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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9433845" data-attributes="member: 20323">[USER=54840]@SlyFlourish[/USER]I was able to thread together my first clear connection that WotC/Hasbro's push toward digitalization IS indeed influencing the design of the 2024 TTRPG. At least this is the clearest connection I've heard about.First, a strong caveat: This could turn out to be false, if the Unearthed Arcana version of Produce Flame did not make it into the 2024 PHB. So I'll need to rely on someone else to check that (I don't have early access nor will I be getting the book). Ok...This is thanks to 2 sources:First, July 26, 2024 in the thread <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/wotc-removes-digital-content-team-credits-from-d-d-beyond.705711/" target="_blank">WotC Removes Digital Content Team Credits From D&D Beyond</a>, ENWorld reported on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/faithelilley/posts/pfbid02JaKvJYFmfbvbqfU5QH2HQFdbwGshdqBQ5xbhPPgorqBdvMYTQ4L9vERDwpubkqfBl?__cft__[0]=AZWUHO6M7doPZwb1RJfD8mVhr4uuARFNKuvwap1vmfpl3nsnWOWCg72PE-48KPml4JlhH0eFYpHzdQ4hN9tj-lQKwCo8xkYrSxJAQS-0K3cdYrg8A16J8mvXz7ms8CPHhe4sMqv4zzYnSLCRUjOPR45jlX5zlYZ-hD2lvtUK-Gz-rO96Tnc8MTew4rFAAav-Cegw06woXf-983wRXjAJiXZy&[B]tn[/B]=%2CO%2CP-R" target="_blank">Faith Elisabeth Lilley</a>, Senior Producer on WotC's digital content team, who said: "The lead designers would send over the rules for each new rulebook and we'd go through it, give feedback, highlight potential balance issues, look at new rules/design that was difficult to implement digitally and suggest tweaks to improve it etc etc. We even had ideas for new content that was then included in the book."At the time, most of us took that in stride and assumed she was talking mainly about adapting the game system within a video game, sort of like how Larian made certain adaptations. However...Second, Aug 9, 2024 in a video entitled <a href="https://youtu.be/ZvNBp1aJL2A?t=3199" target="_blank">D&D 5.5e (2024) disregards DMs, martial/caster divide; WOTC job posting for making AI DMs at the 55:29 mark</a>, Ronald The Rules Lawyer refers to a clip of Jeremy Crawford discussing 2024 changes to the Produce Flame cantrip that were inspired by BG3... Jeremy Crawford says: "We've also made it so that some spells that were really painful to cast in terms of their action economy are far less painful. I think one of the prime examples of that is Produce Flame... That cantrip was really painful to set up. Once you got it going, it was fun to hurl the fire. Now it's way easier to cast it. And that is funnily enough another one where it was not only painful to cast in the tabletop game, but when I was playing BG3 it was actually excruciating to cast..."Ronald points out that <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2217-produce-flame" target="_blank">2014 Produce Flame</a> can be hurled offensively as part of the action used to cast the spell – so there's no action economy issue, it's a dual use thing. Jeremy Crawford is actually referring to something unique to BG3 where the user interface pop-ups every time you cast Produce Flame – do you want to cast it as a light? or do you want to hurl it?I think this is exclusively a digitalization issue. There's no issue with 2014 Produce Flame for the TTRPG.The solution – at least in the <a href="https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/bastions-cantrips/BRF3GSu0nTfNu8p4/UA2023-BastionsCantrips.pdf" target="_blank">"Bastions and Cantrips" Unearthed Arcana (Oct 5, 2023)</a> – was to make casting Produce Flame (as a light source) a Bonus Action, and then you need to use the Magic Action to hurl it offensively. So now in the 2024 TTRPG, a player needs to use both their Action and their Bonus Action to hurl Produce Flame on the first round. And it creates some weirdness in corner cases where a player might want to hurl flame offensively and extinguish their light source in the process.It's relatively minor, but it does make Produce Flame worse as an attack cantrip in the TTRPG in order to make its user interface easier to implement in video games / digital game environments. So, the new version being proposed is actually the opposite of what Jeremy Crawford is saying – it's more painful on the action economy in the TTRPG, not less.[ATTACH=full]376447[/ATTACH][MEDIA=youtube]ZvNBp1aJL2A:3333[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

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