D&D 5E D&D New Edition Design Looks Soon?

WotC’s Ray Winninger has hinted on Twitter that we may be seeing something of the 2024 next edition of D&D soon — “you’ll get a first look at some of the new design work soon.”.

 

[Ancalagon]

Me here praying for a swordmage class.

Though there is probrably a higher chance of them cutting classes than adding them.

people keep raving about that class, I'm going to have to look it up...

anyway, I played a psi warrior with the sage background and the ritual caster feat. It was fun

 

[Kurotowa]

Classes, races, feats, spells, backgrounds, equipment, monsters, magic items, DM guidance and options.

But thats all! No big changes!

Look at a computer and how it works. There's (in the simplified version) three layers there, each enabling the layer built on top of it. The first layer is the BIOS, the basic fundamentals that lets you turn it on. The second layer is the operating system, that's how you interact with it. And the third layer is the program or app you load to do a specific thing.

A TTRPG like D&D is the same. You've got your BIOS fundamentals that explain "What is a PC and what are all these funny dice for?", you've got your operating system details that define how you build a PC and how the dice are used in this edition of the game, and then you've got the apps layer where you look up things like what are the game stats of a specific race or class or how a monster's stats are formatted.

Many of us expect all the D&D 2024 changes to be in that third layer. They're not going to change how classes and subclasses fundamentally work, they're not going to overhaul the spellcasting and concentration rules, they're no going to completely rebalance the math on HP and damage. What they may do is revise the racial stat blocks, and retool some class features, and redo what benefits package a Background gives, and so on. Top layer stuff, stuff that sits on top of the core mechanics, stuff you can swap out on a more modular basis.

 

[Greg K]

I don't want a lot of major changes, but I doubt I will get what I want. Much of what I want would be in the DM Guide, but here is my list

1. Clarifications
2. PHB (non major changes)
   1. covering levels 1-19 or 1-12 (a separate book for higher levels)
   2. Tasha's decoupling or ability scores as a sidebar
   3. Tasha's swapping of armor, weapons, tool proficiencies, etc. as a sidebar (or in the DMG)
   4. Removing alignment from many races
   5. Bring back 3e style Night Vision and Dark Vision
   6. Class variants: I would prefer subclasses at first level for all classes, but probably too much of a change. Therefore, add some class variant choices at first level to keep compatible with 5e:
      1. Martial Bard, Urban Barbarian, Cloistered Cleric, Light Armor Fighter, Iron Body Monk, Wilderness Rogue. These would have variant class features at first level (including modified skill list and save proficiencies) and possibly at some additional levels
   7. Tasha's fighting styles added to Fighter
   8. All sorcerer Origins getting expanded spell lists by origin
   9. Warlock Patrons: Arch Fey, The Fiend, Great Old Ones expanded to cover the arch devils, demon princes, various fey (Titania, Oberon, etc.) and several Cthulhu entities (Cthulhu, Hastur, etc.)
   10. more subclasses for Bard, Fighter, Sorcerer
   11. Barbarian: replace berserker fatigue with a less serious fatigue or winded condition that is easier to recover
   12. Ranger add options for an Urban environment
   13. Critical hits: Base die is max and roll the extra die
   14. Some new conditions (e.g. bleeding dazed, fatigued, shaken, staggered, weakened abilities, winded) or place them in DMG
   15. Feats kept optional, but some rebalanced.
   16. Spells: Rebalanced/ releveled
3. DMG: Lots of new options and variants in the DMG:
   1. Skill points;
   2. armor as dr, wound vitaity; glancing blows; flat footed ac, touch ac, revised Death Save to eliminate whack a mole
   3. dials for resting, exhaustion, petrification, and death saves;
   4. sidekick rules
   5. travel mechanics.
   6. slower leveling options
   7. expanded rules/uses for inspiration
   8. expanded uses for Hit Die
   9. more guidelines for tailoring the level of magic and type of fantasy
4. The big changes that I want (and most won't happen) and not added to the DM Guide are
   1. Seperating biological race and abilities from environment/cutlure which would be another list or two to choose from
      1. environment (e.g. aquatic (underwater), coastal/island, desert, forest, grasslands, hills, jungle/rainforest, mountains, tundra, wetlands, underground, rural, urban; or
      2. mageocracy, martial, theocracy, etc.
   2. Full spellcasters toned down in power: I agree with Treantmonk and/or Dungeon Coach that the full spellcasters should be toned down to be balanced with other classes.
   3. Cleric: on a Warlock like chasis
   4. Monk: options to add customization to fighting style, reworking of ki and abilities that cost key, and more ki options to choose from. Maybe use a ki die mechanic.
   5. Ranger replaced with a martial (non-spellcasting/non-mystical) version and spell casting versions as subclasses (not expecting it to happen. Since I doubt this will happen, I'd look to Dungeon Coach's changes.

