D&D 5E 5E without WotC [+]

[doctorbadwolf]

There are so many good alternate 5e games that use new classes and other options and rules. If my group were to stop buying wotc products, I’d just start digging more into adventures in middle earth, and other interesting SRD based games, and build our D&D.

 

[Simonb1]

Or with a big enough screen, just use minis.
Clarification. In roll 20 just using the map functions.

 

[ECMO3]

What the community does isn't really relevant. The vast majority will move on to 2024 5E.

Maybe. I said I am unsure if that is going to happen, and I remain unsure.

 

[jgsugden]

Do you truly mean without WotC entirely? If so, that means avoiding all the WotC IP like the setting materials, the IP monsters (Illithid, Beholder, etc...), all spells not in the SRD, etc... Or do you mean just nt paying WotC anything while using their IP?

 

[Reynard]

Do you truly mean without WotC entirely? If so, that means avoiding all the WotC IP like the setting materials, the IP monsters (Illithid, Beholder, etc...), all spells not in the SRD, etc... Or do you mean just nt paying WotC anything while using their IP?

For myself I mean not giving WotC any money.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Do you truly mean without WotC entirely? If so, that means avoiding all the WotC IP like the setting materials, the IP monsters (Illithid, Beholder, etc...), all spells not in the SRD, etc... Or do you mean just nt paying WotC anything while using their IP?

For me, its not paying WotC directly moving forward. I have plenty of WotC product already, and I'll use it if I feel like it. But they are no longer necessary for D&D to exist.

 

[Voadam]

D&D clerics being based on Bishop Odo with pseudo judeo christian miracle spells was always an odd fit for the polytheistic pantheons of Pulp fantasy like Lankhmar and Conan. Thoth-Amon the Stygian wizard high priest of Set type of explicitly spellcasting polytheistic priest archetype might have been a better fit.

If not for the Van Helsing turning undead basis of the original Arnesonian cleric to be a foil and counter to the Vampire Sir Fang which injected crosses from the beginning it might have turned out very different for spellcasting polytheistic D&D priests. The apocryphal bishop Odo model is a decent fighting man-magic user hybrid, able to use a little less magic, able to wear armor and fight, but a few less hp and can't use swords and bows like the fighting man. Throw in turning and miracle type spells for their own unique identity. Mechanically that works great, it is just generally a poor narrative fit for polytheistic priests.

 

[Micah Sweet]

D&D clerics being based on Bishop Odo with pseudo judeo christian miracle spells was always an odd fit for the polytheistic pantheons of Pulp fantasy like Lankhmar and Conan. Thoth-Amon the Stygian wizard high priest of Set type of explicitly spellcasting polytheistic priest archetype might have been a better fit.

If not for the Van Helsing turning undead basis of the original Arnesonian cleric to be a foil and counter to the Vampire Sir Fang which injected crosses from the beginning it might have turned out very different for spellcasting polytheistic D&D priests. The apocryphal bishop Odo model is a decent fighting man-magic user hybrid, able to use a little less magic, able to wear armor and fight, but a few less hp and can't use swords and bows like the fighting man. Throw in turning and miracle type spells for their own unique identity. Mechanically that works great, it is just generally a poor narrative fit for polytheistic priests.

Completely agree, which is why I advocate for more classes. All day long.

 

[Blue]

During 4e days, we almost exclusively stuck with 3.5e, not even updating to Pathfinder. So it's doable without any real difficulty.

Let's compare apples to apples. I notice you mentioned 3.5. Instead of comparing it to an entirely different system, let's compare it to something similar - the 3ed to 3.5 conversion. If you converted from 3ed, then moving to a newer version of the same rules was a difficulty you weren't able to overcome. And even if you didn't, the amount of people who converted from 3.0 -> 3.5 is greater than who stayed, so at the very least it's a difficulty we should acknowledge.

 

[delericho]

Let's compare apples to apples. I notice you mentioned 3.5. Instead of comparing it to an entirely different system, let's compare it to something similar - the 3ed to 3.5 conversion. If you converted from 3ed, then moving to a newer version of the same rules was a difficulty you weren't able to overcome. And even if you didn't, the amount of people who converted from 3.0 -> 3.5 is greater than who stayed, so at the very least it's a difficulty we should acknowledge.

I can only comment on my experience. But I didn't, at that time, encounter any players who were determined that they would play 4e and nothing else.

It is, of course, entirely possible that if I'd stuck with 3.0e then my players may have rejected that. It just wasn't a problem I encountered.

As regards the 2014/2024 split, we don't actually know yet what will happen. Maybe the 2024 release will be so obviously superior that everyone converts. Maybe it will be a damp squib and nobody much converts. Most likely, it will be somewhere in between. But one thing that's unique about this version change (and hasn't been true since the very first) is that for the vast majority of the player base this is their very first version change. Which means that the old "rules" about how it will go don't apply any more. We'll just need to wait and see.