd be nice if you solve problems you've created along the way. I don't think 4e has been out long enough for anyone to truly know this information yet.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Meh, I'm in the "major books" audience, a habit I'll most probably break only for PF APG (damn you, alchemist and inquisitor!). So 5e is the next WoTC product I'll be checking out. If it'd come on same day than 4.5 and 6e - all the better.

Sadly(for me), a lot of vocal players (and probably actual majority of consuments) were so opposed to releases of new edition, that Wizards spent a lot of time telling everyone it's not coming, which all caused this strange atmosphere, that "new edition" is a naughty word (see Dice4Hire foreshadowing).

While there's still a lot of 4e experience for me to chart, official support is not something I've ever bothered with. DDI was a chance to change this, but for some strange reason - the best ideas within it were given little to no attention of managment (as in 2nd best asset - a home-brew program with more potential that 5 kg of 90% 235U, but given less attention than music on MTV).

That said, it'd cause a minor archive panic for me - I mean, I still have to check out 2ed, and a number of other systems! So many worlds and systems, so few time.

 

[amerigoV]

If you're a DDI subscriber, you can grab a 20-page PDF which details the Essentials Assassin from the official D&D website.

Ok, I am a bit out of the 4e loop these days (no DDI account). But I copied the above from the ENWorld front page. What portion of that 20 page is crunch and what is fluff? If the system has evolved to needed 20 pages to describe an single class, 5e needs to go another direction. Any direction. If that is mostly fluff, how to use the class in your game, etc, then great.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Ok, I am a bit out of the 4e loop these days (no DDI account). But I copied the above from the ENWorld front page. What portion of that 20 page is crunch and what is fluff? If the system has evolved to needed 20 pages to describe an single class, 5e needs to go another direction. Any direction. If that is mostly fluff, how to use the class in your game, etc, then great.

It's 20 pages because just about every level you can select a power from a selection of 2-4 powers*. It's like a collectible cardgame. The rules are dead simple but there are a million different cards.

*The powers are very similar to spells, but are usually quite a lot more streamlined**.

**If you thought spells were ok, I believe you will find powers to be ok too, even if it's 20 pages of crunch for a single class.

 

[Wicht]

How much would you look back editions-wise for a 5e? Or would you take 4e to the next level? So, more blast from the past or more difference from the past editions.

I'm afraid that if 5e does not return to the OGL, I'll probably stick with the games that do.

 

[Otterscrubber]

How much would you look back editions-wise for a 5e? Or would you take 4e to the next level? So, more blast from the past or more difference from the past editions.

I like what they did with the essentials, after I finally got my head around it. A bit of the past coupled with some of the cooler innovations of 4e. I like that in 4e you can be a powerful class if you are not a spellcaster. In 3e, after you got past 10th level if you weren't some type of caster or caster hybrid you just fell short in terms of options and raw power. It was kinda lame.

Although I also think they overdid it a bit as well for some 4e non-casters, there are a bit too many options and builds that don't seem to deliver on the concept they are trying to fulfill. I think the ranger marauder build fits this category, sounds great but I just couldn't pull it off putting the theory into practice.

 

[Cactot]

The only thing I would be absolutely sure of would be to have different "power" mechanics for each type (Arcane, Divine, Martial, Psionic, etc). That was the biggest thing that turned me off to 4e.

There were a lot of issues with 3e, but I loved how there was such a play style difference between vancian casters, incarnum users, mundane characters (with combat feats feats), psionic characters, and Bo9S characters.

Other changes i would like:

I would also try and focus on a "realistic" (loaded term, i know) fantasy environment, rather than one based on combat equivalence.

First level characters would probably be more durable (less 1 hit kills) than 1e characters, but no where near the "already hero" status of 4e characters. I do like the minion idea though, as well as the tactical combat. Also risky combat is good, I like some of the ideas put forth in the "brutal 4e" modifications (don't have a link right now).

I would love to bring back the stronghold concepts, as well as the "estate management" ideas to go with it. A supplemental wargame to go with it would be fantastic (assuming they do a good job, like warhammer fantasy battle). It provides a nice change of pace to dungeon stomping, and it makes a lot of sense as far as campaign progression, it also adds additional carrots for the players to follow (for example: delve this dungeon to get control of a mithril mine to equip your infantry with).

Magical items would be more in the 1e/2e vein (HOLY I FOUND A FLAMING SWORD!) rather than 3/3.5e style (stack more bonuses!! I even have magical underwear!) or 4e style (it is expected you need to have x amount of magical items at y level to get z bonuses in order maintain equivalence to the monsters... boring.)

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I'd keep 4E more or less how it stands now, and make it twice as fast. 2E style fast. Only real wart on 4E is that its a bit slow. 3E was annoying with how slow it was(at its worst, it was twice as slow as 4E, but like everything 3E there was a lot of variation), but it was way down the list of 3E warts. They sped up the pace of the game(which I was truly thankful for after the glacial pace of 3E), but they didn't speed things up in real time. Speed of play is the one that got away when they designed 4th.

 

[EN_Craven]

First of all, I assume that D&D 5th edition will only come out in 2014. No need to reason it, it's just a gut feeling, so take it with whatever amount of salt you need.

That said, unless they want to release a rushed product, chances are they'll have to start working on it much earlier, and it's never too soon to gather ideas.

The facts, as I see them, are: people play D&D for one reason, and one reason only... it's D&D. It's not Chainmail, it's not World of Warcraft, it's not Magic the Gathering, no, none of that. It's D&D. Hence, if it was up to ME (and that's what the OP is asking), I'd definitely go back to old editions, gather what worked, improved what didn't, and - most importantly - added to it, not remove from it (house rules are simpler if all you do is remove something you don't like, rather than having to come up with something from scratch).

I'm not saying I'd "kill" the concept presented in 4th edition, but I'd call it "D&D Tactics" or something else, other than pure "D&D". Hey, it worked for Squaresoft.

This way, they could still milk the "D&D" name for their second line of tactical games, continue with the marketing strategy of selling miniatures and grids by the dozen, while keeping both sides of the proverbial fence satisfied.

At this point, I'd have to go into specifics, regarding what exactly would be done with each game line... but WotC aren't paying me to design for them, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Lanefan]

It needs to do only two things to really get my attention:

- return to having a sense of mystery
- make character build far far far less relevant than character personality

After that, it's pretty much all fine-tuning.

Lan-"forecast: you'll need a lockpick soon"-efan