D&D (2024) [+] The things I like about D&D One Playtest, and the things I LOVE!

[OB1]

I Like:
New Unarmed Strike rules
New Spelllist orginization
New Racial format and options
Weapon Only Crit Default (could go to love depending on how they use the design space for class/monster specific features)

I Love:
Humans waking up with inspiration (the most human thing every IMO)
Inspiration for Nat20
Passing inspiration when you already have it
New Origin creation method
New Crit Rules (after play testing in session)

I Love love love:
New Background Creation method - Giving players a mechanical way to show how their back-story made them the character they are. Freaking brilliant. So much versatility.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I think the rules and mech changes will be ok and playable. Background focus and inspiration mechanics sounds great.

But what I'm really curious about is the Unreal-based VTT thingy, and what the price point will be to use it.

All in all, it looks pretty good, even though I'm burned out on D&D at the moment.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Basically, I like everything I see. My only concern is around scaling. For example, if an infernal tiefling gets firebolt at level 1, will that firebolt still be a viable cantrip for them at higher tiers?

 

[Charlaquin]

New Unarmed Strike rules

I keep forgetting this one. Add that to my “I like” list too.

 

[Mort]

Basically, I like everything I see. My only concern is around scaling. For example, if an infernal tiefling gets firebolt at level 1, will that firebolt still be a viable cantrip for them at higher tiers?

Damage cantrips tend to scale pretty well and are level not class dependent.

Sure, more and more monsters get fire resistance as levels increase, but overall the cantrip should be viable even into high level

Heck, I was running a 15th level adventure (a 2 shot, basically), the wizard was casting firebolt a lot - with good effect

 

[Kurotowa]

I want to pay an Honorable Mention to the changes around rolling a Natural 20.

Reducing the size of weapon crits and removing spell crits entirely reduces the random variance potential, but also reduces how exciting rolling a Natural 20 might be. So here we have a new rule that a Natural 20 gives you Inspiration, which introduces a minimum reward threshold and means rolling a 20 is always a good thing. Oh, and Eldritch Blast is probably a class feature and not a spell now, so there's a good chance Warlocks will get a technical exemption from the "no spell crits" rule for it.

It's a tricky balancing act where you have to consider the whole framework and not just zero in on individual design elements, but it's one that looks promising.

 

[Jer]

The focus on Backgrounds is good - I like that they're feeling out what to put into that space.

I like the apparent rethinking of Inspiration and how to get it. Putting the burden of remembering that Inspiration exists onto the player - and giving them tools to get it automatically - rather than it being something that gets used if the DM remembers to use it is a good idea. Letting players who already have Inspiration pass it to another player when they get it a second time is actually kind of brilliant too.

Feats with levels - and with it viewing the Feat as a class feature that doesn't belong to a single class is an interesting idea. I want to see how it plays out with higher level Feats before I'm 100% on board but it's definitely a tweak to an existing mechanic that has some potential. I also quite like that they have put in a good amount of effort to make all of the 1st level Feats work for all of the classes.

 

[Horwath]

Since this is a + thread I will not comment anything as most things I like come with "I like xxx, but..."

and everything said before "but" is horse sh##

 

[Charlaquin]

Oh, and Eldritch Blast is probably a class feature and not a spell now, so there's a good chance Warlocks will get a technical exemption from the "no spell crits" rule for it.

I wouldn’t be so sure on that. It’s a possibility, but Jeremy Crawford indicates in the interview that classes will probably have more ways to grant access to spells than just the general power source spell lists. Eldritch Blast could easily still be a spell that just isn’t tied to a general power source and is only granted through a warlock feature.

I do hope you’re right though, as having it be a non-spell would make it even stronger by allowing it to circumvent anti-spell effects like counterspell and antimagic field.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm on board with a lot of what has already been mentioned here, but I'll add:

The old Background feature essentially boiled down to, "Hey, DMs! Remember to have NPCs treat these PCs as if they are who they are!"

So I like the ASIs and feats giving background more meat.

And I LOVE the idea of Dwarves getting Tremorsense.

And some of the formatting stuff looks like it's on the right track.