Zardnaar
Legend
Bit to swingy.
I would make them have a higher crit range instead and the rapier wouldn't be the only 18-20 crit weapon.
Champion could crit on 15+ using the right weapon.
D&D (2024) Perfect edition update (kinda + thread)
Bit to swingy.
I would make them have a higher crit range instead and the rapier wouldn't be the only 18-20 crit weapon.
Champion could crit on 15+ using the right weapon.
Get rid of bonus actions. Either make those actions that are labelled "bonus" more impressive and consider them regular actions, fold them into existing actions, or consider them free actions.
Have spell level actually line up with caster level. The tradition has always confused new players (having 2nd level spells come to a 3rd level caster, 3rd level spells at 5th level, etc.). Spread out the spells like fireball is 5th level and lightning bolt is 6th level (or whatever). [I believe 4e and a few other d20-adjacent games did it this way.]
Create a penalty for dropping to 0 hp and dying then popping up the next round. [Maybe like the PF2e Wounded condition.]
Scale back the number of classes, but increase subclasses - then allow characters who qualify to take those subclasses (similar to prestige classes in previous editions). For example - a ranger, druid, barbarian, or fighter could take "wild hunter." A warlock, wizard, sorcerer, druid, or cleric could take "elementalist."
Mystify the monsters. Give them cool special abilities and built-in unique resistances (where appropriate). Few should be stock "vanilla" creatures.
In fact, use a labeling system similar to 4e: Brute, Soldier, Artillery, etc. And give us meaningful solo monsters. And minions!
Magic item economy
Guidance for creation of Skill Challenges
A "Basic" game [granted, without a lot of these features] covering maybe levels 1-5. Character creation, iconic monsters, etc., with enough flexibility to run multiple campaigns if someone desires.
Have spell level actually line up with caster level. The tradition has always confused new players (having 2nd level spells come to a 3rd level caster, 3rd level spells at 5th level, etc.). Spread out the spells like fireball is 5th level and lightning bolt is 6th level (or whatever). [I believe 4e and a few other d20-adjacent games did it this way.]
Create a penalty for dropping to 0 hp and dying then popping up the next round. [Maybe like the PF2e Wounded condition.]
Scale back the number of classes, but increase subclasses - then allow characters who qualify to take those subclasses (similar to prestige classes in previous editions). For example - a ranger, druid, barbarian, or fighter could take "wild hunter." A warlock, wizard, sorcerer, druid, or cleric could take "elementalist."
Mystify the monsters. Give them cool special abilities and built-in unique resistances (where appropriate). Few should be stock "vanilla" creatures.
In fact, use a labeling system similar to 4e: Brute, Soldier, Artillery, etc. And give us meaningful solo monsters. And minions!
Magic item economy
Guidance for creation of Skill Challenges
A "Basic" game [granted, without a lot of these features] covering maybe levels 1-5. Character creation, iconic monsters, etc., with enough flexibility to run multiple campaigns if someone desires.
GMforPowergamers
Legend
oh yes this would also allow for 1st 2nd and 3rd 4th level spells to break up what is now 1st/2nd
yes spell out what each monster is meant for
yup...
W'rkncacnter
Hero
so, in other words...what if i woke up one day and the whole dev team agreed with me
? hm. well...- ASIs and feats separated and connected to character level instead of class level (probably ASIs at the levels they're at now, and feats at 1st level and every level wherein your prof bonus increases) - and also no more half feats. if you design a feat such that you think you need to put in a +1 ASI in order to make it compete with other feats, you're doing it wrong and you're starting again.
- bonus feats/ASIs can be tied to class level, though. i could see fighter having a few bonus feats and monk having a few bonus ASIs, for instance.
- subclasses as class feats instead. i don't care for the rigidity of subclasses, honestly.
- weapons and armor that actually at least kind of subscribe to reality. like come on, we're still on studded leather? really?
- also just more interesting weapons. i want a finesse two-hander, dammit.
