D&D 5E 5th Edition users poll (keep track of what users want)

[Lian87]

Hi guys, i'm running a poll of what "we" want from D&D 5e/Next on the official wizard forum, recently an user said:

Dear op, most people on Wotc boards these days are 4E fans.

It's fairly obvious that data here will be 4E biased. The same way polls were 3.5 biased here when 4E was announced.

Trying this again on RPG.net and EnWorld should give a different result, IMO

I think he's right, and i wish users of EnWorld can partecipate at this poll; hopefully sticking this post if mod/admin think this can really gives feedbacks for the next D&D


this is the link to the poll

and this is the original message:

Hi, everybody is talking about the new edition, and a lot of us (users) is screaming is own ideas, but it's very hard to keep track of what everybody want, unless, we do it in a very organized way.

I want to do it, how?
in this post i organize some of the major issues with new edition, i will keep the name of everyone who say something about this, with names and numbers will be easy to know more about our collective thinking (of course, we can't riassume every idea, so i decide (for the sake of the efficency) to realize a system without shading, you like something, you dislike it, or are not interested)

As general rule, i try to interpretate your ideas when you don't give me a precise answer, if i find an ambigue answer (like: "nice idea but wrong mechanic") i just skip that.
also i read almost every answer, if i will find a third option that often reapeat itself, i will not proceed to add the third option, but i will update this post including some of your general thinking (intruduce a little change in the poll may bring chaos in the thread)

-In the parentesis there's the number of how many users made that choise
-For every relevant Issue i will add a new paragraph


you may want to use this to compile (Some Explains included):

LEVEL
1-20
1-30
POWERS (4e power mechanic)
GOOD
BAD
VANCIANT SYSTEM (3.x caster mechanic)
GOOD
BAD
CLASS ROLES (defender, controller, striker, leader)
GOOD
BAD
MAGIC ITEMS HAS TO BE MECHANICALLY (you want magic items to be almost necessary? a big part of the game?)
IMPORTANT
NOT IMPORTANT
ABILITIES SCORES (str, con, dex, int, wis, cha)
GOOD
BAD
A LOT OF CLASSES
GOOD
BAD
A LOT OF RACES
GOOD
BAD
ABILITY SCORES FOR RACES (you want a particolar race to be better with some classes and bad with others?)
YES
NO
FEATS (AND OTHER OPTIONS) THAT GIVES YOU STATIC +X BONUSES (weapon focus, weapon expertise)
GOOD
BAD
HIT POINTS
GOOD
BAD
HEALING SURGES (part of 4e heal system)
GOOD
BAD
DEFENSES
AS AC
AS DAMAGE RESISTANCE
SKILL CHALLENGES (4e)
GOOD
BAD
SKILLS HAVE TO BE
IMPORTANT
NOT IMPORTANT
NORMAL CHANCE TO HIT
50% AS NOW
MORE LIKE 75%
ALIGNMENT IS (mechanical means there are powers/spells that work on what you write on your sheet, fluff means pure role play)
MECHANICAL
FLUFF
SAVE OR DIE (finger of death)
GOOD
BAD

 

[trancejeremy]

The trouble is, most people at RPG.net or here are 4e fans, since others aren't that welcome.

I would suggest including the Paizo forums for 3e and perhaps Dragonsfoot for the classic games.

 

[Lanefan]

This survey is a really good idea in theory but in practice it is somewhat lacking: many of the questions have lots more than two possible (and possibly popular) answers and the survey needs to reflect this.

For example, take the first one: Level. The only options listed are 1-20 (i.e. 3e) and 1-30 (i.e. 4e); but what does someone who only wants 1-12 put, or 1-"name level"? Where does this leave the E6 crowd? The 1-36 people from 2e? The 1-100 crew from BECMI?

Another example: you have a good-bad question specifically for +x feats but no such question for whether feats should exist at all.

And so on.

Lan-"reminding the world once more there are editions other than 3e and 4e"-efan

 

[Raith5]

The trouble is, most people at RPG.net or here are 4e fans, since others aren't that welcome.

I would suggest including the Paizo forums for 3e and perhaps Dragonsfoot for the classic games.

I dont think this is true. There is a wide multiplicity of views here - I certainly dont think 4th ed dominates! I have seen some frank but civil threads where players from various edition have stated their views. I certainly have learnt a lot from folk who play editions that I have not played for sometime (and the reasons they play) despite that fact that I choose to play 4th ed.

 

[Lian87]

until now, some users (in the official forum) had answer something different. I read almost every post, so if i see more than just 2-3 post with (for example) level 1-36, i include this in the general thinking.

