7 Years of D&D Stories? And a "Big Reveal" Coming?

When asked what he was working on, WotC's Chris Perkins revealed a couple of juicy tidbits. They're not much, but they're certainly tantalizing. Initially, he said that "Our marketing team has a big reveal in the works", and followed that up separately with "Right now I'm working on the next seven years of D&D stories". What all that might mean is anybody's guess, but it sounds like there are plans for D&D stretching into the foreseeable future! Thanks to Barantor for the scoop!

 

[Rejuvenator]

The Essentials verbiage, on the other hand, I find completely off-putting. Either show me mechanics that will make it true in play (how does the PHB tell me that dwarves are hardy? because they get Second Wind as a minor action!), or say nothing at all. But long descriptions that are divorced from the play experience, and sometimes are misleading as to they way some power or ability will actually play out at the table, are not very interesting to me. When I look through my Essentials books, I skip over all that stuff so I can see what the mechanics are, and hence really see what sort of fiction is going to be created by using this stuff in a game.

But when it comes to RPGing I really am a "show, don't tell" person. It is the mechanics that show me what the fiction "really" is (or will be). For instantce, p 6 refers to building a "courageous fighter", but until you get Indomitable there is no particular element of fighters that makes the courageous (and in fact the lack of WIS save proficiency points the other way).

Very enlightening! Thanks for articulating that.

I also sometimes struggle with mechanics that seem ill-fitted or not comprehensive enough to match the fluff.

And if I too could look at the mechanics as an outline framework and see the story blossom within, I would probably enjoy 4E.

I find at the table it becomes more of...
Player A (Fighter), who succeeded his save, says to Player B (Archer), how many hit points do you have, because if I hit the Cambion I can do X damage? Player (B) says 50, I should be able to withstand a little damage, plus I have psychic protection ring. Player C (Warlord) says to Player B I will grant you another saving throw should you fail.

But if this kind of thing happened at my table, it would tear me out of my immersion completely. I would just see the numbers and tactics, too difficult to see the story.

So 5E, as imperfect as it is for mismatched fluff:mechanics, is my best best. But still, your post was elucidating.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I find this a chicken-or-egg dilemma then.

Is the dwarf hardy because it has second wind, or does it have second wind because its hardy? Which comes first, the mechanics or the fluff? D&D has traditionally written from a place of fluff first, mechanics support it. Your proposing that the mechanics come first, and then you can hang whatever fluff you want on it. That is a very radically different way of doing things.

Lets try an experiment. I have a monster I designed years ago (2008) for my 4e game. I will post its stat-block and nothing else. Describe to me what that monster is. (Hint: Dahlia is the creature's name, not type)

[sblock]Dahlia Level 1 Elite Skirmisher
Tiny fey beast XP 200 each
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +2; low-light vision
HP 40; Bloodied 20
AC 20; Fortitude 15, Reflex 22, Will 17
Saving Throws +2
Action Points 1
Speed 6
Claw (standard; at-will)
+3 vs. AC. 1d4+1
Eyebite (Standard; recharge 56) Arcane, Charm, Psychic
Ranged 10; +4 vs. Will. 1d6+3 psychic damage and you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
Undeniable Beauty (immediate interrupt, when Dahlia is targeted by a melee attack; at will)
+ 3 vs. Will against the attacker; the attacker must target a different creature or end its attack.
Lure of the Wild (standard; recharge )
Ranged 10; + 3 vs. Will. The target is pulled 5 squares and is dazed (save ends).
Step Through the Mists (move; encounter)
Dahlia teleports up to 3 squares.
Alignment Good Languages Common, Elven
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +5, Stealth +9
Str 6 (–2) Dex 18 (+4) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1) Int 14 (+2) Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment +1 amulet [/sblock]

Here is some perfectly good mechanics. Weave me a story.

Dahlia is a flower fairy named for the flowers she most favours and can be found where these flowers go wild in the mountains. Not in the gardens of Man or Elf where they are cultivated.

 

[TwoSix]

[sblock]Dahlia Level 1 Elite Skirmisher
Tiny fey beast XP 200 each
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +2; low-light vision
HP 40; Bloodied 20
AC 20; Fortitude 15, Reflex 22, Will 17
Saving Throws +2
Action Points 1
Speed 6
Claw (standard; at-will)
+3 vs. AC. 1d4+1
Eyebite (Standard; recharge 56) Arcane, Charm, Psychic
Ranged 10; +4 vs. Will. 1d6+3 psychic damage and you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
Undeniable Beauty (immediate interrupt, when Dahlia is targeted by a melee attack; at will)
+ 3 vs. Will against the attacker; the attacker must target a different creature or end its attack.
Lure of the Wild (standard; recharge )
Ranged 10; + 3 vs. Will. The target is pulled 5 squares and is dazed (save ends).
Step Through the Mists (move; encounter)
Dahlia teleports up to 3 squares.
Alignment Good Languages Common, Elven
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +5, Stealth +9
Str 6 (–2) Dex 18 (+4) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1) Int 14 (+2) Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment +1 amulet [/sblock]

Here is some perfectly good mechanics. Weave me a story.

