D&D 5E New D&D Next Packet Is Available

[Nemesis Destiny]

The game is filled with concepts that failed the first time they were attempted but were then fixed and now work fine.

I think your conclusion is flawed, and by no means objective truth.

If at first you don't succeed...

...fail and fail again seems to be the model they're going with.

 

[Animal]

The lone island of positivity in a sea of miserable whinging

Guess what, constructive criticism is actually the useful part of this thread. Unlike your ignorant, condescending and somewhat insulting remark.


And this remark is definitely insulting. Please don't do that again.

 

[Salamandyr]

The lone island of positivity in a sea of miserable whinging

I too am looking forward to playing this packet. Did you get through the rest? Did you find anything you didn't like?

Hmm, I just got done with a 15 minute whine to my wife about how I don't like the d20 system of task resolution. I feel like the wide variance of the d20 roll subconsciously goads DM's to push DC's higher and higher until successful play becomes nearly impossible. As it is, I think most DM's are going to be philosophically incapable of assigning less than a DC 15 to any task, so considering that an attribute I'm good at is only going to have a +3 bonus in, I'll have less than a 50% chance of success. With the variance of the skill die, I'm still looking at less than a 60% success rate on something my character is skilled and supposed to be a professional at. I think skills should be something you can rely on. But that's such a fundamental issue with the game that if it bothers me that much I might as well play another game. (I play B/X and all non combat task resolution I handle with a d6. Works great).

But aside from that fundamental problem with the whole system, the actual classes look like fun. The lack of material post level 10 doesn't bother me; I'm pretty sure those levels aren't finished and are only in the packet to make sure the math works. I really dig the druid, and I like the paladin. The ranger is a really pleasant surprise. I love the way the favored enemy mechanic works now. I haven't had a chance to review the spells, but that's small beer.

EDIT: I think one of the reasons the paladin alignment doesn't bother me is that I have a different conception of what the paladin is intended to represent than I believe most of the posters do.

 

[Bow_Seat]

I'm not the biggest fan of the fighter just having bonus feats to pick from the collective pool, but then again I don't have a problem with other classes not being able to do things that have been designated fighter-exclusive.

Edit: in response to the paladin alignments. I don't have a problem with it. It wouldn't kill them to throw in CG CN CE paladins, but I'm not chomping at the bit for them.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I'm actually really excited about this packet.

Are there problems? Sure. But races and classes generally are looking great (finally attention has been paid to races, with many real improvements), and this pack seems to me to be a real advance on previous ones.

Looking forward to my next session.

 

[Grimmjow]

i was really hoping to see a set of powers that the paladin can choice between, with guides on how to make the different archetypes.

I was thinking any good Paladin that followed the archetype would be a cavalier.
Evil would be Blackguard.
Between the two of them would be the warden archetype.

Going lawful and chaotic would be a lot of fun too. I can see the 4e avenger becoming the lawful style paladin build or the neutral (between law and chaos).

Also, weren't the alignments going to be optional? what then if my game doesn't use alignments? This is why i thought my above idea would work. It would give you a guide on how to make a lawful paladin (whether good, neutral or evil) but you wouldn't have to worry if you didnt use alignments because there were still going to be different paladin abililtes for you to take


Despite this i think its going to be fun. im glad to see what they did with races (i said from the moment they gave woodelves a dex bonus instead of wisdom i thought it was wrong) and am looking forward to giving the whole thing a try

 

[Bow_Seat]

I really don't think the Lawful restriction is going to be a big deal since nothing in the game so far actually uses alignment relations (or am I wrong about this?). So if you decided to make a Cavalier and just play a game without alignments it wont actually make any difference in terms of your gameplay. The only thing that I can think of is when looking at your abilities you would think "okay so I would have been LG therefore my damage for this ability is radiant"

 

[heptat]

Hmm, I just got done with a 15 minute whine to my wife about how I don't like the d20 system of task resolution. I feel like the wide variance of the d20 roll subconsciously goads DM's to push DC's higher and higher until successful play becomes nearly impossible.

I've never liked the d20 either...but I have learned to accept it when playing (whatever version of) D&D.