Obviously this is not the great solution to every problem, but it's still something.
Monte has annunced the return of vanciant system for example, 2/3 of voters (almost 300 total) don't want that mainly because it's unbalanced, maybe they will get rid of it because of this?

 

[Lanefan]

until now, some users (in the official forum) had answer something different. I read almost every post, so if i see more than just 2-3 post with (for example) level 1-36, i include this in the general thinking.

OK, on seeing this I'll go through the motions. I've tidied it up a bit and thrown a couple of new ones on the end...

================================================

LEVEL (as in, range of levels in the game)
1-12+ for PCs, open-ended for NPCs

POWERS (4e power mechanic)
Bad and probably not salvageable.

VANCIAN SYSTEM (3.x caster mechanic) (also 0e-1e-2e)
Good if pre-memorization goes away (also there is no 't' in 'Vancian')

CLASS ROLES (defender, controller, striker, leader)
Good? Bad? No, just pointless.

MAGIC ITEMS (you want magic items to be almost necessary? a big part of the game?)
Magic items are very important, but there should be serious risks attached.

ABILITIES SCORES (str, con, dex, int, wis, cha)
Good but order should be Str-Int-Wis-Dex-Con-Cha

A LOT OF CLASSES
Depends on how many 'a lot' means. 12-15 is fine.

A LOT OF RACES
Depends on how many 'a lot' means. 6 is fine.

ABILITY SCORES FOR RACES (you want a particolar race to be better with some classes and bad with others?)
Yes, to the point where some race-class combinations should not exist or at least be option-only.

FEATS IN GENERAL
Bad

HIT POINTS
Good

HEALING SURGES (part of 4e heal system)
Bad

DEFENSES
As AC

SKILL CHALLENGES (4e)
Bad

SKILLS HAVE TO BE
Not important. Ability checks work just fine for most situations.

NORMAL CHANCE TO HIT
If by 'normal chance to hit' you mean how often a 1st-level Fighter will hit a naked defender then 55%. If you mean something else, I'm not sure.

ALIGNMENT IS (mechanical means there are powers/spells that work on what you write on your sheet, fluff means pure role play)
Mechanical, but not over-done.

SAVE OR DIE (finger of death)
Good, both for the PCs and the enemy.

LEVEL DRAIN (and other quasi-permanent Bad Things, should they happen to PCs)
Yes, though the game should provide some sort of means to reverse them e.g. Restoration vs. level drain.

LEVEL ADVANCEMENT RATE
Very slow, to put the focus on story and game-play rather than level-ups.

ABILITY SCORE GENERATION (and various other character attributes)
Random roll for ability scores and hit points, random as option for other things e.g. age, height, weight, etc.

CYCLICAL INITIATIVE (combat turns go in cycles)
Bad

EASE OF BATTLEFIELD SPELLCASTING (easy as in 3e-4e, or hard as in 1e-2e)
Hard, with possible consequences on failure.

===============================================

There's loads more but that'll do or now.

Lanefan

 

[Mark CMG]

A lot could be added to the poll from digging around in the 5E forum here.

 

[Fede]

I'll answer with how I'd like things to be, ignoring what has been said at D&DXP. Also, I added a couple of questions.

-------------------------------------------------
LEVEL (as in, range of levels in the game)
About 1-20, 1-30, don't really care as long as every level gives you something interesting (no dead levels).

POWERS (4e power mechanic)
Good, but with more powers in common for the same power source to reduce bloat (as the developers said, there were many powers in different classes that were very similar).

POWER SOURCES (like martial, divine, arcane etc.)
Good

VANCIAN SYSTEM (3.x caster mechanic) (also 0e-1e-2e)
Bad

CLASS ROLES (defender, controller, striker, leader)
Good

MAGIC ITEMS (you want magic items to be almost necessary? a big part of the game?)
Useful, but they are not part of the character's mathematical advancement. So, no +x weapons or armour.

ABILITIES SCORES (str, con, dex, int, wis, cha)
Good, but I'd like to see the modifier used directly as a score.
So, no more dexterity 18 (+4), but directly Dexterity 4. For nostalgia, you could have a 4d6dl method of generating scores that gives the same results using a table.

A LOT OF CLASSES
Yes, as long as they are different. E.g.no need for both Wizard and Sorcerer unless they feel distinct

A LOT OF RACES
Yes, as long as they are different. Also, I'd like to remove subraces and half races

ABILITY SCORES FOR RACES (you want a particolar race to be better with some classes and bad with others?)
No

ABILITY SCORES FOR CLASSES (e.g. a Cleric receives +2 wisdom)
Yes

FEATS IN GENERAL
Good, but removing lots of feats that are only a small mechanical bonus.