- also, armor as die reduction instead of dodge bonus? i'd definitely look into that at least.
- some sort of bonus to two-handed melee weapon damage that isn't just an increased die. i've personally been thinking of adding your strength again (minimum +1) to damage rolls made with a melee weapon you're two-handing to my own games (not half, because the die still exists and i think the math is just cleaner then adding half your strength or multiplying the total weapon damage result by 1.5).
- some sort of wounds/vitality system, even as just an optional rule
- a finished crafting and travel system. level up does these well enough, even if i don't really like the idea of gathering incredibly specific components you can only get by specifically going adventuring for them to make magic items when at that point i really think the reward for the quest should just be that magic item, but it's better then the basically nothing normal 5e has.
- artificer as a base class, readjusted to take into account the fact that there's an actually proper crafting system now. probably also a support martial instead of a support caster. i feel like a crafting class should be centered around making you good at crafting and at using the things you craft, not at simulating crafting and casting, and i like the idea of a support martial that isn't just bossing people around (though bossing people around is still fun).
- 10 minute short rests so that they actually have a purpose
- better critfishing support, because haha natural 17 crit go brrrr
- more interesting things for martials to do. level up as an example again, maneuvers are cool.
- here's where things get real spicy - spellcasting like WOIN or similar systems where you essentially build and buy spells. maybe go a step further and have each caster interact with them differently - for example, cleric/druid/paladin/ranger get a list of pre-built spells they can prepare each day, sorcerers/warlocks can put together spells on the fly, (artificers, if they stay casters/)bards/wizards build their daily spells as part of their daily preparations. don't need that second part (honestly my example probably wasn't great since half the casters just don't build spells at all with it), but i just really like the idea of putting together spells i'm almost certain nobody else has (and then finding out a month later that, like, half the planet already knows). also, this would essentially replace metamagic.
- classes that get a third extra attack, and fighters getting their last extra attack at level 17 instead of 20. it just annoys me that the former doesn't exist and the latter is how it is atm
- up to 30th level. this has a big asterisk on it in that i'd be 100% ok with it being in a supplement instead of the core book, and actually think it might be more appropriate to do so. i just wanna throw a +19 attack modifier before magic items and buffs around at an overgod, ok?
- half proficiency to nonproficient saves to help avoid late game scenarios where you just straight up can't save against something. converting saves to defenses ala 4e could be cool but isn't necessary.
- probably the biggest one: BALANCE THE SAVES. INTELLIGENCE SAVES AGAINST 4 SPELLS IN THE PHB. FOUR. WHY DOES IT WORK LIKE THIS.
edit: also, tags to denote what are mundane, magical, supernatural, and spell(-like) abilities to help with traits like magical resistance.
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Grantypants
Explorer
In short, I want to see the things in 5e that rarely come up and mostly don't matter be made either much more mechanically important or reduced entirely to fluff. Honestly, I'm not too bothered about which way those things go, whether they're beefed up or thrown out.
For example: Alignment. You could cut what's left of it from the game entirely without missing much. OR. You could beef it up. Instead of being aligned with "Good" or "Chaos", characters are aligned with various factions in the world, a lot like 13th Age's icons. DMs can
Or Spell Components. Irrelevant unless the PCs have their hands bound or are in a zone of Silence, etc. The PHB even says to handwave buying material components when shopping. Either take the limitation out or expand it. I like the Pathfinder route of making spells more effective if you can use more effort/actions/types of components. You might also add a lot more game rules that interact differently with spells depending on what components were used to cast them.
Same goes for weapon types, damage types, ability scores (as opposed to ability score bonuses), hit dice.
Plus bring back healing surges, the bloodied condition (and everything that responded to that), and minions/mooks.
