D&D (2024) Mike Mearls “…it’s now obvious how to live without Bonus Actions”' And 6th Edition When Players Ask

With all due respect to Mike Mearls, he is wrong. The action economy in 5th Edition is beautifully designed, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

 

[dagger]

Mike Mearls, following up on his comments on how he would change initiative, is talking more about how he would change bonus actions in D&D 5E. He says that "Bonus actions are fairly hacky, and with 3+ years running the final game under my belt it's now obvious how to live without them." In the same conversation, he also brings up the concept of a new edition, implying that 5E is not necessarily an evergreen edition and that WotC will produce a 6th Edition "when players and DMs ask for it". This is the second time he's recently seeded ideas of core rule changes out there, so something's in the air!

"I love Star Frontiers, but my I have to admit that if I did this it would be like 40% to do a 5e-driven game w/o bonus actions. Bonus actions are fairly hacky, and with 3+ years running the final game under my belt it's now obvious how to live without them.

You just need to glue the appropriate actions together - for instance, Two-Weapon Fighting is just a special attack action. Instead of there being an Attack action, you'd have Attack as a category with new class-exclusive options added to it. Cleaner design.

With all that said, nothing that requires a new edition. We'll do that when players and DMs ask for it. No where near that now."

​

 

[pukunui]

I don't have a problem with bonus actions either.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Bonus actions in 5E ARE hacky and too decoupled from the fictional world. There's a lot of places in 5E where you get to do something "as a bonus action" but no consideration is given to what you are actually DOING. Bardic Inspiration is a poster child for this kind of ugliness. If bonus actions didn't exist, presumably the bard would have some kind of ability like "When you cast a spell through song, you can weave your words in such a way that [the ally gets bardic inspiration]." That would make it clear that (1) yes, Bardic Inspiration is compatible with spells that have verbal components; (2) you can't inspire others while gagged (even though you can cast spells while gagged, e.g. Hypnotic Pattern, because it has no Verbal components); (3) it would make it clear you can't inspire others with song while you are busy drinking a potion (Action: drink a potion) because your mouth is busy. The ability could be written in such a way as to be compatible or not compatible with other actions like hiding, attacking, or extra object manipulation as desired. The designer would be encouraged to consider in advance what the ability is really doing from a fictional perspective instead of just lazily slapping gamist "bonus action" jargon on the ability and ignoring the fiction, leaving it all for the DM to fix during gameplay.

Also, bonus actions have weird interactions with other rules like Readying actions: technically, you cannot ready Bardic Inspiration or a Misty Step, although it isn't at all clear from a fictional perspective why that should be the case.

I agree with Mearls that bonus actions in 5E are poorly designed. I might not agree with him on a given proposed solution, but he's right about the problem. They encourage lazy and poor design.

 

[Thurmas]

I'd have to see a UA on it to get a better feel for it, but I think so many things benefit from bonus actions. Specifically, actions that certain classes turn into bonus actions, such as the Rogue and Dash, or spells that allow you to do continuing effects or cast as bonus actions, like Bigby's Hand or Smites. I agree that some things don't work as well, such as the Two Weapon Fighting example, but overall, I like the concept of having the ability to do mini-actions during a turn that shouldn't take a full action. I would prefer to keep them, but just clean them up.

 

[darjr]

I'm just fine with 5th.

 

[darjr]

Star frontiers 5e would be cool! Bonus actions and all.

 

[TheSwartz]

Seriously. we're already talking about another edition? uugghhhh....

 

[vpuigdoller]

I would live Star Frontiers 5e!

 

[Valetudo]

These things he says makes me hope mearls isnt around for 6th edition. I like bonus actions, can they see some improvements? Sure, but mearls definately wants adifferent game than I do at this point.