Level Up (A5E) How does 5.5e/6e impact Level Up?

[King Brad]

This is far from extensive and is likely a bit outdated, but maybe this will make it seem a little less overwhelming for weary players. It's open to comments so feel free to leave one for any glaring issues.

Basic 5e to Level Up Conversion Table

docs.google.com

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't think there's any actual reason to think the 2024 new core books will be anything but 5E as we know it while incorporating new stuff from the past few years and enhancing aspects of play that surveys suggest need enhancing. Expect a lot of surveys in the next year or so. In all the discussions I've seen and heard, there's no indication of any market-based reason for WOTC to move away from the incredible and continuing success of 5E.

I really wish you are right, but I am skeptic. Also, I don't trust surveys, meaning that I don't think people who answer surveys are the best people to listen to when designing a RPG. I remember vividly that the public opinion in the 3e era was strongly in favor of more prestige classes all the time, only for the same public opinion to later regret and switch to treating prestige classes as the main reason to hate 3e in retrospective.

But mainly I am skeptic about how much WotC will resist making changes for the sake of change, especially subtle changes that look like minor twists but can have unintended consequences.

All of this while possibly ignoring what could be serious practical improvements to the books that, because they are not rules-related, they are not exciting to the fanbase: a new layout (that would bring together related but currently scattered content such as rules for stealth), a usable no-nonsense index, spell lists with one-line summaries...

If they focused on non-rules improvements and at most some additions (whether new or re-used from supplements) then LevelUp has nothing to fear.

But if they start tweaking rules, it's another matter, although if they go too far I would not underestimate the risk that LevelUp poses to 5.5 instead.

 

[homunculus23]

If 5.5E is compatible with 5E (as they've said it will be), and Level Up is compatible with 5E, then there's no reason to think 5.5E won't be compatible with Level Up. In fact, it has to be by definition.

And it looks like 5.5E is doing some similar stuff to Level Up when it comes to monsters and the like, so I think they'll complement each other well.

But until we see 5.5E, there's no way to tell! Maybe 5.5E will be based on Level Up! It's 3 years away, so our focus is fully on our launch next week! We'll worry about 5.5E in 3 years.

It's going to be 6e. A brand new game do the "woke" community complaining too much online about D&D. So the rules need to change to reflect the compliance - "We heard you and changing things". They said 5e was backward compatible, and there are about 6 pages to make it so in bring those characters into 5e. Same way.

 

[Umbran]

It's going to be 6e. A brand new game do the "woke" community complaining too much online about D&D.

Mod Note:
I would reccommend you never use the term "woke" to dismiss anyone's position on this site. With that come warning points and red text and removal from the thread.

 

[Timespike]

I really wish you are right, but I am skeptic. Also, I don't trust surveys, meaning that I don't think people who answer surveys are the best people to listen to when designing a RPG. I remember vividly that the public opinion in the 3e era was strongly in favor of more prestige classes all the time, only for the same public opinion to later regret and switch to treating prestige classes as the main reason to hate 3e in retrospective.

But mainly I am skeptic about how much WotC will resist making changes for the sake of change, especially subtle changes that look like minor twists but can have unintended consequences.

All of this while possibly ignoring what could be serious practical improvements to the books that, because they are not rules-related, they are not exciting to the fanbase: a new layout (that would bring together related but currently scattered content such as rules for stealth), a usable no-nonsense index, spell lists with one-line summaries...

If they focused on non-rules improvements and at most some additions (whether new or re-used from supplements) then LevelUp has nothing to fear.

But if they start tweaking rules, it's another matter, although if they go too far I would not underestimate the risk that LevelUp poses to 5.5 instead.

You bring up one of the other reasons I'm happy about Level Up when you talk about organization here, albeit in kind of an indirect fashion.

Over the years I've been playing and running O5e, I have been acquiring various third-party supplements to get the game to do more stuff. For example, I have Strongholds and Followers for "you're important people in the world" rules, I have two different crafting books to cover making magic items, I have a Kobold Press PDF that gives weapons additional properties to differentiate them more than the O5e baseline allows, I have Ancestry and Culture to broaden the character creation options, and so on.

Using all of that stuff has definitely made my games richer and more interesting, but it's also a lot of stuff to juggle at the table. Having all of those bases covered in a rule set that integrates them from the design phase up is going to be a godsend. Not only will it be less flipping back and forth, but I won't have to worry about how resources from multiple companies interact with each other.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

As Morrus says, it's options, and generally limited ones at most, like when you reach a new level and have to pick between two or three options. Most importantly, it's not math. Except for adding the result of an expertise die to the d20 roll and counting exertion points, that is.

Probably the "crunchiest" bit are the maneuvers, since they're brand new. But if you're OK with picking spells, you likely won't have any problem picking maneuvers. Plus, there's no "maneuver trees" where you have to pick a particular 1st degree maneuver in order to get a 2nd degree maneuver like with the old feat trees. You can pick whichever one you like and switch out ones you don't when you... level up. If you don't play spellcasters because you don't like going through all the spells and counting spell slots (I know someone like that) then yeah, that might be a problem.

More options is more crunch. I don’t personally need more options

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

It's not really crunch -- it's just choices. There's nothing in there any more complicated than core 5E, and plenty of streamlining.

More choices is more crunch to me. I don’t need it.

 

[Morrus]

More choices is more crunch to me. I don’t need it.

OK.

 

[Steampunkette]

More choices is more crunch to me. I don’t need it.

As a benefit: You can ignore it.

Because Level Up is 5e compatible you can just roll up your normal 5e character and add "Supply" to your character sheet instead of rations and water. Everyone else can use their Level Up characters and monsters and you can still enjoy the game you like!

 

[VanguardHero]

More choices is more crunch to me. I don’t need it.

Honestly sounds to me like 5e isn't the game for you either. 5e is still a crunch based system, shallow though it may be. I'd definitely suggest looking into narrative based games that might be more in line with your preferred gaming experience.