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

[Maxperson]

Where have you seen it introduced as 5.5e?

Semantics. A "new evolution," "next iteration" and "1 D&D" are the same thing whether they announce it as 5.5e or not. It amounts to a new half edition change like 3.5 was.

 

[MarkB]

Semantics. A "new evolution," "next iteration" and "1 D&D" are the same thing whether they announce it as 5.5e or not. It amounts to a new half edition change like 3.5 was.

Aren't you playing with semantics in trying to declare a rules revision as being distinct from power creep?

 

[Chaosmancer]

So that's not the issue. The issue is the claim of backwards compatibility. If I have to "fix" the issue by making the 2014 rules into the new rules, that's not backwards compatibility. The "fix" is obvious and easy.

That simply reads like not understanding what Backwards Compatibility is.

3.5 is backwards compatible with 3.0

4E is not backwards compatible with 3.X

5E is not backwards compatible with 4E

 

[Maxperson]

Aren't you playing with semantics in trying to declare a rules revision as being distinct from power creep?

It's apples and oranges. Power creep comes in books written for the edition(3e, 3.5, 4e, etc.). A rules revision is a re-writing of an edition that is major enough to warrant a new half edition(3.5, 5.5) or name change(1 D&D). Books written for the new rules will have power creep or not.

 

[Maxperson]

That simply reads like not understanding what Backwards Compatibility is.

3.5 is backwards compatible with 3.0

Seriously? You think that my 3.0 wizard with his 1 hour per level enhancement spells and other overpowered durations and effects can run around with your 3.5 wizard and his much more limited spells and have them both be on par with one another? I forget the other major changes, but they were serious and there's no way to mix and match the two rules sets without drastically altering things, which means it's not backwards compatible at all.

Calling 3e and 3.5 backwards compatible is like saying that square wheels are backwards compatible with cars, because if you try hard enough, the car will move with square wheels.

 

[Stalker0]

On the notion of "racial ability scores", I don't mind that those are removed from the race, as long as the racial mechanics still reinforce the sterotype.

Looking at Dwaves, they have poison resistance and gain an extra hp per level. Yep they are tough....checkbox.

Now elves do have the sharp eyes...but their elven agility is gone. Mechanically there is no reason elves are known as the "lithe, graceful race". Now we can flavor it to simply say (elves more often than not have their highest stat in dexterity). And for some people that is fine. For others that want the mechanics and the flavor to mesh....this could be a problem.

 

[Stalker0]

Seriously? You think that my 3.0 wizard with his 1 hour per level enhancement spells and other overpowered durations and effects can run around with your 3.5 wizard and his much more limited spells and have them both be on par with one another? I forget the other major changes, but they were serious and there's no way to mix and match the two rules sets without drastically altering things, which means it's not backwards compatible at all.

Calling 3e and 3.5 backwards compatible is like saying that square wheels are backwards compatible with cars, because if you try hard enough, the car will move with square wheels.

I had a friend that would take old 3.0 adventurers and convert them to 3.5. Yeah it was no cakewalk, it took work. I would not consider them backwards compatible.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Seriously? You think that my 3.0 wizard with his 1 hour per level enhancement spells and other overpowered durations and effects can run around with your 3.5 wizard and his much more limited spells and have them both be on par with one another? I forget the other major changes, but they were serious and there's no way to mix and match the two rules sets without drastically altering things, which means it's not backwards compatible at all.

Calling 3e and 3.5 backwards compatible is like saying that square wheels are backwards compatible with cars, because if you try hard enough, the car will move with square wheels.

To be honest, compatibility means that they can still be played within the newer rules. If we learn for example that the new wizard can only cast 1 spell per day (because they heard about the users complaining about martials being underpowered compared to wizards [they seem to listen to strange feedback]), both can play in the same adventures, yet the 2014 wizard will be far more powerful and there will be no reason not to play a 2014 wizard and you'll be able to keep doing so. On the other hand, the removal of critical for add-on damage like sneak attack, if it's compensated by a feature of the 2024 Rogue, then the 2014 Rogue will be shafted and you won't be able to play it effectively. I'd call the crit rule change a non-backward-compatible change.

Now elves do have the sharp eyes...but their elven agility is gone. Mechanically there is no reason elves are known as the "lithe, graceful race". Now we can flavor it to simply say (elves more often than not have their highest stat in dexterity). And for some people that is fine. For others that want the mechanics and the flavor to mesh....this could be a problem.

They took the easy way out by saying that the racial ability aren't really racial, they are specific to PCs from that races. NPCs can have other, or no, racial ability. So the elves are seen as the lithe, graceful races because most of them (=the NPCs) are dexterous (12 DEX instead of 10 DEX for humans NPCs) and, say, can reroll Dex saves thanks to their natural agility, but you PC can't (he got the ability to get advantage on Charmed saving throws, which other, less adventurous elves, don't get). They didn't think through the implication (why are most elf heroes an oaf among their peers?) but I think they tried to address this specific point.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Seriously? You think that my 3.0 wizard with his 1 hour per level enhancement spells and other overpowered durations and effects can run around with your 3.5 wizard and his much more limited spells and have them both be on par with one another? I forget the other major changes, but they were serious and there's no way to mix and match the two rules sets without drastically altering things, which means it's not backwards compatible at all.

Calling 3e and 3.5 backwards compatible is like saying that square wheels are backwards compatible with cars, because if you try hard enough, the car will move with square wheels.

Counter point. How would you convert a 3.5 wizard to 4E?

You literally can't. None of the rules work the same, none of the math works the same. Compare that (a true edition change) to "this version has more powerful spells" which is just a matter of changing which spells you are using. "Oh, this spell doesn't have 1 hour per level anymore, it is 1 minute per level" is a far easier change than figuring out if something should be an encounter or daily power and at what level it should exist.

Again, you seem to equate "I have to do work" to "It isn't possible". Those aren't the same level of changes.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I swear, it will be the 100th anniversary edition and we will STILL be debating the change to racial ASI's from mid-2020.