D&D 5E (2014) Should martial characters be mundane or supernatural?

I doubt 2 additional classes would be enough. Some people want "crunchier" Fighters, some people want mythic heroes, some want a 4E fighter, some want fighter that can compete with bards and rogues for skills.

WOTC has done and continues to put significant effort into playtests,market research and surveys (not all of which are open to the broad public). They have a better idea of what works than either one of us.
It might not have been enough. But WOTC made the "no new classes" decision before 5e was printed, then 5e's demographics changed rapidly.

WOTC did a lot of playtests,market research and surveys. But they locked themselves into "printing PHBs like madmen" before the situation changed, then got to the point their were to sunk into the idea to change... anything unto the 50th anniversary.

Crawford even admitted that they sat on ideas for years and were just waiting to display them in the 2024 version.
 

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Cause the juice isn't worth the squeeze to them.
Seem like it is more "Don't do anything that slows the money printer PHB by making people possibly buy something else." Don't make strawberry milk because people might buy it instead of chocolate milk.

A lot of 5e's "negatives" are from WOTC's outright refusal to change the PHB or be parallel to it once the main errata as done and it overall aging due to the decision.
 

There's "don't want, won't use" and there's "don't want, can't let anyone else have it either"

It's sad that the latter has somehow become such an important consideration in designing for D&D

This is an argument that cuts both ways -

Yes I can say we don't use XXXX at my table even though it is RAW. By the same token you can implement some homebrew to provide some capability you need at your table instead of saying it needs to be part of the official game.
 

the classes shouldn't be defined by only one or two core features that are exclusive to them, they should be more than the sum of their parts, you could build a rogue, a fighter and a barbarian all with sneak attack, expertise, maneuvres and rages but still make them all feel entirely unique by the implementations and combination of those abilities that you give them,

Agree, but I think it should not be restricted to those three classes.
 

This is an argument that cuts both ways -

Yes I can say we don't use XXXX at my table even though it is RAW. By the same token you can implement some homebrew to provide some capability you need at your table instead of saying it needs to be part of the official game.
Homebrew or 3PP. There are plenty of options out there for anyone who cares.
 

This is an argument that cuts both ways -
Yes I can say we don't use XXXX at my table even though it is RAW. By the same token you can implement some homebrew to provide some capability you need at your table instead of saying it needs to be part of the official game.
Including something in the game doesn't harm the DM who just decides to ban it, anyway, excluding from the game does put a burden on the player who had enjoyed it and no longer can, but must ask his DM to do some design work for it (and, then, that's repeated at every table with such a player).
I mean, there is a reason we buy games. Design work is effort, and it's hard to get right.


(lol, it's "the Gnome Problem" just, not applied selectively.)
 


Homebrew or 3PP. There are plenty of options out there for anyone who cares.
We are not saying that 3PP and homebrew doesn't exist.

We are saying WOTC left money on the table. And WOTC agreed with their increased schedule..

The drawback of slow release is that someone else is more likely to release and popularize the content you actually were going to release before you.

Martials should be mundane with a few optional supernatural subclasses.

The rub WOTC ran into is that their release and class paradigm schedule is too slow for this. It's so slow, other 3PPs will out speed you on release.

IE
The Path of the Giant Barbarian could have been mundane. Throw weapons get rage damage. Throw people. Speak Giant.

It's magical because it's year 9 and the community has likely 3PPs and Houseruled that in as a subclass for those who want it. So the thrower barbarian has to be imbued with giant magic. How many books that gonna sell now
 


This is literally what we have.
The point is that more of the subclassses should be munane to replicate the various aspects of the nonsupernatural world.

But since XGTE it's been purely supernatural. Purely.
Why?

If martials should be mundane why for the last ~5 years have WOTC and all the major 3pps.... almost only produced supernatural martials... If not all... if there is unexplored aspects of the mundane world?
 

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