 

[Ancalagon]

I could never go back to 3E now.

3e's complexity drove me away as a GM after a few years. (I ran warhammer 2nd ed for several years and would use it again). I'm not saying that 3e is a bad game! but it's not for everyone.

 

[Parmandur]

But likeI said, 5e has a notorious reputation of being too easy and overly powercrept on the player side. So I think WOTC might be wary.

Monsters already have a base assumption of being built to face PCs without magic items. Now you ponder giving them free feats. And Feat trees. And normalizing multiclassing. And overtuned subclasses.

If WOTC gives everyone free feats, 5.55e will become truly an easy mode baby edition. I'n not even disparging 5e here. But 1 or 2 free feats is too much.

I don't think they will normalize multiclassing, frankly: normalizing Backgroind Feats frankly might replace that entirely.

The game not being brutally punishing is a design feature, not a bug.

 

[Ancalagon]

I know many people who still play older editions (OD&D to 4e) and are perfectly fine with it. WoTC doesn't have direct access to your wallet to force you to buy the new edition.

Btw, you might see 14th edition much sooner than you think! 5e is actually the 10th edition (excluding Rules Cyclopedia).

• 1974 (original)
• 1977 (Basic Set 1st ver.)
• 1977 (Advanced D&D)
• 1981 (Basic Set 2nd ver.)
• 1983 (Basic Set 3rd ver.)
• 1989 (AD&D 2nd Edition)
• 2000 (3rd edition)
• 2003 (v3.5)
• 2008 (4th edition)
• 2014 (5th edition)

and you have the skills and powers semi-edition, the 4e essentials...

 

[Kurotowa]

Me here praying for a swordmage class.

They're not going to make a swordmage class because a 5e class has to be able to support at least half a dozen distinct subclasses. That's why we have a lot of swordmage-ish subclasses for existing classes instead: Eldritch Knight Fighter, Hexblade Warlock, Bladesinger Wizard, Battle Smith Artificer, and several varieties of Bard. Not to mention the characters you can build when you start creatively kitbashing options together, like a melee Wildfire Druid using Shillelagh and Green-Flame Blade.

Combining the versatility of spells with the style and reliability of a melee weapon is one of my favorite character archetypes too, but I'm not hung up on getting a class specifically dedicated to it. As it is I'm already almost spoiled for choice.

 

[Parmandur]

Look at a computer and how it works. There's (in the simplified version) three layers there, each enabling the layer built on top of it. The first layer is the BIOS, the basic fundamentals that lets you turn it on. The second layer is the operating system, that's how you interact with it. And the third layer is the program or app you load to do a specific thing.

A TTRPG like D&D is the same. You've got your BIOS fundamentals that explain "What is a PC and what are all these funny dice for?", you've got your operating system details that define how you build a PC and how the dice are used in this edition of the game, and then you've got the apps layer where you look up things like what are the game stats of a specific race or class or how a monster's stats are formatted.

Many of us expect all the D&D 2024 changes to be in that third layer. They're not going to change how classes and subclasses fundamentally work, they're not going to overhaul the spellcasting and concentration rules, they're no going to completely rebalance the math on HP and damage. What they may do is revise the racial stat blocks, and retool some class features, and redo what benefits package a Background gives, and so on. Top layer stuff, stuff that sits on top of the core mechanics, stuff you can swap out on a more modular basis.

Beautifully stated.

 

[Parmandur]

3e's complexity drove me away as a GM after a few years. (I ran warhammer 2nd ed for several years and would use it again). I'm not saying that 3e is a bad game! but it's not for everyone.

I loved 3E so much, it's the Edition I started with. But I just couldn't play it as written after 5E.

 

[Ancalagon]

As a longtime player of Star Wars Saga I found it to be nothing new, even in its context, just basically further codifying and simplifying the approach to bonuses in SWSE, but it was wild to me when we started playing SWSE and instead of “+2 to [skill]” it was “reroll a [skill] check, but you must use the second result” and bigger bonuses became “reroll check use either result”.

I preferred the SWSE approach with two tiers, but I think they tried it and most people preferred just one tier.

I would looove a 5e ified SWSE...