D&D 5E (2024) How I would do 6E.

[Horwath]

There's the other issue

Casters have a lot of spell slots

Lots of spell slots

5E is really low on spell slots.
3.5e sorcerer can cast spells for whole day.

High success rate

it should be counted on.

Debilitating effects

again. damage vs effect.
Maybe effect should be shorter...
Complete hard crowdcontrol should probably avoided.
hinder yes, eliminate no.

Low encounters

trash encounter are boring.
if fight is not Deadly+ is it even worth making it?

Reliable casting

Action economy for better gameplay

No interruption

Ready action if you encounter casters.
have Counterspell ready

Thats a recipe for disaster

recipe is only with bunch of save-or-suck spells that editions are moving more and more away from them.

 

[Reynard]

everyone gets mana/stamina/ki/faith/whatever points in some amount per level.

with every ability learned, magical or martial or skilled, gets atleast increase in "mana" pool for one basic use of that ability.

IE: you have mana pool of 9, you learn fireball and gain +5 mana(current SP cost of fireball). For a total of 14 pts of mana.
every battlemaster maneuver might be only 1 mana. As would most metamagic options.

everyone can "burn" HDs/healing surges/HPs to gain additional mana.
"blood mages" can "burn" those at better rate.

Look, you invented Draw Steel!

 

[TwoSix]

We already kind of have a split when it comes to d&d. This would be attempt to recapture players that play older editions and put them under one edition. Basic is core, advanced is modularity that was promised in 5e and never delivered.

Splitting the lines is best compromise for a game that wants to capture widest possible audience and be one game that does it all, like D&D tries to do.

How I would do a 6e Basic (although many of these changes impact the 6e engine as a whole):

-Stats are as previous editions. Mods are stat-10, instead of (stat-10)/2. I'm agnostic on how stats are generated.

-There is only one kind of check in the game (an ability check). d20+mod >= Defense (either one of target's stats or environment value). No distinction between attacks, saves, ability checks (major pain point for novices.)

-Proficiency bonus gone. No skills, all checks are ability checks.

-Background, ancestry, class features can provide advantage to some ability checks.

-Advantage can stack, be removed. Encourage players to seek bonuses/avoid penalties without "sorry, rules say you can't have 2 advantages". 2 advantages + 1 disadvantage = 1 advantage.

-Classic and popular ancestries in the book, provide one active ability, and one or two passive abilities.

-No stat bonuses from ancestry or backgrounds or anything else. Causes optimizations problems unneeded for Basic.

-6 classes in Basic. Fighter, rogue, barbarian, mage (blaster), healer (defense and buffs), and psychic (illusion/mind magic/trickery). New class names for magic classes so previous players don't bring in legacy concepts and expectations. The familiar casters are in the Advanced book.

-Classes have limited options. Casters gain magic powers as class features, not as selectable spell list. No subclasses. No feats. Some levels have selectable features depending on class (generally between 2-4 options.) ASIs are every even level, giving +1 to main stat and +1 to another stat.

-All classes are short rest classes. 2 short rests per day, recharged on long rest. Short rest returns class resources and half HP.

-Long rest (end of day) recharges short rests and all HP.

 

[Horwath]

How I would do a 6e Basic (although many of these changes impact the 6e engine as a whole):

-Stats are as previous editions. Mods are stat-10, instead of (stat-10)/2. I'm agnostic on how stats are generated.

-There is only one kind of check in the game (an ability check). d20+mod >= Defense (either one of target's stats or environment value). No distinction between attacks, saves, ability checks (major pain point for novices.)

-Proficiency bonus gone. No skills, all checks are ability checks.

-Background, ancestry, class features can provide advantage to some ability checks.

-Advantage can stack, be removed. Encourage players to seek bonuses/avoid penalties without "sorry, rules say you can't have 2 advantages". 2 advantages + 1 disadvantage = 1 advantage.

-Classic and popular ancestries in the book, provide one active ability, and one or two passive abilities.

-No stat bonuses from ancestry or backgrounds or anything else. Causes optimizations problems unneeded for Basic.

