D&D 5E So, have we missed the boat on simple character creation?

[howandwhy99]

Is the option to not use Feats or Skills still possible? I think their option ironically has become "default" Feats & Skills. There is no getting rid of them.

The rejection of simplicity for the core game does seem to have gone overboard. They are simply regurgitating the same game designs as before. It's D&D inverted on itself. None of the rules are for the DM, all of them are for the players/PCs. Could we make it any harder for the players? And then DMs get the short end of the stick with the suggestion that advice will be posted. I've seen their DMing advice. It's almost all either based on ignorance or bad theory.

 

[DEFCON 1]

They don't have "simple character generation" in the playtest documents for a really good reason. They don't want us to TEST simple character generation. They probably know exactly how to take all the complexity they have in the documents and distill it down to a very easy and quick basic character creation process... which was probably a lot of what the packets back in May were all about. So right now they want us to test just how complex generation is right now... that way we can then tell them if it indeed is good, or too complex, or not complex enough.

That's how the playtest packets work. They put into the packets only what they want tested, and nothing that they don't. And right now, they don't care about us testing simple, 5-minute character generation, because we did all that back in the summer.

 

[fjw70]

Is the option to not use Feats or Skills still possible? I think their option ironically has become "default" Feats & Skills. There is no getting rid of them.

Why is there no getting rid of them?

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

It's not exceptionally complex, but it does feel like it is.

Choose: Ability Scores, Race, Sub-race, Class, Archetype, Maneuvers or Spells, Cantrips, Background, Specialty, Equipment

Note down: Ability Modifiers, Racial Traits, Armor and Weapons Proficiencies, Weapon Bonus, Spellcasting Bonus, Martial Damage Dice, Martial Damage Bonus, Skill Die, Class Features, Skills, Feats, Weapon and Armor statistics, Total AC, Spell DC

It's not unmanageable, but it is ungraceful, particularly because of how many of these are unique subsystems.

 

[darjr]

They don't have "simple character generation" in the playtest documents for a really good reason. They don't want us to TEST simple character generation. They probably know exactly how to take all the complexity they have in the documents and distill it down to a very easy and quick basic character creation process... which was probably a lot of what the packets back in May were all about. So right now they want us to test just how complex generation is right now... that way we can then tell them if it indeed is good, or too complex, or not complex enough.

That's how the playtest packets work. They put into the packets only what they want tested, and nothing that they don't. And right now, they don't care about us testing simple, 5-minute character generation, because we did all that back in the summer.

I don't think that is true that the packets ONLY contain stuff they want to test. I don't have the quote at hand but Mearls has posted at times about what they wanted tested out of a packet even though the packet contained many other things.

 

[mlund]

Simple character creation:

Race, class, skip background, skip specialty.

Pick a tradition / scheme / style / deity. Casters have to pick a few spells. Done.

- Marty Lund

 

[howandwhy99]

Why is there no getting rid of them?

I'm thinking of powers. I'm still confused as to why they've designed the classes the way they have.

 

[trancejeremy]

I really think they blew a huge opportunity with The Hobbit coming out. They should have reprinted an old Basic D&D box

D&D used to be a gateway RPG. But now it's just too complex to serve as one.

 

[mlund]

If the bulk of the complexity comes from customization options for characters then the game isn't too complex for new players. You just put the character design on rails and you're good to go.

I could build near OD&D functionality out of all the character classes in very simple, level-by-level blurbs. Just pair race with favored class and weapon out of the gate, per-select arms, armor, spells, and schemes/maneuvers.

The core game functionality is so basic and durable that you can forgo the complexity if that's not your bag and the game is still a perfectly good dungeon hack.

- Marty Lund

 

[KidSnide]

Simple character creation:

Race, class, skip background, skip specialty.

Pick a tradition / scheme / style / deity. Casters have to pick a few spells. Done.

In the basic version of the game, there is probably only one tradition / scheme / style / deity per class. (And, if you want it super-simple, you can start each class with a default attribute array.)

-KS