After DDXP, how are you feeling about D&En?

[Falling Icicle]

No Skills as part of the core? Seriously? We're regressing the game back to the 70s? If there's anything I don't want DnD to go back to, it's the era where the game was so basic and incomplete that the DM had to wing everything.

I have to pay feats just to get any at-will spells for my wizard?

Speaking of feats, it's sounding like they're using feats as a cop-out way of taxing players to get many of the basic features we've come to take for granted.

And what's this about 5d6 fireballs, and having to pay higher level spell slots to do more damage (think 3e psionics, ugh). Not even an Int bonus or implement bonus to the damage?

And we're still going to have rituals and they're still going to cost money, like in 4e? ....

I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic, even neutral, and I realise nothing is set in stone yet and there's still alot we don't know, but what I'm hearing has me turning pessimistic very quickly.

 

[Ferrous]

I voted yay but I do have some cause for concern. The ability to leverage an ability score into play as a save or what ever due to role-playing is open to abuse. I also think that great list of available classes are both clunky and don't address many viable archetypes whilst adding complexity and cost. It is poor design.

 

[Falling Icicle]

I voted yay but I do have some cause for concern. The ability to leverage an ability score into play as a save or what ever due to role-playing is open to abuse.

Yeah, I'm worried about this as well. It seems to me like this will lead to endless arguing and whining at the DM. It could also encourage min-maxing, since players could convince the DM to let them use their main stats on rolls that should require them to use their dump stat.

They should make a clear and absolute ruling on what each ability score can be used for, for both the sake of clarity and the sanity of DM's everywhere.

 

[Li Shenron]

If I was let's say 30% in with 5e before the seminars, now I'm more like 70% in.

 

[Wormwood]

Unity, as I understand it, implied there would be compromise on all 3 sides (4e, 3e, AD&D). I get that.

But while I remain optimistic, it does feel like the designers are scrapping just about everything from the last 12 years of progress except for the concept of feats and multi-classing.

Still, I know we're all blind men and an elephant at this point so I'm reserving judgment until the playtest.

 

[Charleois]

Feeling like I may as well stick with 4e. I will play 5e in someone else's game, but I probably won't buy anything. Mind you, I will subscribe until they shut down the 4e CB.

 

[Falling Icicle]

I think advertising this edition as a unity edition that is supposed to be the miracle edition that is for everyone was a mistake. I think it will make people focus more on what they're losing compared to their favorite past edition rather than what is being gained. 5e should stand or fall on its own merits, as its own game. Whether it borrows from past editions or not, I think that touting it as a "unity" edition only encourages more edition wars and brings back alot of baggage from the past.

 

[MortalPlague]

Reading the D&DXP reports made me giddy with excitement. Reading this thread made me sad.

The silver standard is something I've long hoped for in D&D. In every previous edition, copper pieces were worthless right from the start. Who bothered to count copper pieces past level two? Silver pieces too! Gold pieces became pretty much worthless in bunches less than a hundred by fifth level. With silver as the default, copper stays relevant for a while, silver is important for longer, and gold is something to be sought. Gold is something to fight for.

I'm playing in a game currently where we shifted down to a silver economy (also changed values; 100 copper to a silver, 100 silver to a gold). Our characters just acquired their first gold pieces at 4th level, and it was a moment to be cherished.

I'm also very excited about the prospect of themes flavoring classes. They mentioned that a class like Avenger might come about by a Paladin taking the 'Avenger theme'. But what's to stop a wizard from taking that theme? Perhaps this wizard has been hired on by the church to hunt down heretics? Perhaps a rogue takes the theme, and he's a specially trained assassin for the church? Using themes to flavor classes would be a great way to open up all kinds of character options.

Finally, I think they're really onto something with their skill system. It seems so simple; instead of calling for a 'thievery' or 'sleight of hand' check, you'd ask for a DEX check. Great, simplicity itself. Perhaps one of the characters is a rogue? On his sheet, there's a note: +2 when picking pockets. Or perhaps +2 when stealing. I love the idea that it can be something flexible; something broad, or something narrow. To me, this seems like simplicity itself.

As a DM, I could also reward players using that system. For instance, if a fighter helps out the local blacksmith with forging a sword, I could give the fighter a bonus on future checks involving blacksmithing. Or if a wizard spends time poring through a tome about ancient languages, he could earn a bonus to checks to decipher ancient languages. The potential to be flexible is extremely enticing.

So put me down as a hearty, excited 'yay'.

 

[delericho]

DDXP seems to have done a really good job of un-selling me on the new edition. I'm trying really hard to keep an open mind, but... They need to get that playtest up and going ASAP!

I think part of the problem is that I have a number of pretty strong ideas for how D&D should look. And what made me enthusiastic about 5e was less the new edition itself, but rather that it reopened all of those discussions, which was cool and exciting. But as they start locking things down, it becomes apparent that they've gone in different directions, some of which will inevitably not match up.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

They had me at 'electrum piece'.

And can we stop drowning babies? It was bad enough during the last Edition War when childhoods were raped, but this is a figure of speech that could be easily replaced with something more tasteful.

Like "molested my weasel" or something.