I'd probably use that block for some kind of super-kawaii faerie kitty. Or give it a fly speed and use it for a fairie dragon. It's a tiny fey beast with a claw attack, so any sort of small predator works, with magical abilities oriented around evasion, primarily, and some minor control. A familiar for a Sidhe mage would work, too.

 

[Imaro]

I'd probably use that block for some kind of super-kawaii faerie kitty. Or give it a fly speed and use it for a fairie dragon. It's a tiny fey beast with a claw attack, so any sort of small predator works, with magical abilities oriented around evasion, primarily, and some minor control. A familiar for a Sidhe mage would work, too.

I don't think it's some kind of beast though because of the "Undeniable Beauty" power...

EDIT: D'oh... it says beast in the stat block...lol, ignore the above statement.

 

[Manbearcat]

I find this a chicken-or-egg dilemma then.

Is the dwarf hardy because it has second wind, or does it have second wind because its hardy? Which comes first, the mechanics or the fluff? D&D has traditionally written from a place of fluff first, mechanics support it. Your proposing that the mechanics come first, and then you can hang whatever fluff you want on it. That is a very radically different way of doing things.

You'll be shocked to hear I agree with @pemerton! Show me. Don't tell me. Tell me combined with incoherent show me lends itself towards requiring GM force and illusionism to make up for the mechanic's inability to authentically manifest their story, of their own volition and of the volition of the player who is advocating for their PC, when their are brought to bear in GM-framed situations.

Lets try an experiment. I have a monster I designed years ago (2008) for my 4e game. I will post its stat-block and nothing else. Describe to me what that monster is. (Hint: Dahlia is the creature's name, not type)

[sblock]Dahlia Level 1 Elite Skirmisher
Tiny fey beast XP 200 each
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +2; low-light vision
HP 40; Bloodied 20
AC 20; Fortitude 15, Reflex 22, Will 17
Saving Throws +2
Action Points 1
Speed 6
Claw (standard; at-will)
+3 vs. AC. 1d4+1
Eyebite (Standard; recharge 56) Arcane, Charm, Psychic
Ranged 10; +4 vs. Will. 1d6+3 psychic damage and you are invisible to the target until the start of your next turn.
Undeniable Beauty (immediate interrupt, when Dahlia is targeted by a melee attack; at will)
+ 3 vs. Will against the attacker; the attacker must target a different creature or end its attack.
Lure of the Wild (standard; recharge )
Ranged 10; + 3 vs. Will. The target is pulled 5 squares and is dazed (save ends).
Step Through the Mists (move; encounter)
Dahlia teleports up to 3 squares.
Alignment Good Languages Common, Elven
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +5, Stealth +9
Str 6 (–2) Dex 18 (+4) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1) Int 14 (+2) Cha 12 (+1)
Equipment +1 amulet [/sblock]

Here is some perfectly good mechanics. Weave me a story.

Oh this is a fun game! I like this! I'm going to go with...

A pixie from the Feywild loved picking sunflowers to give to and make happy the children of her pixie village. Unfortunately, these sunflowers came from a grove that forbade outsiders from spreading its beauty to the world. The grove's miserly master was a powerful, evil sorcerer. One fateful day that sorcerer caught the pixie and laid her low....polymorphing her into a little fox...never to fly again. Sad pixie ANGRY PIXIE! The pixie makes a deal with a powerful archfey and gains the beguiling, otherworldly (well I guess not for the Feywild...) power of a warlock.

Her ongoing mission? To explore new flora and new sweet-smelling, pretty things. To seek out miserly, evil sorcerers who horde beautiful flowers and dispatch them. To boldly go into forbidden groves where no pixie-turned-fox has gone before.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't think it's some kind of beast though because of the "Undeniable Beauty" power...

1) It says tiny fey beast right in the stat block. I can only run off the parameters Remathalis gave.

2) I'm pretty sure an animal, especially a faerie one, can have Undeniable Beauty. I mean, they didn't name the horse "Black Ugly".

