D&D General Mike Mearls sits down with Ben from Questing Beast

[Yaarel]

They’re on page 55.

For others, the 2024 DMs Guide, page 55:
"Creating a unique background or customizing an existing one from the Players Handbook can reflect the particular theme of your campaign or elements of your world. You can also create a background to help a player craft the story they have in mind for their character."

5.5 intends for players to customize their background, but wants the DM to be able to use this design space to help contextualize the player characters within the details of the immersive world.

This approach encourages the DM to even create a new background feat for a truly custom character concept. While the DM becomes necessary, there is actually more customization possible in 5.5 than there was in 5.0.

 

[Maxperson]

Worlds without number?

Games without frontiers? Wars without tears?

 

[TiQuinn]

Heh. I just hope it is clear how versatile this pizza is.

Not versatile enough if what I want is steak.

 

[Yaarel]

Not versatile enough if what I want is steak.

Heh. But no, that tofu on the pizza, you cant tell the difference!

 

[Zardnaar]

Why no subclasses?

Well it's hypothetical but basically they create complexity.

Imagine you are the poor bastard that has to write them.

You can clone B/X for example in around 100 pages.
2024 1000 pages?

It's not really a judgement call over what someone likes but if you're adding feats, kits, powers, subclasses it's more work.

My homebrew version 3.2 or so is 8 classes iirc to level 5, races use 5E ones, feats maybe 50 odd, 2 or 3 talent trees per class (locked ones are basically archetypes ). My bestiary is a few monsters mostly low level ones.

 

[GothmogIV]

I don't generally watch long videos like this, but I found the interview to be interesting, and Mearls's critique of Hasboro/WotC to be spot-on. I haven't played the new version of D&D (5.5?) and I don't intend to. It is funny that coming back into the hobby after a long time, then embracing 5e has led my group and I back to more OSR games. We done made a circle, ma!

 

[Piperken]

Okay, give me five or six basic classes. Give them first level class abilities and a spell progression for those classes that have spells. Remove subclasses entirely. Remove feats entirely. Remove most abilities gained by leveling leaving a few that occur every four levels or so. Remove ASIs. Remove attunement slots. Characters primarily grow and gain abilties through adventuring and finding magic items.

I’m sure you can do it in 5e. I’d rather do it in 2e, and leave all the things I mentioned in 5e.

This sounds like GLOG.

 

[dave2008]

I don't generally watch long videos like this, but I found the interview to be interesting, and Mearls's critique of Hasboro/WotC to be spot-on. I haven't played the new version of D&D (5.5?) and I don't intend to. It is funny that coming back into the hobby after a long time, then embracing 5e has led my group and I back to more OSR games. We done made a circle, ma!

Do any OSR games have monster creation guidelines? There weren't really in 1e or 2e and I wondered if OSR games followed. I ask because I just realized that my assumption that they don't has kept me away from getting into those games. Making monsters it one of my favorite D&D things to do!

 

[MerricB]

Do any OSR games have monster creation guidelines? There weren't really in 1e or 2e and I wondered if OSR games followed. I ask because I just realized that my assumption that they don't has kept me away from getting into those games. Making monsters it one of my favorite D&D things to do!

Your classic D&D games (OD&D, AD&D, B/X, etc.) have tremendously simple monsters but they also have a "simple" system to work out the threat level of them - what in 3E and later got termed "Challenge Rating" or "Challenge".

So, in OD&D and AD&D you were meant to only get full XP when fighting monsters of a similar challenge. The basic system was 1 HD balanced 1 player level, with special abilities adding on extra hit dice.

But the other side of it was that classic D&D tied almost everything to hit dice. No ability scores or anything like that. If you wanted to build a "broken" monster, you did it with special abilities or massive damage. There are a lot more moving parts in 3E+, and thus the need for better systems to calculate the monster's threat level became necessary.

 

[Piperken]

Okay, give me five or six basic classes. Give them first level class abilities and a spell progression for those classes that have spells. Remove subclasses entirely. Remove feats entirely. Remove most abilities gained by leveling leaving a few that occur every four levels or so. Remove ASIs. Remove attunement slots. Characters primarily grow and gain abilties through adventuring and finding magic items.

I’m sure you can do it in 5e. I’d rather do it in 2e, and leave all the things I mentioned in 5e.

It struck me just now you may find Idle Cartulary's Advanced Fantasy Dungeons (you can find it at their itch) of interest; well-considered decisions on 2E.