D&D General 6E But A + Thread

[Parmandur]

The issue is that some people are stuck in this mindset where no-one who doesn't have completely explicit magical powers can do anything that they can't personally imagine happening IRL (which we've seen from arguments even includes things which have happened IRL, but that person didn't know could happen).

It's a very silly situation, because Monks can get away with literally anything merely by vaguely muttering "It's Focus, ok" under their breath as they do the most anime stuff imaginable (even if they don't have to spend Focus or w/e to do it, and Focus isn't some well-defined or even necessarily supernatural ability), but it's TOTALLY ILLEGAL WRONG AND AGAINST THE GODS to have a Fighter or Rogue do the same thing. Unless you refer to "psionics" or "shadow magic" or something. Then suddenly it's totally fine!

And the same exact people are mostly aggressively opposed to the very obvious and simple solution which would be to have another class, one which uses Focus like the Monk but is an armoured, martial-weapon-using melee combatant (called, say, the Warrior), which could do all this stuff and just shrug and say "Focus, man" if asked how they did it. Maybe also add a light-armoured guy called the Skirmisher or something better (not good class name imagination right now!) who does the same for Rogues and Rangers.

Um...

There is a d20 game that does this with Focus Points, actually. It's a central feature of the Plotweaver system, everyone gets Focus Points as a derived stat per Scene. They can be used a bunch of different ways, depending on character abilities, but also form the basis of "social combat", wearing down the Focus points of an NPC when trying to change their mind about something.

 

[TiQuinn]

So...what do people think would be the likely time frame for a next edition?

3 years? 5 years? 10 or Longer?

 

[CreamCloud0]

The trouble 4E had was that as you levelled up, you didn't get an excessive number of abilities, the number you had at any time was pretty low but... you did start getting abilities that were a lot more complicated, like potentially doing multiple things, and a lot more abilities which involved Reactions, Immediate Actions (which can be out-of-turn), Interrupts, and so on, and not only did the PCs get these, the monsters did too.

but the low number of abilities on your character wasn't the issue itself was it? i'm just thinking there always seems to be some discussion or other about how complicated it is to know your characters, especially at higher levels when abilities start piling up, that saying 'okay, everyone only gets 9 ability slots to fill as they like from what you get' seems like it's worth a second attempt?

 

[mamba]

Nah I think the people want 6E.

I was more focused on the last paragraph and took the ‘we don’t want 6e’ to mean we do not all want the same 6e and all want our individual version of it, not that we want to stay with 5.5

 

[payn]

bounded accuracy was a good idea but i think they were working with too small bonuses numbers, they were too afraid of creating challenges that required high enough DC that some people just couldn't attempt them they ending up falling into the opposite problem and let things become too dictated by the d20 and be entirely too swingy where it's almost as possible for a specialist to fail as it is for a rookie to succeed,

Part of that is the move to universal design so proficiency + stats rules everything. I like BA and proficiency from a combat sense, but like you, I have issues with how skills shake out from it. PF2 also used a universal proficiency system and its not surprising its skill system also suffers its own problems from it. I'd create a new skill system add on module, so old school folks can keep their simplicity, but folks who want something more from a skill system can get it. (I understand A5E might have done somethign alogn these liens, but I havent had a chance to look into it. Im not currently playing any fantasy RPGs and if D&D was chosen A5E would be my price of entry.)

a competent low-mid-level rogue should already be writing off most everyday locks they encounter, they should have something like a +15 so 75% of DC 1-20 locks they don't even need to roll for, and they have this with their expertise (plus ability bonus) but so many more classes ought to have this level of competency and they just don't because expertise is so sparse on the the ground because it was decided to be the 'experts' thing rather than everyone having it and just giving the rogue far more uses.

Its hard to give away the experts thing when casters have snap finger solutions and fighters got combat funsies. Which is why I think focusing more on all three pillars is the first front to tackle in getting all classes more in line with having to do a variety of things as opposed to being good at only one thing to give variety amongst the classes. Which is my 6E top priority for D&D.

 

[Reynard]

I absolutely loathe the session recharge concepts whether it be inspiration or otherwise (per your example).
There are some gamist tools that are too far even for me (@Lanefan )

Long Rests for us are a full 24-hours within a safe environment.
Travel Rests remove a Level of Exhaustion or recharge 1/2 your HD if you have no Levels of Exhaustion and act as a Short Rest as well.
HD may be expended for class features per a cost table or to regain hit points as normal.

So our Rest mechanic is faster than the gritty week but slower than standard 8-hour refresh.

So you recognize there is a need for the GM to have control over this. hence the dials.

 

[payn]

So...what do people think would be the likely time frame for a next edition?

3 years? 5 years? 10 or Longer?

I dont think its coming. I think from here on out its updates like 5.24,

 

[Reynard]

I want 6e to finally free me from recycling fighter vs wizard debates

So which one gets the axe?

 

[Reynard]

I dont think its coming. I think from here on out its updates like 5.24,

Until 5.24 tanks. Then we get 6E for real.
EDIT: I meant until 5.xx aka updates fail, not that 5.24 specifically will fail.

 

[Minigiant]

yeah, for a zero to hero scale that goes from 0 to 100, 5e 1st level characters are already starting out at like, a 15 or 20.

You can hit all the power everyone wants in 35 levels.

But some groups will start at level 1, some level 10, some level -3, and some level 20.