D&D 5E The Annotated PHB

[overgeeked]

not everyone is good at conversion nor do many dm know much about the past options, plus why not have them make us a ten to 20 adventure it might be fun.

Try reading the rest of my post. I explained why.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Can you even imagine the absolute crapstorm it would cause though? Especially if it was honest as to why certain decisions were made and so on?

I mean, that's what 13th Age did with its core rulebook, and most people were super positive about it.

Of course, D&D has a tendency to draw out people who stake their identity on specific things being specific ways, so....

 

[Reynard]

Of course, D&D has a tendency to draw out people who stake their identity on specific things being specific ways, so....

This should be enlightening. Please explain.

 

[Minigiant]

An annotated PHB would be cool but...

How people want D&D classes to look
and
How people want D&D classes to play

don't match.

Annotation would just highlight bother this and WOTC's overt compromising to please certain fans with conflicting desires.

 

[Staffan]

Maybe "annotated" is throwing people off in that im not talking about the opinions of the designers. I am talking about collective wisdom over years of playing.

So sneak attack, for example: the rules for sneak attack are fine, but many people might benefit from everything from a DPR analysis to a discussion on how the different ways to get it impact play and tone.

I think it would have to be a digital project, like a wiki. I have to read municipal regulations for work a lot and the best ones have rollover links for terminology and such.

My original idea was specifically about having a PHB (and maybe DMG) with designer commentary, not fan-sourced commentary. My point was that we can argue until we're blue in our collective faces, but it would be great to have official word from the designers on what the purposes of some things are. I believe all the examples I mentioned in my post were things where a designer had actually weighed in somewhere.

I think a cool place to add something like this would be D&D Beyond, which would remove the need to do it as a separate product.

 

[Oofta]

An annotated PHB would be cool but...

How people want D&D classes to look
and
How people want D&D classes to play

don't match.

Annotation would just highlight bother this and WOTC's overt compromising to please certain fans with conflicting desires.

Maybe for you. For the most part I've enjoyed every class I've played as have others.

 

[Reynard]

My original idea was specifically about having a PHB (and maybe DMG) with designer commentary, not fan-sourced commentary. My point was that we can argue until we're blue in our collective faces, but it would be great to have official word from the designers on what the purposes of some things are. I believe all the examples I mentioned in my post were things where a designer had actually weighed in somewhere.

I think a cool place to add something like this would be D&D Beyond, which would remove the need to do it as a separate product.

I know but I don't know how that would actually help. No one listens to or cares what the designers intentions were anyway.

But a PHB annotated with practical experience, about how the math works at the table and how pieces interact with each other in ways the designers obfuscated or didn't anticipate, would be really useful -- and not just to newbs.

 

[Oofta]

My original idea was specifically about having a PHB (and maybe DMG) with designer commentary, not fan-sourced commentary. My point was that we can argue until we're blue in our collective faces, but it would be great to have official word from the designers on what the purposes of some things are. I believe all the examples I mentioned in my post were things where a designer had actually weighed in somewhere.

I think a cool place to add something like this would be D&D Beyond, which would remove the need to do it as a separate product.

If wishes were horses, we'd have annotated books. They're not, we won't ever get it, we can discuss what would be second best.

Or discuss wishing for horses so we can be knee deep in horse puckey I suppose.

 

[overgeeked]

Maybe for you. For the most part I've enjoyed every class I've played as have others.

As have I. Though I would enjoy some more if they weren’t weaksauce compared to casters.

 

[Minigiant]

Maybe for you. For the most part I've enjoyed every class I've played as have others.

You might not get what I'm saying.

It's not about liking or enjoying the class. It's about designing a class to match a genre and designing a class to match how fans want them to look.

AKA designing classes purely for heroic fantasy, slghtly higher than normal, dungeon crawling would look like (is shot with a sleep dart)