HIT POINTS
Good

HEALING SURGES (part of 4e heal system)
Good, I wouldn't mind renaming them.

DEFENSES
As AC

SKILL CHALLENGES (4e)
Yes, but only if seriously reworked.

SKILLS HAVE TO BE
Important.

NORMAL CHANCE TO HIT
i'd say about 66%

ALIGNMENT IS (mechanical means there are powers/spells that work on what you write on your sheet, fluff means pure role play)
Removed entirely, or at least fluff only.

SAVE OR DIE (finger of death)
Bad

LEVEL DRAIN (and other quasi-permanent Bad Things, should they happen to PCs)
Bad

LEVEL ADVANCEMENT RATE
Adjustable for the group's preferences.

ABILITY SCORE GENERATION (and various other character attributes)
Array\point buy as default, rolling as option. Fixed Hp.

CYCLICAL INITIATIVE (combat turns go in cycles)
Good

EASE OF BATTLEFIELD SPELLCASTING (easy as in 3e-4e, or hard as in 1e-2e)
Easy as 3e-4e.

 

[Mercurius]

The trouble is, most people at RPG.net or here are 4e fans, since others aren't that welcome.

This is simply not true. Actually, one of the things I like about ENWorld is that it has a pretty wide cross-section of D&D players. If anything I think ENWorld is skewed the other way and doesn't accurately represent the average or typical slice of the D&D community (in other words, if you look at that poll, I have a hard time believing that only 16-17% of D&D players prefer 4E - but don't have a hard time believing that 16-17% of ENWorld members prefer 4E).

 

[steeldragons]

Hmmm. Ok, I'll bite. lessee...

LEVEL
1-20 -seems sufficient.

POWERS (4e power mechanic)
BAD -and also...BAD, BAD and, yeah, BAD.

VANCIAN SYSTEM (3.x caster mechanic -Vancian magic was around a lonnnnng time before 3.x my friend
GOOD

CLASS ROLES (defender, controller, striker, leader)
BAD -see response to "Powers" for additional information.

MAGIC ITEMS HAS TO BE MECHANICALLY (you want magic items to be almost necessary? a big part of the game?)
NOT IMPORTANT

ABILITIES SCORES (str, con, dex, int, wis, cha)
GOOD -it's part of the crux of what makes D&D, D&D. If you want to change those, might as well call the game Parcheesy RPG...or Football.

A LOT OF CLASSES
-I can't really answer this. What's "A LOT"? 10? 20? 42?
Classes are good as long as there is a solid fantasy archetype (from the real world and/or literature) to back them up.

A LOT OF RACES
-Same as "Classes". Can't really answer as presented.

ABILITY SCORES FOR RACES (you want a particolar race to be better with some classes and bad with others?)
mmmm...I gonna go with NO on this one.

FEATS (AND OTHER OPTIONS) THAT GIVES YOU STATIC +X BONUSES (weapon focus, weapon expertise)
GOOD -...I guess. They don't scream "BAD" out at me, at least.

HIT POINTS
GOOD -See also the answer to "Ability Scores". This is a D&D thing. yup, other systems do it differently. Bully for them. It's D&D, I want HP!

HEALING SURGES (part of 4e heal system)
BAD -also, BAD BAD and very BAD!

DEFENSES
AS AC -works for me.

SKILL CHALLENGES (4e)
I'm afraid I do not know what a "4e style Skill Challenge" is. So, I can't say whether it's good or not.

SKILLS HAVE TO BE
Another "can't answer it". They don't "HAVE TO BE" either one. If they are NOT IMPORTANT, then they shouldn't be in the game. But they don't "HAVE TO BE IMPORTANT" either...a PC should not just be a big pile of skills.

NORMAL CHANCE TO HIT
I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what this means. What is a "Normal Chance to hit"?

ALIGNMENT IS (mechanical means there are powers/spells that work on what you write on your sheet, fluff means pure role play)
MECHANICAL
FLUFF
It's both...or should be if it to have any "meaning" for some players. I, personally, think it is a good thing to have in the game. So it should influence one's RP as well as have various mechanical implications...at least for certain classes.

SAVE OR DIE (finger of death)
Meh...I'm really kind of over this bit. Let's say "Bad".

Good luck with all of this.
--Steel Dragons