D&D (2024) Blast from the past

[Henadic Theologian]

More rituals and less concentration requirements for spells. Too many spells go unused because they compete for spell slots and concentration.

 

[aco175]

I like 3e attack progression where fighters get better each level and others ad a slower pace. I also like that eventually everyone gets a 2nd attack, or more. It would need to be curtailed somewhat to better fit with what we have now. It just stuck me as odd that a fighter and mage improved equally in attacking between level 1 and 5 for your proficiency bonus to improve.

 

[Lidgar]

• Retro Healing
• Retro Cantrips
• Retro Skills/Backgrounds (I could post more on this - suffice to say, less is more)
• Retro gp expenditures for leveling up/training (not time it takes, just gp cost)
• Retro attacks progression (per @aco175)

 

[Henadic Theologian]

• Retro Healing
• Retro Cantrips
• Retro Skills/Backgrounds (I could post more on this - suffice to say, less is more)
• Retro gp expenditures for leveling up/training (not time it takes, just gp cost)
• Retro attacks progression (per @aco175)

That is what the DMG is for as most of these changes would be broadly unpopular.

 

[R_J_K75]

I do wish they'd show greater transparency with road maps like MtG does, I mean I know exactly what products are coming in 2022 and some of 2023, except the none Warhammer Commander Decks, and that is not hard to guess.

I understand the teasing an upcoming adventure for a month or two but with these upcoming changes I agree there should 100% transparency regarding the rest of 5E and their plans on the 2024 edition.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Scarier undead. Not necessarily level drain (because that's a pain in the behind bookkeeping wise), but something that makes them scary again. Same with medusa and other other creatures.

black and white lineart (not everything has to be color)

Monster ecologies (like in the old Dragon magazines). Fluff and flavor matter IMO. Not everything is a statblock.

 

[Professor Murder]

Monster templates, just yah know, balanced-ish.

 

[Umbran]

I am still not a fan of skill challenges.

Oh, I love them... when they are presented properly.

They reduce storytelling to dice rolling...

Properly presented, they allow you to turn storytelling into die rolls, instead of into GM fiats.

 

[Dausuul]

The return of the 5-minute short rest. My group has house ruled short rests to be 5 minutes, usable twice per day. It does wonders to keep short-rest and long-rest classes in balance.

I would also love to see the return of the "name level" and domain rulership concepts from the TSR era. Not the mechanics themselves, most of those mechanics were... poorly thought out... but the idea remains exciting and I'd love to see it resurrected for 5E.

My vote: 4th ed's skill challenges. Probably still needs some work, but the potential is there.

Ow, that's one I really don't want to see return. Not unless it gets a whole lot of work. It was a noble idea, and I'm sure in the hands of a sufficiently skilled DM it could be good; but my experience (across three different DMs) is that the DM announces "Skill challenge!" and then my job is to find new ways to describe "I'm still trying to do the thing" and roll d20s until the challenge is over. It blows my immersion straight to hell and is also very boring.

Properly presented, they allow you to turn storytelling into die rolls, instead of into GM fiats.

That assumes the DM has put work into learning how to present skill challenges. If the DM has not put work into that, and most haven't, I'll take DM fiat over a skill challenge any day of the week.

Skill challenges are presented as analogous to combat--but they don't come with any of the mechanical tools that D&D uses to create variety and choices in combat. So every skill challenge is the equivalent of basic attacks against a bag of hit points. It is possible for a DM to build an exciting narrative with meaningful choices on top of that skeleton... but it's a lot harder than it is with the full array of combat options, and far fewer DMs are up to the job.

 

[Umbran]

That assumes the DM has put work into learning how to present skill challenges.

A DM has to put work into learning how to present anything. So, this is hardly an argument against them.