D&D (2024) New Jeremy Crawford Interviews

[Parmandur]

For me, I'm not seeing it as some sisyphean challenge.

But...why would WotC do that, when they could just solve the unintended Nova issue entirely by making Divine Smite a Spell following Spell rules...?

 

[mellored]

That's just spellcasting with extra steps.

Different steps. Rather than the same thing every other class does.

A major complaint about 4e was that every class had the same AEDU mechanics.

5e, half the classes use the same spell mechanics.

 

[Oofta]

To be fair, many paladin players ignore the spells the paladin has.

They don't have to go away. There are plenty of other ways to cast spells without slots.

Use Channel Divinity to Compel Duel.
Aura of Truth gives anyone disadvantage on deception checks.
Once per short rest you can cast bless.
Find Steed at the end of every long rest.
Misty Step cost 1 point to cast.

Or, I don't know. Fix the one minor part of the paladin that could use a bit of potential nerf and not reinvent the wheel.

 

[Oofta]

Different steps. Rather than the same thing every other class does.

A major complaint about 4e was that every class had the same AEDU mechanics.

5e, half the classes use the same spell mechanics.

Having a common mechanic of spell slots is not at all the equivalent of AEDU. It's like saying every class should have different equivalents to AC, HP and saving throws. You could do that because it would indeed make them work differently but there's no need to do so. Just like there's no need to rewrite 90% of the paladin's supernatural abilities just to implement something different.

 

[Argyle King]

So you would just ignore the spells the paladin has? Because being able to cast things like Bless. Compelled Duel and Zone of Truth were a big part of being a paladin, not to mention some of the subclass spells like Misty Step. Take those away and for me it's no longer a paladin, it's an armored monk.

The one thing you want to "fix" - smite - is just a tiny, tiny fraction of what a paladin can do with spells.

Ignore? No.

There are options for still doing those things (which I briefly discussed previously).

At no point have I said that I would take any of that away. Others have said that. I didn't.

 

[Oofta]

Ignore? No.

There are options for still doing those things (which I briefly discussed previously).

At no point have I said that I would take any of that away. Others have said that. I didn't.

Of course there are other options. Options which are adding an unnecessary level of complexity, limitations and really messes up multi classing.

 

[Argyle King]

But...why would WotC fo thst, when they coykd just solve the unintended Nova issue entirely by making Fivine Dmite a Soell following Spell rules...?

They "solved" the problem by completely changing how it works -and that's apparently acceptable.

However, any suggestion that there may have been other ways to approach the issue = "holy moly, the entire game is breaking!" Wtf?

•complete overhaul of race/species - fine
•complete overhaul of backgrounds - fine
•redesigning and rebalancing feats - fine

"Hey, maybe there are ways to have the 5e paladin continue to do the things people liked about it without needing to use more spell slots."

"No way, man! You're breaking the game. Do you have any idea how hard using something other than spell slots would be?"

Probably about as hard as the multiples other options within 5e that already accomplish that.

 

[Argyle King]

Of course there are other options. Options which are adding an unnecessary level of complexity, limitations and really messes up multi classing.

Not any more complex than what is already done within the context of 5e. Also, multiclassing isn't in any way messed up.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Having a common mechanic of spell slots is not at all the equivalent of AEDU. It's like saying every class should have different equivalents to AC, HP and saving throws. You could do that because it would indeed make them work differently but there's no need to do so. Just like there's no need to rewrite 90% of the paladin's supernatural abilities just to implement something different.

I disagree. I can definitely see the ubiquity of the spell system in WotC 5e being analogous to 4e's AEDU, if to a lesser degree, because of how pervasive it is.

 

[mellored]

Or, I don't know. Fix the one minor part of the paladin that could use a bit of potential nerf and not reinvent the wheel.

To keep backwards compatible, yea. That's the best solution.

Having a common mechanic of spell slots is not at all the equivalent of AEDU.

AEDU is a common spell slot mechanic. Fireball, smites, wall of stone, cure wounds, where all AEDU and they are all spells.

I don't know how many times I heard people say "everyone is a caster" about 4e.

Half the classes being casters makes it better. But that's still a limited variety.

It's like saying every class should have different equivalents to AC, HP and saving throws. You could do that because it would indeed make them work differently but there's no need to do so.

Unifying the mechanics between players and monsters is different than unifying mechanics inside every class.