D&D (2024) "The Future of D&D" (New Core Books in 2024!)

The online D&D Celebration event, which has been running all weekend, comes to a close with The Future of D&D, a panel featuring WotC's Ray Winninger, Liz Schuh, Chris Perkins, and Jeremy Crawford, hosted by Elle Osili-Wood.

D&D is exploring the multiverse
Revisiting classic settings. 1st of 3 settings (Ravenloft) released this year. Next year, the other two major classic D&D settings come out. Both in formats they've never published products before.

Plus a "little peek" at a third classic D&D setting - a cameo.

In 2023, yet another classic setting is coming out.

Evolving D&D
Because of new players, they're always listening. Exploring new styles of play (like no combat needed in Wild Beyond the Witchlight). Also presentation of monsters and spells. New product formats. More adventure anthologies.

Making products easier to use. Ways to create the best experience. Experimenting and looking into technology.

Approaches to Design
Wild Beyond the Witchlight has interior design and tools to make running the adventure easier. Story tracker, guidance.

Beyond the books, they want to make different and varied products - packaging and form factor. Things different to hardcovers and boxed sets.

A blog post is coming soon detailing some of the changes, with more to come in future posts.

50th Anniversary in 2024
They've begun work on new versions of the core rulebooks. Recent surveys tie into that. They're still making plans, but expect more surveys. More will be said next year.

They will be completely compatible!

New experiences in the digital arena.

January Gift Set
Rules Expansion Gift Set -- Xanathar, Tasha, and a new book: Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. All in a slipcase. Was intended for the Holidays, but global production issues mean January instead. There's also an alternate cover version.

D&D 5E - A Closer Look At January's D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set

WotC earlier announced a D&D Rules Expansion Gift Set for January, which includes three books - Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and the new Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse. These were intended for the holidays, but the global production issues...

www.enworld.org

Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse
A treasure trove of creature related material from previous products compiled into one book and updated.

Opportunity to update material with a feel for how the 50th Anniversary books will be.

Improvements based on feedback, rebalancing, new and old art.

Over 250 monsters, and 30 playable races. All of the setting agnostic races that have been published outside the Player's Handbook.

Some content from Witchlight, Fizban's, and Strixhaven was influenced by Mordenkainen's.

Available first in the gift set, but separately later in the year.

Monsters alphabetized throughout rather than using subsections.

D&D 5E - Zooming In On Monsters of the Multiverse [UPDATED!]

Earlier, WotC announced Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, a new D&D compilation of monster material from previous products updated to a new format. These screen grabs are as good as I could get them. They're not terribly clear, but you can make more out than in the original...

www.enworld.org

Stat block changes --

Spellcasting trait is gone. Spellcasting action, slimmed down. Spellcasting monsters need less prep.

Spell slots are gone for NPCs. Regular actions that would have once been spells.

It was too easy for a DM to use spells which result in the monster having a too low effective CR.

Monsters can be friends or foes, and some magic will help rather than hinder PCs.

Where are we going?
More adventure anthologies. Another classic setting fairly soon.

Two all-new settings. Completely new. In development stage, an 'exploration' phase, testing the viability of them. They might not see the light of day.

Retooling nostalgia and blending it with new concepts. A blend of things that you know, and things that they have never done before.

In the short term -- more news next month about a new product for 2022 which goes into a new scary place we've never been before.

Boo the miniature giant space hamster
Below is an sketch from Hydro74's alt cover, which features Boo the miniature giant space hamster.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

At the 33:50 mark we learn that in October there will be announcement of a book that will take us to a new place we've never been to before, a scary, terrifying setting. What setting could this be other then Innistrad? I mean with Ravenloft already released what classic D&D setting could be described as new, scary, and terrifying? Planescape maybe, it does have the lower planes? The way they described it makes it sound horror themed.

The timing, with might be at the same time as Innistrad double feature, could be a hint too.

Guesses?

 

[bedir than]

Don't make the mistake of thinking what's the most created character on D&D Beyond is the same as what's the most played subclass in the game. The champion is the free option. Cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard are the free options. Fighter is the most basic of the four...and champion is the only subclass option for fighters. So of course more people make them. That has zero correlation to what people actually use at the table.

