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

[overgeeked]

Cú Chulainn. Hercules. Sun Wukong.

Demigod. Demigod. God.

 

[Kurotowa]

Thinking of the future UAs, are there any big things that have been telegraphed about the classes? Or are all of those changes likely much smaller?

Nothing concrete. I'm predicting that martial classes will be getting "this is my special attack!" resources that are less random and explosive than the nerfed crits, but that's highly speculative. There's also the fact that Eldritch Blast isn't on the spell lists, which suggests they did the smart thing and folded it in as a proper Warlock class feature.

Beyond that is anybody's guess. Backwards compatibility says that classes will need to leave room for subclass features at the same level brackets as before, but most other things are up for grabs.

 

[Haplo781]

Demigod. Demigod. God.

D&D characters are exceptional, but fine. Cloud Strife. Cecil Harvey. Bartz Klauser.

 

[Cadence]

Cú Chulainn. Hercules. Sun Wukong.

I kind of liked the way Pathfinder 1e had the Mythic Adventures set of rules for those who wanted to play demi-gods. A blacksmith rising to the peak of human power seems like a very different story than a demi-god reaching towards full godhood, and it isn't clear to me that a single set of rules can do both well.

 

[Al2O3]

Slowed Condition implies movement is tracked in individual feat, rather than 5ft increments, not sure why they would decide to do that.

I suggest you check the 2014 PHB, page 182.

From Difficult terrain: "You move at half speed in difficult terrain--moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of speed"
From Climbing, swimming and crawling: "each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain".

Movement has been tracked in individual feet since 2014.

There is a variant rule in a sidebar on p 192 of the 2014 PHB. With those VARIANT rules, you do track speed in 5-foot segments. This is as standard as Variant Humans and equipment sizes.

 

[TwoSix]

Everyone else seems to talk up the "fun role-playing" aspect of floating ASIs and playing fast and loose with racial traits. I can't be the only one that sees the latest trend expand the opportunities for optimization. As an example, when Tasha's was released, I could make a dwarf wizard that has the highest starting Intelligence possible and comes with medium armor right out of the gate without having to sacrifice anything - something I could not do prior.

Yep. And that still doesn't make dwarf the best race for wizards. It just expands the list of races that are top-tier. It gives options.

I can't believe we're still arguing about removing ASIs after 2 years. It's kind of ridiculous at this point.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Wizards break reality with magic.

They break it with spells. Monks show you can incorporate magic without spells. Gimme an armored mythic warrior from the book of 9 swords.

Fighters should be incorporating magic into their training and techniques. Chugging dragon blood, using elemental oils to strengthen their skin. Them not using any magic, which is the fundamental tech of D&D world, is like a modern soldier not using tech.

"But muh low magic". D&D is not low magic as written. Casters break the laws of reality more often than they poop.

 

[dave2008]

Again, thats what the attribute array is for.

This is essentially an extension of the attribute array. Which I am fine with. I mean not everyone uses the array and it is nice to a bit customizing on top of that. I would also be fine if stat bonus went away in character creation and it was part of the array (the old elite array) or roll. Same difference really. Except, buy linking it to a background you are creating a story for why your character is exception. Which can be a good thing for some more than others, but I don't think it hurts but a very few.

But even an exceptional elf is still an elf which comes with biological facts which includes trance, darkvision and better dexterity among other things.

Except that dexterity, if it is still a thing at all, is not expressed by attribute scores. I'm OK with that. Hopefully allows them to give races something more interesting than a stat bonus, which is kinda boring.

In the end it comes down to 2 things.
1. People somehow thinking that different fictional races being different is somehow racist (see @Faolyn's post). Which strangely only seems to be a problem in fantasy, not in scifi. I haven't heard any complains about Vulcans.
2. People refusing to play anything not minmaxed with an 18 in the primary attribute which imo is not something you should cater to. Thats not role playing. No one is preventing them from playing an elf barbarian or orc wizard except their inability to play something not minmaxed.

IMO, the issue is balance. WotC, and most players it seems, want races to be balanced mechanically. If you let go it that notion you have no issue with a minotaur with max Str 20 and halfling with a max strength of 16. It doesn't have to min./max. types, many players just don't want to feel they are being left behind.

All in all it is not a lot to get upset about IMO and it makes sense for a big-tent game like D&D to cater to the broadest group of people. If you want racial bonuses, penalties, or limits then houserule them into your game. If your group balks at it, then maybe you shouldn't have them in the first place. FYI, my group accepts racial limits - it can work.

 

[Haplo781]

I kind of liked the way Pathfinder 1e had the Mythic Adventures set of rules for those who wanted to play demi-gods. A blacksmith rising to the peak of human power seems like a very different story than a demi-god reaching towards full godhood, and it isn't clear to me that a single set of rules can do both well.

The kinds of stories D&D emulates are more "blacksmith finds out he's a demigod" or "orphan boy pulls out the Sword in the Stone" than either of those.

 

[dave2008]

They break it with spells. Monks show you can incorporate magic without spells. Why are fighters so lame as to not incorporate the basic tool of their society into their training regimens? It would be like a modern soldier not using technology because they aren't an engineer.

I am not really familiar with the class, but isn't that the eldritch knight subclass?