For example: Alignment. You could cut what's left of it from the game entirely without missing much. OR. You could beef it up. Instead of being aligned with "Good" or "Chaos", characters are aligned with various factions in the world, a lot like 13th Age's icons. DMs can
Or Spell Components. Irrelevant unless the PCs have their hands bound or are in a zone of Silence, etc. The PHB even says to handwave buying material components when shopping. Either take the limitation out or expand it. I like the Pathfinder route of making spells more effective if you can use more effort/actions/types of components. You might also add a lot more game rules that interact differently with spells depending on what components were used to cast them.
Same goes for weapon types, damage types, ability scores (as opposed to ability score bonuses), hit dice.
Plus bring back healing surges, the bloodied condition (and everything that responded to that), and minions/mooks.
UngeheuerLich
Legend
Tiny balancing/rewording for multiclasses. (Absolutely don't do away with it, it is what makes character building really fun for me!)
Keep the feats/ASI balance, but maybe balance a little here and there.
Keep bounded accuracy but improve the range to +3 to +9. Basically times 1.5.
I am not sure how to implement expertise and half proficiency yet.
Balance some spells and incorporate tasha's guide options for classes.
Include artificer and update races.
Reorganize the DMG
Rebalance short and long rests by aiming for a much more realistic standard adventuring day and present other healing options right in the PHB.
Keep the feats/ASI balance, but maybe balance a little here and there.
Keep bounded accuracy but improve the range to +3 to +9. Basically times 1.5.
I am not sure how to implement expertise and half proficiency yet.
Balance some spells and incorporate tasha's guide options for classes.
Include artificer and update races.
Reorganize the DMG
Rebalance short and long rests by aiming for a much more realistic standard adventuring day and present other healing options right in the PHB.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
My perfect (more or less) update to 5e came out last year. It's called Level Up. I've spent most of my game time since then converting material.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Okay, my truly perfect "50th Anniversary PHB" would be one that's just Tasha's style fixes rolled in with nothing removed so it's 100% fully compatible with everything I already bought. But putting that aside...
Okay, this is one description of a 50th Aniversary D&D I would enjoy. It's not the only one. And I'm specifically try to keep it feeling like D&D. If I don't describe something, default to a 5e-like position. E.g. if I don't mention bounded accuracy, then it's still the same.
1. Different multiclassing. I quite like the 3.0 style multiclassing we have now, but it's a bit of a trap for new players where you can shoot yourself in the foot, and requires one thing I've grown from liking to strongly disliking - planning out a character. So I'd like to return to AD&D style multiclassing where you picked your classes at the beginning, and were a bit of each even at 1st level.
2. Playing off that, we don't need so many variations of half-caster, half whatever. Have patron warrior class. Run it by itself and it's a cool class. Multiclass it with cleric and it's closer to 5e paladin. Multiclass it with warlock and it's a hexblade/blade pact. Fewer overall classes because we have a nice way to meld them.
3. That also means we don't need to worry about cherry picking and can give real features at 1st level.
3b. An offshoot of that, have official rules for starting at a higher level, with some knobs the DM can twist to match their style (high magic, gritty, etc.)
4. Since we're already looking at having classes that mutliclass nicely with others, have some classes that serve several thematics with common mechanics. Have a pet class which could be a big beast for a ranger or druid, or a special mount, or a steel defender, or a dragonling, or a necromantic skeleton, or whatever. These classes would be recommended to multiclass with other classes and not take as a single class.
5. Races/Heritage are big in terms of total power. It will make a large impact on your character, including at higher levels. Leaving design space for things like a tiny flying pixie, a large sized centaur or minotaur, a flying race, and other options where there's enough you are giving up not taking other races that it is balanced by those opportunity costs.
5b. Including more feats for future growth down heritage routes.
6. Remove boring math adjustment magic items. So no Plus X magic items, just ones that DO things. Keep magic items out of the character advancement math.
7. Remove boring math adjustments elsewhere. Don't have a fighting style that gives +2 to hit in archery, have one that does interesting and active things with archery.
8. Make fighting styles (two weapon, weapon and shield, weapon and free hand, two handed weapon, throw weapon, and ranged attacks) each have something that they are best at. Preferably in a rock-paper-scissor way.
