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.

 

[Bolares]

I do think the balance of the Champion needs to be adjusted, though. Critting on a 19 does nothing for 95% of attack rolls, and seems pretty clearly inferior, power-wise*, to any other fighter subclass's level 3 bonus.

Even moreso after the hexblade also got 19 crit (in a limited fashion, but still). That was the main thing about the champion...

 

[Parmandur]

I think they would be fine as a base in a revised, backwards compatible PHB. If you like the complexity, use the revised, if you don't, use the 2015 chassi.

If anything, I would expect the 2024 edition to dial down on complexity.

 

[Bolares]

If anything, I would expect the 2024 edition to dial down on complexity.

Oh, I bet it will. I was just saying what I'd want to happen if they messed with the champion/battlemaster stuff. I'd never expect what I wrote to happen.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Fluff and adventures are not exactly a good argument to claim compatibility... I have been running 1e, 2e and 3e adventures almost on the fly in 5e games, why would I expect 5e adventures NOT to stay compatible with 5.5? And fluff by definition is rules agnostic (except implied fluff like every character of class/race X having ability Y).

Yes, and since so much in 5e is fluff and not hard coded mechanics in so many books, we are good.

Of course, probably subclasses will need some rearranging, if they unify it.
I hope multiclassing mainly stays as is as an option. But I fully expect multiclassing via feats or subclass choice as a secondary option.

 

[Zaukrie]

If anything, I would expect the 2024 edition to dial down on complexity.

I hope not.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Innistrad could be very possible. It is not a demiplane but a complete world, with enough space to can bring in lots of monsters and even factions and societies of supernatural creatures (vampire clans, werebeast tribes, spellcasters guilds, fae courts..).

Intercompany crossovers aren't easy to deal but I almost wouldn't be too surprised if Hasbro and Capcom talked about a new videogame set in Mystara, the world of the arcades "Tower of Doom" and its sequel "Shadow over Mystara". Mystara has got two potentially interesting spin-off, Hollow World, with prehistoric beasts and ancient cultures with a little touch of Hyrborea Age, and Red Steel/Savage Coast, pirates + mutants.

I am too used to the racial abilities bonus. I guess the system in Pathfinder 2 was right, you can choose between +2A, +2B or +2A+2B-2C.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I hope the new core rulebooks place a greater emphasis on squirrels.

You a Swarmkeeper Ranger?

 

[Bolares]

Innistrad could be very possible.

Except they made it clear it is not and MTG setting. But in the future, I agree there is a possibility, and there is a space for an Innistrad book.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I'm curious about what is unplayable about them (sorry if you go in to detail latter in the thread, haven't gotten there yet. I have an air genasi player at my table, and after I changed the Scores to match tasha's the race functioned fine.

I'm not going to go too in depth, but my main gripes (mechanically) with the race are:

1. Their innate spellcasting is weaker than almost every other spellcasting race's innate spellcasting (most of the subraces only get 1 spell once per long rest, while Water and Fire Genasi get that and a cantrip, which is just straight up worse than Drow, Hexblood, Fairy, and Triton spellcasting).
2. Water Genasi are supposed to be an aquatic race, but they can't breathe underwater (strangely, Air Genasi sort of have the ability to do this). Edit: It has come to my attention that I somehow completely missed the "Amphibious" feature. Ignore this completely.
3. They just straight up get less racial features than other races (compare them to an Elf or Dwarf, and you'll see it), and a lot of them that they do get are just awful, in that they're so situational that you're almost never going to be able to make use of them (like the Earth Genasi's Earth Walk and the Air Genasi's Unending Breath).

Like I said above, the Fire Genasi is the most playable Genasi subrace. I personally would have them become Lineages, so a Dwarf, Orc, or any other non-human race could become a Genasi, but I also would like for their lore to match their racial mechanics. Nothing about the race's features connects them to their Genie parent, they're just elemental in nature. (Genies get Darkvision, Flight, and other features that the Genasi don't get, while Genasi get abilities and spells that none of the Genies get.)

 

[Bolares]

I'm not going to go too in depth, but my main gripes (mechanically) with the race are:

1. Their innate spellcasting is weaker than almost every other spellcasting race's innate spellcasting (most of them only get 1 spell once per long rest, while Water and Fire Genasi get that and a cantrip, which is just straight up worse than Drow, Hexblood, Fairy, and Triton spellcasting).
2. Water Genasi are supposed to be an aquatic race, but they can't breathe underwater (strangely, Air Genasi sort of have the ability to do this).
3. They just straight up get less racial features than other races (compare them to an Elf or Dwarf, and you'll see it), and a lot of them that they do get are just awful, in that they're so situational that you're almost never going to be able to make use of them (like the Earth Genasi's Earth Walk and the Air Genasi's Unending Breath).

Like I said above, the Fire Genasi is the most playable Genasi subrace. I personally would have them become Lineages, so a Dwarf, Orc, or any other non-human race could become a Genasi, but I also would like for their lore to match their racial mechanics. Nothing about the race's features connects them to their Genie parent, they're just elemental in nature. (Genies get Darkvision, Flight, and other features that the Genasi don't get, while Genasi get abilities and spells that none of the Genies get.)

Okay, got you. Your points make sense to me, it's just that.... unplayable is a strong word. All that makes them subpar IMO, but unplayable is kind of a stretch. Maybe my table is an outlier on this, but my player is pretty happy with his air genasi stomr sorc, and never did the character feel like it was behind because of the racial choice. (of course, me letting him change his racial stats even before tasha's helped a lot)