This is only true if you believe DnDBeyond is lying about correcting for usage and for paid options.

 

[Maxperson]

Boo in front of one of these?

View attachment 144423

Psh!

 

[Warpiglet-7]

This is very much a message board optimizer opinion that ignores that the Champion is the most played subclass in the game

I am about to play artificer and really like warlocks.

I like a very “clean” option and may even give a champion a go.

I would need a compelling personality and goal but I very well may try champion one day.

 

[Marandahir]

This is very much a message board optimizer opinion that ignores that the Champion is the most played subclass in the game

I’m not arguing that the Champion disappear. I’m arguing that the flavour that distinguishes the Champion from other subclasses of Fighter be established as clear. As it stands Champion and Battle Master serve as two alternative baseline versions of the Fighter with no narrative hooks as opposed to the other Fighter subclasses that all have a story reason of “Fighter, but different in x way.”

If anything, I’m arguing that the Battle Master doesn’t justify its own existence. Maneuvers, yes. But not the Battle Master.

Personally, I’d just make it an option for all Fighters to get Maneuvers OR to get some Champion-style damage/accuracy bump. So you can still have a single baseline fighter but maneuvers can be a dial layer for all fighters if they want that complexity.

And I’d scrap the culturally insensitive Samurai subclass from Xanathar’s and merge some of its features into a new Battle Master subclass that focuses on being a knightly warrior-poet sort of fighter. Without Maneuvers as the main subclass mechanic, this Battle Master could freely steal the stuff from Samurai and represent courtly blademasters, swordsaints, war masters, strategists, etc from many cultures.

 

[Bitbrain]

At the 33:50 mark we learn that in October there will be announcement of a book that will take us to a new place we've never been to before, a scary, terrifying setting. What setting could this be other then Innistrad? I mean with Ravenloft already released what classic D&D setting could be described as new, scary, and terrifying? Planescape maybe, it does have the lower planes? The way they described it makes it sound horror themed.

The timing, with might be at the same time as Innistrad double feature, could be a hint too.

Guesses?

Setting Innistrad aside for a moment (and assuming he means new with regards to “5e hasn’t created an official product for this place yet”), there are a number of other settings that can easily be described as scary and terrifying. Without necessarily being “horror”-themed.

Dark Sun for example was sometimes called by TSR “the most dangerous setting in all of Dungeons & Dragons”.

 

[Bolares]

I think if one fighter should dissapear it is the Battle Master... Maneuvers should be one of the main things the Fighter class does as a base.

 

[Remathilis]

At the 33:50 mark we learn that in October there will be announcement of a book that will take us to a new place we've never been to before, a scary, terrifying setting. What setting could this be other then Innistrad? I mean with Ravenloft already released what classic D&D setting could be described as new, scary, and terrifying? Planescape maybe, it does have the lower planes? The way they described it makes it sound horror themed.

The timing, with might be at the same time as Innistrad double feature, could be a hint too.

Guesses?

I don't think it's Innistrad. I'd be more inclined to think it's something planar like the Abyss or the Far Realm. Innistrad just doesn't have enough daylight (heh) separating it from Ravenloft at this point. Mostly humans, vaguely 16th-17th century, all the classic Universal Monsters accounted for, gothic tropes, and playable monsters. There is nothing Innistrad brings to the table thematically that Ravenloft doesn't.

I guess we'll see, but I think Innistrad is just too close to Ravenloft to be released a year later.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think if one fighter should dissapear it is the Battle Master... Maneuvers should be one of the main things the Fighter class does as a base.

I’d be down with that, for sure.

 

[Marandahir]

I think if one fighter should dissapear it is the Battle Master... Maneuvers should be one of the main things the Fighter class does as a base.

I’d be down with that, for sure.

I would too, as I said above.

I don’t think it should be something all Fighters HAVE to do - 5e playtests made it clear that at least in 2013, most Fighter players didn’t want that level of complexity and the continued popularity of the Champion means that if such complexity was baseline, a lot players would be overwhelmed by it.

Instead, I think it should be an advanced dial akin to how we can trade our ASIs for Feats. Fighters already get more ASIs than other classes; just build in that at some ASIs they can instead of taking a feat follow the Maneuver build.