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<blockquote data-quote="John Quixote" data-source="post: 5635976" data-attributes="member: 694">This is true enough.&nbsp; When 5th edition does finally roll out, you know that WotC is going to treat it like the return of &quot;Coca-Cola Classic,&quot; deposing the heinous imposture of 4th edition's &quot;Coke II.&quot;&nbsp; And it doesn't matter whether the mechanics of 5th edition look anything like older editions, or whether they're something completely new: this is simply how the marketing machine is going to portray it.&nbsp; That will be their narrative: &quot;4th edition pleased lots of gamers, but it drove lots of gamers away too.&nbsp; Now, with 5th edition, everyone can come back into the fold and be one big happy family again.&quot;And whatever 5th edition does wind up looking like, we can probably make a few safe predictions already.&nbsp; It will keep the good bits of 4th edition: its combat rules will be based on solid math, and casters won't go back to being a &quot;win button.&quot;&nbsp; We can hope (although it's not by any means definite yet) for Mearls' model of a simple core with modular add-ons: that would be awesome.&nbsp; And the core he describes sounds a great deal like B/X D&amp;D crossed with C&amp;C's SIEGE engine, which is a great foundation upon which one could overlay various modular skill systems, feats/powers, gridded combat, mass-combat, king-making, social combat, etc.&nbsp; It really could work.(Side note: if 5th edition does come along and take this modular structure, I'm hoping that &quot;feats as perks&quot; get done away with and folded into &quot;powers.&quot;&nbsp; It's always been such a misnomer, hasn't it?&nbsp; A &quot;feat&quot; is a deed, an action, something that happens when you *do* it.&nbsp; It's a good name for martial powers, much better than &quot;exploits&quot; anyway, but it's a bad name for a game mechanic that gives you a passive bonus.&nbsp; My ideal 5th edition would see simple fighter and rogue classes that have a few class features but don't use powers; and likewise simple mage and cleric classes that use a sleek spell system, something like Green Ronin's Dragon Age.&nbsp; One could then build a powers system around martial feats/exploits and magical spells/prayers, the former of which get simply overlaid onto fighters and rogues, and the latter of which are somewhat more powerful and therefore replace the core spell system for mages and clerics.&nbsp; Wouldn't that be badass?)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="John Quixote, post: 5635976, member: 694"] This is true enough. When 5th edition does finally roll out, you know that WotC is going to treat it like the return of "Coca-Cola Classic," deposing the heinous imposture of 4th edition's "Coke II." And it doesn't matter whether the mechanics of 5th edition look anything like older editions, or whether they're something completely new: this is simply how the marketing machine is going to portray it. That will be their narrative: "4th edition pleased lots of gamers, but it drove lots of gamers away too. Now, with 5th edition, everyone can come back into the fold and be one big happy family again." And whatever 5th edition does wind up looking like, we can probably make a few safe predictions already. It will keep the good bits of 4th edition: its combat rules will be based on solid math, and casters won't go back to being a "win button." We can hope (although it's not by any means definite yet) for Mearls' model of a simple core with modular add-ons: that would be awesome. And the core he describes sounds a great deal like B/X D&D crossed with C&C's SIEGE engine, which is a great foundation upon which one could overlay various modular skill systems, feats/powers, gridded combat, mass-combat, king-making, social combat, etc. It really could work. (Side note: if 5th edition does come along and take this modular structure, I'm hoping that "feats as perks" get done away with and folded into "powers." It's always been such a misnomer, hasn't it? A "feat" is a deed, an action, something that happens when you *do* it. It's a good name for martial powers, much better than "exploits" anyway, but it's a bad name for a game mechanic that gives you a passive bonus. My ideal 5th edition would see simple fighter and rogue classes that have a few class features but don't use powers; and likewise simple mage and cleric classes that use a sleek spell system, something like Green Ronin's Dragon Age. One could then build a powers system around martial feats/exploits and magical spells/prayers, the former of which get simply overlaid onto fighters and rogues, and the latter of which are somewhat more powerful and therefore replace the core spell system for mages and clerics. Wouldn't that be badass?) [/QUOTE]

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