9. Rebalance the classes so that they don't have different rates of resource attrition and differening lengths of adventuring days affect them very different. This could be moving to more AED (leaving off the U for now) from 4e, or other methods. And if length of adventuring day stays a big deal, give baked-in knobs for the DM to twist to match their style.
10. Embrace upcasting - make every spell do this, and stay on target so that the spell you got at 1st could still be a signature spell casting at 5th level and it's not underpowered. And if we are still doing 5e style spell slots (which we might not, with #9), have that the number of slots very slowly increases, but the level of the slot increases. So a 2nd level pure caster might have four 1st level slots, and a 5th level pure caster might have only six slots but they are two each of 1st, 2nd and 3rd level. And at 10th level the same caster have eight total, two each of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level slots (and no 1st!) - remembering that those lower level spells known are scaling properly, not slowly, by level.
11. Allow/require some spells to be learned with options. Like "Elemental Ball" might be a 2nd level spell, and you must choose an element when you learn it. Fire might do the most damage in the radius, while Thunderball would do good damage and toss people away and prone. (And, since we're scaling, upcasting Fireball to 3rd level would do 8d6 fire damage, save for half.)
12. Have a lot more out-of-combat abilities, and if there are choices don't make they the same currency as combat abilities. For instance, don't grant a feat and have the feat be for combat or non-combat. Instead at times grant a combat feat and other times grant an out-of-combat feat.
13. Keep background and make it more important, and add in culture much like background which carries things that in 5e are embedded in race.
14. Move things away from spells. This may happen as part of 9, but things like Hunter's Mark shouldn't be a spell. Actually, Invocations like a warlock probably fit better for a ranger in the first place. Which should be an option for classes. So you have a hedge witch as a druid/invocation, or a warlock with a (warlock caster)/invocation, a ranger as a scout/invocation, etc.
EDIT: There are threads about hiring an editor. Guess I reached that length. Fixed a bunch of word problems.
This is just off the top of my head, not sure it hands together. And it's one vision among many.
Okay, this is one description of a 50th Aniversary D&D I would enjoy. It's not the only one. And I'm specifically try to keep it feeling like D&D. If I don't describe something, default to a 5e-like position. E.g. if I don't mention bounded accuracy, then it's still the same.
1. Different multiclassing. I quite like the 3.0 style multiclassing we have now, but it's a bit of a trap for new players where you can shoot yourself in the foot, and requires one thing I've grown from liking to strongly disliking - planning out a character. So I'd like to return to AD&D style multiclassing where you picked your classes at the beginning, and were a bit of each even at 1st level.
2. Playing off that, we don't need so many variations of half-caster, half whatever. Have patron warrior class. Run it by itself and it's a cool class. Multiclass it with cleric and it's closer to 5e paladin. Multiclass it with warlock and it's a hexblade/blade pact. Fewer overall classes because we have a nice way to meld them.
3. That also means we don't need to worry about cherry picking and can give real features at 1st level.
3b. An offshoot of that, have official rules for starting at a higher level, with some knobs the DM can twist to match their style (high magic, gritty, etc.)
4. Since we're already looking at having classes that mutliclass nicely with others, have some classes that serve several thematics with common mechanics. Have a pet class which could be a big beast for a ranger or druid, or a special mount, or a steel defender, or a dragonling, or a necromantic skeleton, or whatever. These classes would be recommended to multiclass with other classes and not take as a single class.
5. Races/Heritage are big in terms of total power. It will make a large impact on your character, including at higher levels. Leaving design space for things like a tiny flying pixie, a large sized centaur or minotaur, a flying race, and other options where there's enough you are giving up not taking other races that it is balanced by those opportunity costs.
5b. Including more feats for future growth down heritage routes.
6. Remove boring math adjustment magic items. So no Plus X magic items, just ones that DO things. Keep magic items out of the character advancement math.