As it is, I think most DM's are going to be philosophically incapable of assigning less than a DC 15 to any task, so considering that an attribute I'm good at is only going to have a +3 bonus in, I'll have less than a 50% chance of success. With the variance of the skill die, I'm still looking at less than a 60% success rate on something my character is skilled and supposed to be a professional at. I think skills should be something you can rely on. But that's such a fundamental issue with the game that if it bothers me that much I might as well play another game. (I play B/X and all non combat task resolution I handle with a d6. Works great).

Interesting...how does your d6 system work? Sounds simple (very happy playing B/X, shows my age).

But aside from that fundamental problem with the whole system, the actual classes look like fun. The lack of material post level 10 doesn't bother me; I'm pretty sure those levels aren't finished and are only in the packet to make sure the math works. I really dig the druid, and I like the paladin. The ranger is a really pleasant surprise. I love the way the favored enemy mechanic works now. I haven't had a chance to review the spells, but that's small beer.

EDIT: I think one of the reasons the paladin alignment doesn't bother me is that I have a different conception of what the paladin is intended to represent than I believe most of the posters do.

Yeah, it all looks pretty fun to me, and that's my main criteria. If I run into anything I don't like during play I can easily hand-wave it away.

 

[Salamandyr]

I've never liked the d20 either...but I have learned to accept it when playing (whatever version of) D&D.

Interesting...how does your d6 system work? Sounds simple (very happy playing B/X, shows my age).

Pretty simple; Base chance of success for most things is 2 in 6. To that, I add a players stat bonus, if they have one (which tops out at 3), so odds of success can go up to 5 in 6. I may also throw in a situational bonus based on class or background, so in most cases they have from a 1 in 3 chance of success to a 2 in 3. Rule of drama means that they're gonna fail even at something they're really good at fairly often (about 16%) and one in a million, OMG, no chance in the world! still pulls off enough to make doing something crazy worthwhile (about 1 in 6, also 16%). I only roll if it's a fairly serious challenge, otherwise I just rule in the players favor. Rolling dice is for quick play, if the player is careful enough to actually describe the action, they succeed. Oh, and no mods on perception based rolls, that's just the 2 in 6.

For instance, if characters tell me they're going to search through a supply room, they get a roll to find the hidden treasure. But if one of them figures "hey, there ought to be a secret door" in the east wall, then he finds the secret door that's in the east wall, no roll. I want to encourage players to actively engage in the dungeon, and use their skills, not just the ones their characters.

I absolutely despise the 3e tendency to "elf" the room. "We rolled a 38 on our search check, what did we find?" and likewise, I don't want to penalize smart play "I check the chest for a secret compartment" by requiring a roll to find what the player just looked for.

Yeah, it all looks pretty fun to me, and that's my main criteria. If I run into anything I don't like during play I can easily hand-wave it away.

Yeah, me too. I can definitely see the core of a fun game in there.

 

[Campbell]

This is the first time I could see the ability to drift Next to a more scene based paradigm. I enjoyed seeing the cinematic hit point option (recover all if < bloodied,recover to bloodied < bloodied) coupled with swift cure spells. In general I applaud the swift spell and concentration mechanic. I really like the concentration mechanic - a lot. It's a nice limiter on spell casters dramatically shaping each individual encounter. I'm also a big fan of the fact that Paladins are supernatural from day one. Not so sure about rangers - digging favored enemy though.

<eats socks>

That being said there's still a lot that I want to see.

• I'd really like to see stronger attention paid to theme in monsters.
• In general I want more interesting monsters and advice on which monsters fit together.
• I want strong encounter building advice. I want inspirational healing.
• I kind of think the paladin is occupying too much conceptual space and it shows particularly in the blackguard who receives some fairly non-thematic abilities.
• I want to see some adventures that embrace a more mythic approach.
• I want some narrative rules options - placed on the same level as the exploration rules. It's really important to me that the mode of play I enjoy not be treated as 2nd class.
• I do not like every round trip. Still it's placed in an optional rules element.
• I am not a fan of the generic gods that don't really stand for anything.
• I want to see support given to the 4e implied setting.
• I need to see an indication that they have a commitment to strong graphic design.

I know. I want a lot. WotC is competing with 13th Age, Fate Core and Exalted 3e. Sorry for the long rambly post.