D&D (2024) First playtest thread! One D&D Character Origins.

[cbwjm]

I recall Crawfod talking about how he would redo Warlocks from the bottom up to make the Patron more of the primary choice, and roll the pact more into those. I also recall the designers talking about choosing Subclass after Level 1 not really working the way they thought, at all. I think we will see some serious overhauls at least proposed.

Oh man, I hope we see some changes to levels for subclasses!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Your argument works against itself because that would make them be more likely to be the ones at the outlier values for their races, exhibiting values in the 90th percentile, rather than bland and average.

No, it wouldn't. It would make them more likely to be outliers of any kind. That means we would expect to see lots of weird dwarves who don't have the strength and stamina their people are famous for, but instead some other set of attributes, which led them to walk very different paths and, as a result, made "travelling adventurer" a more appealing career path for them.

You don't JUST get the top 10%. You also get the BOTTOM 10%. And that's where all the weirdness is going to lie. The bell curve is not a one-sided distribution, and the tails are very broad.

 

[Ath'kethin]

"If you still have Inspiration when you start a Long Rest, you lose that Inspiration."

I know that feeling.

 

[Ath'kethin]

I also dig that sign language is a) listed and b) open to everyone.

Let's see what the future brings!

 

[dave2008]

Eeeehhhhh… I would agree with you, except that spells have such specific flavor in D&D. If a fighter can move so fast that he’s functionally teleporting, I want it to be because he’s moving fast, not because he waved his hands in the right way and said the right words to manipulate The Weave of Magic to move him from one place to another in an instant.

Yes, I agree with you. Like I said, I prefer more magic without spells. I guess the 5e way would be to make them psionic abilities or some type of spellcasting with few or no components.

 

[dave2008]

I play Level Up with added third party material, and hope to God they don't change LU to conform to this.

What would they even change that they haven't already changed for levelUp?

• Character origins: already different in LevelUp
• Feats: already different in LevlUp
• Spells: Already different in level up

I guess they could change conditions to match? Changing the crits and 1 & 20 rolls is a non issue (as it cost nothing one way or the other to implement or remove). So I don't think you have to worry about LevelUp much, it is already Advanced 5e.

 

[dave2008]

No matter how well a human trains, a equally well trained gorilla will be stronger. Thats what racial ASI represents. A human would not be equal to a sentient gorilla, even when both have the same athlete background.

While I agree with you, I just don't think it is that important. D&D is a game that is trying to appeal to the most people. It is the flagship to bring people into the RPG gamesphere. I think WotC has a lot of data indicating that having the flexibility for players to make the characters they want it more important to that mission. It is a game first and foremost, not a simulation of a perceived reality. We need to accept that we are the minority and move on. The game works just fine either way.

Now there are two things I also want to point out:

1. You can always ignore the background ASI and assign them to races yourself, or add them on top of the background ASI.
2. This change didn't actually change anything about the abilities of a race. In all versions of 5e any character could get any stat to 20. All races were functionally the same by their ability stats. (That is why I prefer ability limits instead of bonuses).

 

[Neonchameleon]

And that is within the same race. Now add different races with vastly different biologies. Imagine if gorillas were sentient. No matter how well a human trains, a equally well trained gorilla will be stronger. Thats what racial ASI represents. A human would not be equal to a sentient gorilla, even when both have the same athlete background.

Except that strength isn't just direct physical power. No matter how a human trains an orc or goliath will be stronger in that they will be able to lift more. This is already included. (Well, technically a Str 20 human can match a Str 10 orc). IMO small armour should be half-weight and small creatures able to lift half as much but that ships sailed.

The other half of that is that no matter how the gorilla trains a moderately trained human will be better at throwing rocks - another in the overarching category of things Strength covers. Meanwhile a good human climber is normally better than a good gorilla due to weight issues. These two factors are far more important to the game (and can gorillas even use spears?)

 

[HammerMan]

Having to use my Google account was seriously giving me pause...

Not that I am saying you are wrong but why? Isn’t google accounts like the easiest thing to make. Like make 1dndplaytestet@gmail.com or something.

 

[HammerMan]

That's precisely major component of why WotC designers have expressed regret at making it a later choice for some Classes: nobody actually waits till Level 3 to decide what kind of Rogue or Bard they want to be.

Yeah I think that we may see all subclasses at level 1 at least playtested