 

[Imaro]

1) It says tiny fey beast right in the stat block. I can only run off the parameters Remathalis gave.

2) I'm pretty sure an animal, especially a faerie one, can have Undeniable Beauty. I mean, they didn't name the horse "Black Ugly".

Yeah I just saw number one and revised my post... sorry about that, I totally missed it.

 

[TwoSix]

Her ongoing mission? To explore new flora and new sweet-smelling, pretty things. To seek out miserly, evil sorcerers who horde beautiful flowers and dispatch them. To boldly go into forbidden groves where no pixie-turned-fox has gone before.

She should be careful....most foxes appear to be red-shirted.

 

[Sadras]

I don't know what makes you think the damage from the Chained Cambion, either in general or in the encounter in which I used it, was not significant. I can assure you that it absolutely was.

Then I think your DMing skill and fortune paid off in this regard.

By all means post your actual play examples of this!

Most recently the characters under the effects of a Water-breathing ritual swam in haste towards a portal hidden within cavern-lake. They were spotted by the wraith guardians they were attempting to avoid and they immediately split up. One of the characters (rogue) was targeted and suffered an energy drain from the attack of the wraith. Only 1 of the other 4 characters remained to help, being played by me as the player was absent, while the others opted to pass through the portal. The one who remained to help suffered a critical hit, which means I doubled the damage die (potential energy drain too) of the wraith's attack, essentially I rolled 39 points of damage (8d8+3) and he had to make a constitution check DC14 to ensure the hit points didn't come off his permanent total. I rolled another 20 thankfully and the PCs made their escape through the portal - casting Dispel Magic and Stoneshape on the other side, closing it off.
The players, deciding to abandon their ally instead of suffering potential energy drained, can be argued that they reflected callousness and fear with their actions.

But I don't see why these instances bear upon my point: which was that there was a power which was somewhat opaque, or at least complex, in its text; but that which, in play, manifested itself clearly and brilliantly.

Some 10 sessions back, the party was in combat with an efreeti and its minions and for the most of the combat they didn't even know about the efreeti which was hiding within a burning house hurling flames at them while they engaged its minions on the lawn. When they finally discovered its presence - the warlocks cast Darkness and hid within to save themselves (the darkness not impeding their ability to see, due to an ability they had).
The efreeti unable to determine where they were within the area of the Darkness spell, summoned a Wall of Flame zig-zagging through the darkness to ensure that they were affected by the flames (either being in them or near them - both would inflict damage). This resulted in one of the warlock's dropping from the damage sustained. The remaining warlock had a choice to make, pull his friend from the fire and out of the darkness and risk the wrath of the Efreeti or keep on hiding in the darkness and let the flame consume his ally's body.

How is the Chained Cambion's ability more evocative, more complex or manifested more clearly and brilliantly than the Efreeti's?

But my first thought about your suggested encounter is what mechanics would be used. In particular, how does an assailant (in D&D) rip of armour, tear through an opponent's flesh and then dismember them (without a sword of sharpness or similar ability). It just sounds like hit point damage, which I thought you were deriding.

Rip Armour: In 3.x I would look at the hardness of armour, provide a set of armour points and have the chain attacks work against that, describing it as such.
Tearing Opponents Flesh: If the target was restrained as in my example, I would roll for critical damage. The damage suggested in the stat block is for the chaos and recklessness of combat not helpless victims, IMO.
Dismembering: Two critical hits would be enough, to satisfy me, that the target had its limb dismembered.

As long as hit points keep being inflated as per the later editions, all abilities are relative depending on the current hit points of the characters. So the decision to leave an ally to the psychic damage of the Shackled Minds is really dependent on the characters' hit points, making that ability as complex or brilliant as any other.

 

[Imaro]

Oh this is a fun game! I like this! I'm going to go with...

A pixie from the Feywild loved picking sunflowers to give to and make happy the children of her pixie village. Unfortunately, these sunflowers came from a grove that forbade outsiders from spreading its beauty to the world. The grove's miserly master was a powerful, evil sorcerer. One fateful day that sorcerer caught the pixie and laid her low....polymorphing her into a little fox...never to fly again. Sad pixie ANGRY PIXIE! The pixie makes a deal with a powerful archfey and gains the beguiling, otherworldly (well I guess not for the Feywild...) power of a warlock.

Her ongoing mission? To explore new flora and new sweet-smelling, pretty things. To seek out miserly, evil sorcerers who horde beautiful flowers and dispatch them. To boldly go into forbidden groves where no pixie-turned-fox has gone before.

I think you probably need a bite attack for this one... do some foxes attack with claws?