7. Remove boring math adjustments elsewhere. Don't have a fighting style that gives +2 to hit in archery, have one that does interesting and active things with archery.
8. Make fighting styles (two weapon, weapon and shield, weapon and free hand, two handed weapon, throw weapon, and ranged attacks) each have something that they are best at. Preferably in a rock-paper-scissor way.
9. Rebalance the classes so that they don't have different rates of resource attrition and differening lengths of adventuring days affect them very different. This could be moving to more AED (leaving off the U for now) from 4e, or other methods. And if length of adventuring day stays a big deal, give baked-in knobs for the DM to twist to match their style.
10. Embrace upcasting - make every spell do this, and stay on target so that the spell you got at 1st could still be a signature spell casting at 5th level and it's not underpowered. And if we are still doing 5e style spell slots (which we might not, with #9), have that the number of slots very slowly increases, but the level of the slot increases. So a 2nd level pure caster might have four 1st level slots, and a 5th level pure caster might have only six slots but they are two each of 1st, 2nd and 3rd level. And at 10th level the same caster have eight total, two each of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level slots (and no 1st!) - remembering that those lower level spells known are scaling properly, not slowly, by level.
11. Allow/require some spells to be learned with options. Like "Elemental Ball" might be a 2nd level spell, and you must choose an element when you learn it. Fire might do the most damage in the radius, while Thunderball would do good damage and toss people away and prone. (And, since we're scaling, upcasting Fireball to 3rd level would do 8d6 fire damage, save for half.)
12. Have a lot more out-of-combat abilities, and if there are choices don't make they the same currency as combat abilities. For instance, don't grant a feat and have the feat be for combat or non-combat. Instead at times grant a combat feat and other times grant an out-of-combat feat.
13. Keep background and make it more important, and add in culture much like background which carries things that in 5e are embedded in race.
14. Move things away from spells. This may happen as part of 9, but things like Hunter's Mark shouldn't be a spell. Actually, Invocations like a warlock probably fit better for a ranger in the first place. Which should be an option for classes. So you have a hedge witch as a druid/invocation, or a warlock with a (warlock caster)/invocation, a ranger as a scout/invocation, etc.
EDIT: There are threads about hiring an editor. Guess I reached that length. Fixed a bunch of word problems.
This is just off the top of my head, not sure it hands together. And it's one vision among many.
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ART!
Deluxe Unhuman
I'm not super-mechanically-minded, so here's my vague thoughts on things I'd like to see. I have no solutions per se.
- simplify the action economy, or make it easier to grok. I've seen too many eyes glaze over as I try to explain action, move, reactions, bonus actions, move as an action, and then all the "interact with object"-type options. Ugh.
- anything that can be done to make creating a new character easier for beginners.
- make rangers awesome.
- do something - anything - to make running a spellcaster easier for new players. I get the "new players should play simple classes first" advice, but I don't want to tell an excited player they can't play the cool wizard idea they have in their head.
- more rules variants in the DMG, so people can tailor things to their table more readily. "Don't want to kill off characters? Here's some death save alternatives!"
- simplify the action economy, or make it easier to grok. I've seen too many eyes glaze over as I try to explain action, move, reactions, bonus actions, move as an action, and then all the "interact with object"-type options. Ugh.
- anything that can be done to make creating a new character easier for beginners.
- make rangers awesome.
- do something - anything - to make running a spellcaster easier for new players. I get the "new players should play simple classes first" advice, but I don't want to tell an excited player they can't play the cool wizard idea they have in their head.
- more rules variants in the DMG, so people can tailor things to their table more readily. "Don't want to kill off characters? Here's some death save alternatives!"
Sacrosanct
Legend
Streamline the rules into their core essence, like getting rid of ability scores altogether and just going with modifiers.
Make races more generic, but give the flexibility of traits tied to the background.
sort of like this:
Make races more generic, but give the flexibility of traits tied to the background.
sort of like this:
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