D&D 5E Have You Started Planning How You Will End 5e Yet?

[doctorbadwolf]

If they rewrite everything's eg races, classes etc it's a .5 edition at least.

.1 at most, if it’s all just a revision that all fits together the same as before, and again, is still fully compatible with existing supplements.

 

[payn]

But can you see from my angle - how it may get confusing having two very similar versions of the game being played at the same table?
Do you get a 1st level feat? The 2024 PHB that John has says he gets one; Sally who made her character with the 2014 copy came without one.
Does rolling a Natural 20 automatically succeed and give you an Inspiration? John got one, but now I have to remind Sally that she gets one.
John's character has a more meaningful background than Sally does, and his dwarf has tremorsense.
As a DM, am I using the monsters from the 2024 Monster Manual? Does that upset the balance of the encounters in Out of the Abyss?
A player has read the Bastion rules and builds their character concept around that goal. Do I have the rest of the players borrow that copy of the PHB to have the same engagement with the campaign?
Do I pick and choose which weapons have special features? Do I say "we're going to use the 2014 version of Hold Person and the 2024 version of Charm Monster - so you'll have to keep both books handy."
Does the similarity of 2014 and 2024 rules iterations cause a DM to conflate the two versions and become confused?
What about organized play and pick-up games with strangers? Will each table need to have a sheet of house rules to say which variations apply?
But yes, at my tables when 3.5 came out, 3.0 was tossed out. When Pathfinder was released, 3.5 was abandoned. This wasn't just my observations - my contacts in the publishing industry told me this happened to their products. They stopped selling when the books didn't have the +.5 added to 3rd edition.

As the game moves more digital, this wont be a worry anymore.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I also think making people evaluate whether it's worth sinking tons of money into a new version of D&D after they sunk tons of money into the last version that is very similar may be a losing proposition.

A "ton" of money? LOL.

I calculated back when OneD&D was first announced that if any person thought that money might be an issue for them when getting the new books in 2024... they could start saving right there and then. And it would be merely $7 per month they would need to hang onto in order to have enough to buy all three when the got released two years later. One less trip to Starbucks a month and they would be able to buy the new books if they really wanted them.

If no one's doing that and the person is going to just completely forget about it until the middle of 2024 when the books get released... and then start complaining about WotC making them needing to spend all this "tons" of money to get the books... I for one will have zero sympathy for them. If that person knew that a lump sum in the summer of '24 was going to potentially be an issue and they really wanted to get the new books when they arrived... if they didn't actually start saving for them, that's on them. At some point personal fiscal responsibility has to come into play.

 

[jasper]

Well I started changing my buying habits. No more buying the PHB or any of the books when they under $20. I would buy and gift those books out.

 

[Retreater]

As the game moves more digital, this wont be a worry anymore.

Yes. But also it might be a challenge to access the 2014 variants in a game that's running the 2024 version. Roll20's implementation (allowing the Tasha's species options alongside the core, for example) does give me hope though.

 

[Scribe]

Did everyone get this worried when Monsters of the Multiverse came out? Because it updated two earlier books and everything was fine. 5e kept going.

It anecdotely sold far worse, because it was 'just reprinting what I have'. There are multiple people on here that I would have assumed due to what the reprint was doing (removing a ton of lore those individuals have expressed disdain for) they would have snapped it up.

They had not.

Now, I dont think this is a direct parallel to what 5.5 or whatever will have in its core 3 books, but yeah, MotM did feel the effects in its sales.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I

It anecdotely sold far worse, because it was 'just reprinting what I have'. There are multiple people on here that I would have assumed due to what the reprint was doing (removing a ton of lore those individuals have expressed disdain for) they would have snapped it up.

They had not.

Now, I dont think this is a direct parallel to what 5.5 or whatever will have in its core 3 books, but yeah, MotM did feel the effects in its sales.

Bought the book only in DnDb3yond, because all those options are more valuable in the character builder than as actual book. Especially, since it is a book with only statblocks.

 

[Maxperson]

Are you planning for the end of 5e yet?

I thought I would have a rogue comet impact the greater Seattle area.

The serious answer is that I don't plan endings as it is fully dependent on how much the group and I like what comes next. We played 3.5 all the way through 4e and into 2019 before 5e had enough product for us to make the switch. 3 years later we still debate whether the next campaign is going back to 3e or sticking with 5e.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So for what it is worth, currently I am 80% happy with the rules changes. (A bit sad about the goliath, but I can still play the MotM goliath without any problem.).

That’s the key thing for me. The MoTM Goliath is still there, still official, and still works great.

 

[Clint_L]

It anecdotely sold far worse, because it was 'just reprinting what I have'. There are multiple people on here that I would have assumed due to what the reprint was doing (removing a ton of lore those individuals have expressed disdain for) they would have snapped it up.

They had not.

Now, I dont think this is a direct parallel to what 5.5 or whatever will have in its core 3 books, but yeah, MotM did feel the effects in its sales.

I wasn't discussing sales (and what does "it anecdotally sold far worse" even mean? That you assume it sold far worse? That's not even an argument). I was discussing integration. It integrated fine. Seamlessly. There are some creatures where I prefer the old versions (because the spell lists), so I use them, but mostly I use the new ones. There is no problem. There was no problem when Tasha's came out. I just told my players that they could use all of the optional class rules if they wanted. And I integrated some of the patron stuff - I liked it.

Almost every sourcebook has added stuff. The game is already quite different than in 2014. The new PHB will add more stuff and make some minor changes, but I don't see anything in the preview material that makes it not 5e. It is clearly still the 5e chassis. It's all stuff like "you get a basic feat at Level 1," spiritual hammer now uses concentration, "races" are now "species."

It's interesting that we are getting posts that the game will be totally different and you need to figure out how to "end" your 5e campaign for it (you don't), and others complaining that barely anything is changing and they were hoping for a new edition. As far as I can see, WotC seems to be working on delivering what they promised: 5e with some updates. You know, like they've been doing all along.