D&D (2024) My wishes for 6e: less dark vision and spellcasting classes

[DND_Reborn]

1) dark vision. The poor races that do not currently have it are at a disadvantage compared to the majority that have it. And in a dungeon, it's common for the party to have to light a torch for the human PC only, while the other 3 would be fine without it.

When finished I hope you will check out our 5E MOD. Most races have lost darkvision and it makes the game much more interesting.

In our last session, the party was losing to goblins and had to flee. Two members went ahead, but lacked darkvision (one was a gnome) so their speed was half and the goblins harassed them easily. Fortunately for the gnome, his sanctuary spell kept him safe enough, but the human was killed by the goblins. The half-orc (who picked up their light) also managed to escape, joining the gnome (so he could see!).

BUT part of this is also nerfing light and other cantrips which allows "always on" light sources. So, produce flame, light, and dancing light as now 1st level spells. Continual flame remains the only "always on" light source, but they don't have it yet.

2) magic in the form of spells. All classes currently have access to magic in the form of spells. I would like the spells to be distinctive of rare classes that might use it. I imagine for example the classes of ranger, fighter, rogue and barbarians without magic; and even the paladin could easily be differently designed. Then monsters too could have some powers, but fewer spells.

Yep. This too. In fact, we've removed Sorcerer (folding metamagic into Wizards), made Bards and Warlocks into half-casters, and Paladins and Rangers are being retooled as 1/3-casters akin to Eldritch Knight (they will in fact become subclasses of Fighter in the process).

This is a big part of the flipped script I commented on in another thread. Getting it so there is a better balance with fewer strong casters, more like prior editions.

As a side note, I prefer less powerful spells in general and making even full-casters take longer to get them, so the spell progressions have all been updated. I will add, however, our XP table is also faster after level 5, so if you had enough XP to be 15th level RAW you would be 20th on our table. This will hopefully encourage players to reach higher levels, as the accepted information that many games die out around level 10--with our table you would be level 13.

 

[Vaalingrade]

But that design space will pull us towards "disassociated mechanics" and no one wants that!!!

Well I do, but I like good game design, something d=D&D abhors.

 

[Joshy]

When finished I hope you will check out our 5E MOD.

Where can I find your 5e MOD?

Playtest wise, how have your changes rangers and paladins turned out?

I'm working on a homebrew right now to reduce the classes to nine. Three each of non casters, half casters, and full casters. Giving martials more customization and things to do in battle.
I was hoping to look at others overhaul and get an idea if my effort would be worth it or the direction I should take.


And not to derail the conversation.

I have been playing the game with a low light vision alternative for a while now. Very few races have darkvision and the ones that do usually have a small distance or are special deep races that how some form of light sensitivity. Things like dwarves having innate 10ft darkvision, but 60ft lowlight vision unless they have the deep subrace.


Now when it comes to magic, I'm fine with the way spells are but I do tend to give monsters creative abilities. Like 3.5 supernatural abilities so they have some differences. If I want magic to be rarer I either limit what classes can be chosen or limit the allowed caster level.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Where can I find your 5e MOD?

PM me and I'll send you the homebrew share links... it is a constant WIP though.

 

[Yaarel]

I feel many races, especially elves, can swap darkvision for a cantrip.

 

[Yaarel]

Brightvision (human): see color in bright light, black-and-white in dim, and blind in darkness.

Darkvision: see black-and-white in darkness, color in dim, and blind in bright light.

 

[Joshy]

Low-light vision: You have superior vision in dim conditions. You can see in dim light within X feet of you as if it were bright light
(No more perception disadvantage from lightly obscured environment because of light levels.)

 

[DND_Reborn]

Low-light vision: You have superior vision in dim conditions. You can see in dim light within X feet of you as if it were bright light
(No more perception disadvantage from lightly obscured environment because of light levels.)

This is what our Mod calls "Shadowsight". Helps in dim light, useless in darkness.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I personally vastly preferred the World Axis, and I was already quite familiar with the Great Wheel--and how unbearably crufty and overstuffed it is.

Like, honest to goodness, has the difference between Gehenna, Hades, and Carceri ever really mattered for your games? Have you ever actually used the para-elemental or quasi-elemental planes?

See, I actually hated the fact that the World Axis was specifically designed to cater to adventuring. It felt very gamey to me, while the Great Wheel felt like something wizened sages who only kinda know what they're talking about would come up with, based on the information they had.

But my opinion on these things is well known.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's also possible that someone isn't the best spokesman for whatever that argument might have been.

The trouble with "fun," is that different people have fun in different ways; if this wasn't both true and banal, then we would all have the exact same hobbies and preferences. Which, last I checked, wasn't the case.

So, for example, some people prefer things that provide immediate feedback and gratification; others prefer things that have more delayed gratification - and neither is "right."

To use an example I'm familiar with, I've run groups that had no "mapping" at all, and I've also run groups that absolutely had someone mapping- because that person found mapping to be fun. They loved mapping, and recording treasure, and that made them feel more of a part of the game. Different people, different preferences.

(I think that this is also one of the reasons that 5e generates so much ... conversation. It's because people are playing it in very different fashions, so there tends to be disputes at the high level of granularity over issues that are really about approaches to the game, and are instead masquerading as rules questions.)

While all of that is true, it's also true that the game has a preferred approach, built into the rules and assumptions, and that approach is not what everyone wants.