-6 classes in Basic. Fighter, rogue, barbarian, mage (blaster), healer (defense and buffs), and psychic (illusion/mind magic/trickery). New class names for magic classes so previous players don't bring in legacy concepts and expectations. The familiar casters are in the Advanced book.

-Classes have limited options. Casters gain magic powers as class features, not as selectable spell list. No subclasses. No feats. Some levels have selectable features depending on class (generally between 2-4 options.) ASIs are every even level, giving +1 to main stat and +1 to another stat.

-All classes are short rest classes. 2 short rests per day, recharged on long rest. Short rest returns class resources and half HP.

-Long rest (end of day) recharges short rests and all HP.

better that you first do a complex 6E, with all possible gears that you can turn to make your character.

then for basic version, you just pick the most simple options that you balanced out with all the others and give that as a pregenerated character.

at the end of the day, classes are just a collections of feats that someone else picked and not you.

 

[Aldarc]

I don’t want them to start by redesigning the mechanics; I want them to start by examining, consolidating, and revising tropes. Have the game engine and rules transmit a coherent picture of what the game is supposed to be like. Then make the mechanics flexible enough for 3rd parties and homebrewers to tweak as needed.

Pretty much this. I would reexamine and revise the classes in terms of their archetypes and playstyles. IMHO, there is a lot of legacy baggage to class design and available classes that doesn't necessarily serve the broader design interests.

 

[TwoSix]

better that you first do a complex 6E, with all possible gears that you can turn to make your character.

then for basic version, you just pick the most simple options that you balanced out with all the others and give that as a pregenerated character.

at the end of the day, classes are just a collections of feats that someone else picked and not you.

I see them being developed in parallel (if this was the approach). You keep a simple resolution core, resolve some of the novice pain points from 5e, and then use the advanced line to add in more complex modules that are generally class specific.

 

[GrimCo]

This means not actually having a "Basic" line that is genuinely separate from the "Advanced" line. I was taking @GrimCo seriously when they said they want to separate D&D into two lines again.

I am serious when i said i would split them into 2 separate lines. Maybe not lines per se. More like basic as core, then advanced as add on modules that increase player options and overall game complexity.

My reasoning for that is simple. In current edition, i can make very simple fighter. Champion, take only ASI, that's it. Very few active abilities, most are just passives. But there is no simple caster. Way back when, one of my favourite classes was 3.5 Warlock. Simple caster, no spells. Eldricht blast as offensive magic, few at will invocations, few defensive passives. That's it. And that kind of caster is sorely missing.

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

If 6E is going to have ASIs, I think they should be a separate thing from feats.
Have feats focus on mostly non-number things.

I would also go a very different art direction with 6E. I do not yet know what I would like. But I do know that some of the recent Forgotten Realms books that showed up at the local game store have covers that I don't like.

I also think that 6E should launch with its own setting. I liked that 4E had Points of Light. I love the old stuff, but I think that a 6E should come out of the gate with something fresh. That would allow the new edition to have a clean slate without being attached to legacy baggage. Later, in year 2, maybe you release gazetteers or boxed sets for the old settings, but the 6E core books should be written around a setting that's new for 6E.

 

[Minigiant]

I am serious when i said i would split them into 2 separate lines. Maybe not lines per se. More like basic as core, then advanced as add on modules that increase player options and overall game complexity.

My reasoning for that is simple. In current edition, i can make very simple fighter. Champion, take only ASI, that's it. Very few active abilities, most are just passives. But there is no simple caster. Way back when, one of my favourite classes was 3.5 Warlock. Simple caster, no spells. Eldricht blast as offensive magic, few at will invocations, few defensive passives. That's it. And that kind of caster is sorely missing.

Basic:

Arcanist
Champion
Thief
Healer

Advanced:
Artificer
Barbarian
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer
Warlock
Wizard

Master:
Beastmaster
Gish
Pioneer
Rune Priest
Warlord

 

[MoonSong]

Maintain in what way? Basic is basic for a reason. Sure, maybe add class or two down the line, but point of that whole line is that classes are simple, elegant, streamlined. Think of basic as a skeleton. That "line" is for part of players that wants fast, easy, streamlined, more old school vibe ("you don't need mechanics for everything" crowd).

The largest obstacle to this is the Wizard. It is an inherently complex class.