D&D General Dmg previews up

[Charlaquin]

So your statements that it doesn't complicate things imply my tables haven't been real, then?

No, because I didn’t say it doesn’t cause complicate things at real tables. You said it does complicate things at “real” tables, but it doesn’t do so at my table. I believe both our tables are real, so your statement must be inaccurate, or at least incomplete.

 

[mamba]

It's one of the reasons why I'm still baffled at their choice to make crits "roll twice the dice" rather than the dramatically simpler "use maximized damage." Because maximum of NdX is essentially identical to average 2NdX.

for large N yes, for N <= 3 not so much

 

[Hussar]

“Real tables,” implying that tables like my own where this doesn’t complicate matters significantly… aren’t real?

Not at all. It's just that he's not talking about white board theory crafting either. This is something that does get experienced. Having random bonuses can significantly slow down play. Like a whole bunch. If you have players that are not really on the ball.

Both the groups I play in have very newbie players. And watching these newbie players really struggle every time there needs to be a die added on isn't fun.

 

[Parmandur]

I've been tempted, but I do most of my reading logged off, so I can actually follow the conversations. Otherwise, it is a bunch of non-sequiters and half formed thoughts. And that is unbearably confusing.

I find certain gaps very easy to fill in!

 

[NaturalZero]

I hope the bastion system is good. As a DM, and as a player, having campaign immersion options like this that work right of the box is a huge boon.

The "video game" criticism is bizarre to me, since the rest of the game - adventures leveling up, adding equipment numbers, activating abilities, killing things - is a vastly more common video game paradigm than stronghold management. It's adding a niche video game genre on top of a base system that's already a super popular and overly saturated video game genre.

The thing that I really want out of a DMG, and I'm sure I won't get, is a huge section on traps, hazards, and the mechanical knobs to tweak them quickly and easily. I'd like a resource that allows me to slap an exploration challenge together as easily as you can pick monsters out of the MM and just have a fight.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I hope the bastion system is good. As a DM, and as a player, having campaign immersion options like this that work right of the box is a huge boon.

The "video game" criticism is bizarre to me, since the rest of the game - adventures leveling up, adding equipment numbers, activating abilities, killing things - is a vastly more common video game paradigm than stronghold management. It's adding a niche video game genre on top of a base system that's already a super popular and overly saturated video game genre.

The thing that I really want out of a DMG, and I'm sure I won't get, is a huge section on traps, hazards, and the mechanical knobs to tweak them quickly and easily. I'd like a resource that allows me to slap an exploration challenge together as easily as you can pick monsters out of the MM and just have a fight.

Level Up has exactly those things. The Dungeon Delver book in particular has a huge section on traps that allows me to slap together an exploration challenge involving them easily.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

The most important thing bastions will do is be a money sink for the tens and hundreds of thousands of gold the party gets in mid-high levels

 

[tetrasodium]

Like others, I'd be thrilled if the bastion system were good and useful... But the playtest version was so far from even usable that I'd need a lot more than "we made some changes" or whatever the phrasing they used was. It does not speak well for those changes that we don't even have the types of DDB rules previews we got for weapon masteries and such when they were trying to sell deliberate power creep as a feature.

 

[Greg Benage]

Just read the whole thread, and while the usual posse shows up, it's genuinely a bit stunning how much one person with no interest in the new books dominates every single one of these threads about the new books. I'd hate to block someone with whom I share many gaming interests and preferences, but it's probably time. It'll definitely make the threads a lot shorter.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Just read the whole thread, and while the usual posse shows up, it's genuinely a bit stunning how much one person with no interest in the new books dominates every single one of these threads about the new books. I'd hate to block someone with whom I share many gaming interests and preferences, but it's probably time. It'll definitely make the threads a lot shorter.

I'm sorry (I assume you're talking about me). I like to talk about D&D and it's relatives (still very much a 5e player) and engage with the community. The new books are what just about everyone is talking about, and many of the topics apply equally well to other 5e games, and other D&D-style games in general. If I ignored everything with a 2024 tag I'd have very few places here in which to engage.