D&D General 6E But A + Thread

[Minigiant]

Why? Where's the value in cutting stuff from the books? Other than to WotC of course.

You replace them with more important stuff

In the OHB
More subclasses
More subraces
More feats
More backgrounds
More equipment

in the DMG
Monster creation rules
Spells creation and expectations rules
Subclass create rules
Advice on How to DM for each Class
Variant rules
Epic play rules

 

[Minigiant]

Which raises another question: are spell schools within a class even worth keeping as a concept?

With two exceptions, I say no they're not. The exceptions are Illusion and Necromancy, which should each have their own separate class distinct from the standard Wizard.

If you cut spells you can fit the illusionist and Necromancer

 

[mixmastashizz]

Which raises another question: are spell schools within a class even worth keeping as a concept?

With two exceptions, I say no they're not. The exceptions are Illusion and Necromancy, which should each have their own separate class distinct from the standard Wizard.

Man wouldn't it be something we got the return of the Illusionist class? Full circle!

 

[Faolyn]

I still think the PHB has too many spells and the DMG has too many items hogging up pages.

Like the PHB wizard spell list should go old school.

8 spells per level except 0th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. 1 spell for each school past 3rd. That's it.

Everyone else gets only ~5-6 spells per level.

Cut it down. Cut it down. Shove those extra items spells in its own book.

So one thing that can help to pare down spells is go whole hog with the whole "cast at higher levels" thing and combine spells, especially damaging spells. With a 1st-level slot, it functions like burning hands (small amount of damage in a small area). With a 2nd-level slot, it functions like Aganazzer's scorcher (moderate damage, moderate area). With a 3rd-level slot, it functions like fireball (large damage, large area). And so on. You can do this with non-damaging spells as well. With a first-level slot, you have a visual-only illusion. With a second-level slot, it becomes audio/visual. Etc. First level healing restores some health by touch, or less health at range. Higher level lets you cure diseases or get rid of conditions.

You'd cut the number of spells by at least a third. And let's face it, it's unlikely that 6e will go back to making wizards really search for their spells and roll to be able to learn them, which is really the only reason to have a ton of spells (many of which are similar). Yes, it will make casters more versatile, but you can also just let them prepare fewer spells.

For magic items, I'd borrow from 3x. For weapons and armor, have a list of traits like bane, icy, flaming, etc. Wands, rods, staves, and even rings are mostly just collections of spells anyway, so describe how to assign charge cost. For wondrous items, talk about how to make them cool and useful. For all three categories, talk about how to balance them. Then give a few pages of examples and leave the rest up for the GMs to come up with. The 5e DMG, IIRC, already does this a bit with artifacts, so why not go the rest of the way? It's not like the fanbase or 3pp authors won't come up with a ton of new ones.

 

[Faolyn]

All that does is force people to buy another book.

Good for WotC's treasure room, I guess.

OK, can you stop that? Yes, we get that you think all WotC cares about is the money. Do you need to say it all the time? Try pretending that 6e will be published by a different company.

 

[AnotherGuy]

To be fair to @Minigiant BECM had a much smaller spell list and that was fine. You could use that for the PHB.
I would prefer a greater amount of subclasses in the PHB instead of having to buy 2 more books for subclasses (Xanathars...etc).

You could have spell creation rules within the PHB as part of the Downtime Activities like in ToV.

So PHB smaller spell selection but it includes more subclasses, downtime activities, increased equipment, skill section etc.

The DMG need not focus on basics as that would be included in the Starter Set and Downtime Activities would be in the PHB and you wouldn't waste space with esoteric subclasses.
I also agree super rare/weird magical items could be gutted. That's a lot of space now available in the DMG.
Which allows for more variant/dials as well as epic play rules. These two sections should be fat as they have been ignored far too long.
And increase consumable enchanted items.

Then the 4th book would be a Tome of Magic - spells, weird/rare magic items, psionic systems, magic variants etc.