D&D (2024) Asians Represent: "Has WotC Fixed the D&D Monk?"

[MGibster]

adding some spells and feats (and obviously equipment) is making the class generic enough. My point was I do not need a Samurai class, I can fit that under Fighter or Paladin, with a little tweaking.

There is no need to have a D&D West and a D&D East, all it takes is minor revisions to become sufficiently generic to allow for both

I have some mixed feelings about this. You're right, I don't really need a Samurai class when the Fighter works perfectly well for it. Do I really need a Ninja or does the Rogue work just fine for that role? But if I'm playing a campaign set in Rokugan or Kara-Tur, I don't want to play the exact same thing I'd play on the Sword Coast. That's just incredibly dull to me.

Someone suggested more subclasses to account for that. Maybe that's for the best. Or perhaps we should make classes a little less rigid and expand their ability to meaningfully participate in all pillars of game play.

 

[MGibster]

The other way to look at it is that the people that hate verisimilitude with the fire of a thousand suns, and the people that demand that the game be accurate down to simulating the inflation in the economy because the adventurers brought in some treasure, amount to a very small number of gamers.

I think it's important to remember that verisimilitude is the appearance of realism rather than anything resembling a simulationist approach. A PC being treated like a rock star because he's spending gold like it's going out of style is verisimilitude. A PC wrecking the local economy because he's spending gold like its going out of style is more of a realistic approach. (Although it might be fun to try working that into an adventure.)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

And if they were honest about that, and actually admitted they weren't designing for literally every gamer, I think WotC and the community at large would be better off.

They are. That's why they do surveys to make sure that their design choices are broadly popular.

They are not designing for niche interests. Or trying to move the product in a way that is polarizing. As far as I know, they are pretty transparent that they want a popular product that is widely appealing, especially to younger gamers and to newer players.

I think the mistake people make is that they confuse, "WoTC is not appealing to me!" with "WoTC is not trying to appeal to the mass market." That's not a WoTC problem, that's a you problem.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I mean, since martial arts is central to the monk’s identity, I don’t think a cultural consultant who has some background in martial arts is too big of an ask.

It's not like they couldn't get BOTH. They wouldn't have to be the same person. More eyes would be better anyhow.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They are. That's why they do surveys to make sure that their design choices are broadly popular.

They are not designing for niche interests. Or trying to move the product in a way that is polarizing. As far as I know, they are pretty transparent that they want a popular product that is widely appealing, especially to younger gamers and to newer players.

I think the mistake people make is that they confuse, "WoTC is not appealing to me!" with "WoTC is not trying to appeal to the mass market." That's not a WoTC problem, that's a you problem.

But they're so afraid of losing  anyone that might give them money that they won't explicitly state what their design philosophy actually is, leaving the door open for people to complain that they're not being designed for, because they refuse to say they aren't.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's not like they couldn't get BOTH. They wouldn't have to be the same person. More eyes would be better anyhow.

Two people cost more than one...

 

[tetrasodium]

adding some spells and feats (and obviously equipment) is making the class generic enough. My point was I do not need a Samurai class, I can fit that under Fighter or Paladin, with a little tweaking.

There is no need to have a D&D West and a D&D East, all it takes is minor revisions to become sufficiently generic to allow for both

I wasn't the one to bring up the tangent being discussed but the obvious support for modular dropin replacement being built into 2024 stuff would make a reskin easy without needing to change base classes too much (if at all). Using that modularity my point wasn't simply add. Swap the entire section to a thematically appropriate set of them fitting the themes and tropes of a very different setting where those themes and tropes fit.

 

[Yaarel]

Or you can go to the Bronx.

They are very similar, after all!

Bronx plus beautiful scenic vistas. Sounds awesome.

 

[SkidAce]

...But they won’t because it would be jettisoning some fans. So they try and fail to design for both.

I would question the statement "fail", as I find 5e to be both elegant and versatile (with a few warts).

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

But they're so afraid of losing  anyone that might give them money that they won't explicitly state what their design philosophy actually is, leaving the door open for people to complain that they're not being designed for, because they refuse to say they aren't.

.... I mean, okay? Look, 5e thoroughly dominates the entire TTRPG market. It is the most successful version of D&D that has ever existed.

Not sure that people complaining that the design philosophy has been insufficiently explained ... to them ... is really on the top 20,000 list of problems they have right now. It's probably somewhere below, "How do we make sure more people understand what an 'ampersand' is?"