D&D 5E And now for the flip-side

[Summer-Knight925]

In an earlier post, I asked for the fears of playtesters.

Now I ask for what they are hopeful about.
And while this list could be very very long, I ask you limit it to the single greatest thing you've seen for far in it.


Once again, please remain civil with your responses and debates, I don't like flamewars, because let's be honest.

We all get burned when gamers fight.

 

[fjw70]

I am hopeful that the design team will succeed in their goal of creating a balanced modular game that can replicate the style of any edition of D&D as well as a mixture of those styles.

 

[timASW]

i really like the rebalancing of spellcasters versus other classes. Its not real apparent just from reading the classes but when you read the actual spell descriptions it becomes clear that spell casters power level vis a vis other classes has been greatly reduced.

Since other classes (fighter) have been bumped up in power this runs the risk of just flipping the situation rather then evening things out but I'm still very hopeful they keep this aspect of the current rules.

 

[Sunseeker]

i really like the rebalancing of spellcasters versus other classes. Its not real apparent just from reading the classes but when you read the actual spell descriptions it becomes clear that spell casters power level vis a vis other classes has been greatly reduced.

Since other classes (fighter) have been bumped up in power this runs the risk of just flipping the situation rather then evening things out but I'm still very hopeful they keep this aspect of the current rules.

I second this, and the real test will be as we push into higher levels and expanded content. Wizards is notorious for power creep in their products, I am curious to see not just if classes can be balanced at lower levels, but if classes can be balanced at higher levels, and with new variations in product.

Most of the abuse of spellcasters I've seen comes from higher-level play, few wizards in the levels 1-5 range vastly outstrip fighters.

 

[timASW]

I second this, and the real test will be as we push into higher levels and expanded content. Wizards is notorious for power creep in their products, I am curious to see not just if classes can be balanced at lower levels, but if classes can be balanced at higher levels, and with new variations in product.

Most of the abuse of spellcasters I've seen comes from higher-level play, few wizards in the levels 1-5 range vastly outstrip fighters.

high level play is definately the challenge. With the bounded damage of spells now I'm more worried about fighters vastly outstripping wizards now though.

Just damage wise right now 5th level spells are doing 6d6 (average 18)or 8d6 (average 24) with few save or suck spells. They get those at 9th level.

Comparison wise the fighter at that level with no STR bonus (as if) and a non magical, not masterwork long sword just with deadly strike does 3d8 damage with his first attack and 1d8 with his second (average 16 every round), add in a very realistic +3 STR and +2 from equipment and the average goes to 26 per round all day long.

As it stands unless save or suck spells get seriously bumped up the fighter blows the wizard completely out of the water in a straight combat.

 

[Sunseeker]

high level play is definately the challenge. With the bounded damage of spells now I'm more worried about fighters vastly outstripping wizards now though.

Just damage wise right now 5th level spells are doing 6d6 (average 18)or 8d6 (average 24) with few save or suck spells. They get those at 9th level.

Comparison wise the fighter at that level with no STR bonus (as if) and a non magical, not masterwork long sword just with deadly strike does 3d8 damage with his first attack and 1d8 with his second (average 16 every round), add in a very realistic +3 STR and +2 from equipment and the average goes to 26 per round all day long.

As it stands unless save or suck spells get seriously bumped up the fighter blows the wizard completely out of the water in a straight combat.

If I recall we're still looking at a Core "utility" Wizard who has a diversity of spells and only a few of them are damage. As the material expands it'll be interesting to see if we can get pure blaster Wizards.

But we're still not seeing fighters who can fly, teleport, call on storms of thunder or what have you. If all a fighter can do is hit things in various fashions, then I'm still OK with them being very good at that. Since Wizards are still capable of so many things, I expect it to be a few books into the future till we have Wizards who can outfit themselves with nothing more than blast.

 

[Skanderbeg]

My sincerest hope is that Next will not only unite all of the disparate groups of DnD players into one writhing pile of happy role-players but that it will also bring about world peace.

Or just that it's good. Whichever comes first.

 

[MortalPlague]

When I first saw the expertise dice fighter, back in the August playtest, it filled me with glee. At last, there was a unique, interesting take on the fighter's design. Being able to parry damage made the fighter the toughest member of the party without giving him ridiculous amounts of hp, or an impossible AC. And it gave the fighter a unique identity.

They have since broadened the expertise dice to encompass many martial maneuvers, but I still hold out hope that when the final product comes to shelves, we see classes that give me the same glee I had when I first saw the expertise fighter.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The best thing designed thus far in my opinion is the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic.

 

[Li Shenron]

Now I ask for what they are hopeful about.
And while this list could be very very long, I ask you limit it to the single greatest thing you've seen for far in it.

If you put it strictly in this way, our answers can only be in the form "I hope X remains in the final product".

My main hope is that published 5e will be a game that I can easily play at both low complexity (as in the 2nd playtest package) and high complexity (more than 3ed).

This would make 5e a good game for me to play/run both in the near and the far future.