D&D 5E How Many "New" Things Will Be in Next?

[The Shadow]

On the one hand, this is the edition to unify editions. It will be highly modular, with lots of options. It will try to make everybody happy. This tends to militate against new mechanics.

On the other hand, if there's nothing new - if it's just a cool way to play the games we already like - why buy it? There has to be something sexy about it to convince people to plunk down the cash. Plus, of course, we've just plain learned things over the years.

We've heard that the game will try to support play *in the style* of old editions more than bring back actual rules from them. We won't see OD&D racial classes, for example.

Finally, the very modularity of the game itself creates space for new mechanics - though in moderation in the core books, I'd think.

We already know some of the new things that are being mooted. Ability scores, for example, are going to be more prominent than they have perhaps ever been. Skills are (by default) going to be ability tweaks.

Themes are something relatively new that seem to be well-received by bunches of people.

To what extent do you think D&DNext will come across as a new game, though still (hopefully) in the spirit of D&D?

My own hopes here are that the core game will be very simple yet very robust - not overburdened by masses of detail and complication. Something that feels like D&D but runs more smoothly than it has ever run before. I'll probably want to add on a module or two for character customization, but in distinct moderation.

I'm also wondering how big a following the "vanilla" core game will achieve? Hard to say at this point. It isn't even clear yet whether skills are core or not.

 

[Griego]

I don't think there's going to be much new stuff in there. Just the best of all editions to date, which if they pull it off, will be more than enough to prompt me to buy. Why? Because you get a nice, professionally edited (and playtested) set of books with everything you need. No rifling through notebooks or documents on the hard drive (now, where did I put that doc on unarmed combat, again?).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I hope not too much. Really. There's enough goodness in all he prior iterations that I think the challenge for 5E is figuring out how to mix and match the best features and options from what has gone before.

They need to get the basics right before going all "new & shiny" on us.

 

[Consonant Dude]

Pure speculation and not necessarily things *I* want in the next edition but here goes:

-Rituals will be reworked. Personally, I think this stuff belongs in the DMG to remain mysterious and tailored to the campaign.

-We know some classes are gonna get a drastic makeover. In some cases this could need new mechanics and perhaps entirely unique spell lists.

-15-minute adventuring day: I'm not a fan of 4th edition but I can understand where the designers were coming from. I do suspect they will inject brand new mechanics that compromise a little between "old school" resource management and "new school" swift style of play.


Things I am hoping for but don't expect:

NEW Iconic stuff with staying power: Vorpal swords, Drow elves, Eye of Vecna, etc... it's all nice but I do feel there has been a lack of iconic stuff since 1st edition. I would love to see classes that don't just sit "in between" iconic classes but become iconic themselves. I would like flavorful spells and magic items. New weird monsters like the owlbear become mainstays. New spells patterned after a wizard name. I'm not saying the new edition should be crammed with that but we need new ones if DnD is to grow.

Aspects and tweaked fate points: I think DnD with its random chargen and heroic fantasy is a perfect fit for such mechanics. I think it would solve many problems I have with the system elegantly.

Flavorful and fun crits: never completely satisfied with crits in DnD.

5-minute chargen: Cause that's how I like it for PCs, NPCs and monsters alike.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

They should have new stuff, because how are they going to sell more stuff once we reach year 2 or 3 and beyond?

Some of them are going to of course have "it's X for this edition" and there's going to be refinements of concepts from earlier editions, but in a lot of cases of course there will be new stuff.

 

[Incenjucar]

More wizards and warlocks.

So many wizards.

In all seriousness, they have so much old ground to tread still it'll be a matter of pet projects from people up top. I have no doubt that Monte or Mearls will have some particular new thing that they want to include that will get pushed through at some point - Monte especially is known for being an idea factory.

But mostly new wizards.

 

[Tallifer]

I think (and hope) that there will be nothing new at first.

Their first and most difficult order of business is to create a game which any group can agree to play together: a simple core which allows disparate play styles and characters at the same time.

Yesterday afternoon my new group played Pathfinder. There were two Old Schoolers, one Fourther, one Pathfinder, one Thirder and one experimenter in obscure systems. We inevitably albeit briefly speculated about the Fifth Edition, and we all agreed that it would be fantastic if the Fifth Edition allowed each of us to play something similar to a character from our favourite edition together at the same table. Certainly only the Pathfinder actually understood all the details and mechanics of his character (we have been playing this campaign for about six sessions).

All of us are extremely happy with our edition of choice, but we all want to play together. Right now it is hard to get new games started even though there are ostensibly seventeen members in our gaming group, because people prefer to play in their edition. Imagine a unified edition which bypasses that stumbling block!

However, I do think that if such a modular and elegant system can be created, then it will be extremely easy to add modules of entirely new content and optional rules in the second year and later. We discussed last night how a proper Ravenloft campaign would require certain major adjustments.

 

[marleykat]

I hope not too much. Really. There's enough goodness in all he prior iterations that I think the challenge for 5E is figuring out how to mix and match the best features and options from what has gone before.

They need to get the basics right before going all "new & shiny" on us.

This. The design goal should be, wait for it
...KISS. Options can be added ad nuaseum if the core is simple and solid. For some that means a module for tactics for me it's magic. I think this can done and will be if not, why move off your current system?

 

[Kaodi]

There should only be one new thing: a better game.