D&D (2024) Things You Think Would Improve the Game That We WON'T See

[Horwath]

I don't think it would be horrible to just not give the HP bonus either. I think we could benefit from scaling all the numbers down just a touch.

sure, I just said +2 per level as it is what CON 14 gives you.
and in last 2 gaming groups, eleven PCs, if I remember correctly it was one CON 12, 1 CON 16 and others CON 14.
and campaign before, all CON 14.

little more HP at 1st level,5-6 more. little less later on.

 

[overgeeked]

Heh... the funny thing about what you say here is that you suggest that without WotC in the picture "the community" could create endless variations of the rules to suit their individual needs. The irony though being that this can all happen right now even if WotC still runs D&D-- every single one of us can change any of the rules we want regardless of whether WotC controls the game or doesn't.

We don't need WotC to give up control of D&D to make the game our own... we just need to put in the elbow grease ourselves to work out everything we want.

We just need to convince the rest of the 5E community to do so, when even at the height of the OGL fiasco last January, the vast mjority of fans were either unaware or simply did not care.

 

[Remathilis]

I think the game would improve if WotC got completely terminated by Hasbro, 5.5e publication was cancelled, and D&D stopped being a business and never saw another official edition ever again but became public domain for the community to create endless variations to each one's own tastes. It won't happen, and why are you even asking why?

You are living in the closest point to D&D being public domain so far. You have about 45 more years before the name D&D (and the white box) themselves become PD. It's going to be almost 50+ years before the AD&D and Basic books are. And Hasbro would keep a lot of the TM stuff besides that (like the Dragon ampersand) for even longer.

That being said, the CC release of 5e (and the limited use of the OGL, poisoned as it is) is still the best thing we could ask for if relying on WotC isn't your thing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You are living in the closest point to D&D being public domain so far. You have about 45 more years before the name D&D (and the white box) themselves become PD. It's going to be almost 50+ years before the AD&D and Basic books are. And Hasbro would keep a lot of the TM stuff besides that (like the Dragon ampersand) for even longer.

That being said, the CC release of 5e (and the limited use of the OGL, poisoned as it is) is still the best thing we could ask for if relying on WotC isn't your thing.

It's the best thing we have. We can certainly ask for more, like the 3e SRD they strongly suggested we would have by now.

 

[the Jester]

Just thought of another one.

I don't expect to see RAW move away from only rewarding XP for overcoming challenges via killing foes, as opposed to overcoming challenges via any means.

RAW does reward xp for overcoming challenges via any means. You gain xp for defeating monsters, which is typically but not exclusively killing, routing or capturing them; any way that the pcs overcomes them qualifies.

 

[delericho]

This is one that I don't fully support. I get it for a lot of books. Adventures could be paper back. But the core books? What do you suggest instead? Spiral bound would actually be really nice as far as reference material goes, so I support that, but I'd miss the look of the book on my shelf. Perhaps loose pages with binder holes? This way you can re-arrange your book in whatever way works best for you? Seems great at a surface level but I'd worry about durability.

I'd start with a much smaller set of core rules, presented as a boxed set of six or so booklets: core rules, classes, equipment, grimoire, DM's guide, and Monsters.

But for an awful lot of it, software is a likely way to do - again, ideally in a form that some/all of it can be downloaded for offline use.

But that's all just me thinking out loud - I haven't thought anything through in detail, I'm sure it's full of holes, and it would probably suck anyway.

 

[Undrave]

I’m still planting my flag firmly in the “Sorcerers should use CON rather than CHA” hill and I’m not backing down. After all, their magic comes from within them; it’s a part of their life essence. That screams Constitution to me.

Seconded, makes way more chance and makes the Sorcerer the ultimate MC option, which it should be if just about anybody can be revealed to be a Sorcerer but might not want to go all in on the magic training.

 

[Meech17]

I'd start with a much smaller set of core rules, presented as a boxed set of six or so booklets: core rules, classes, equipment, grimoire, DM's guide, and Monsters.

But for an awful lot of it, software is a likely way to do - again, ideally in a form that some/all of it can be downloaded for offline use.

But that's all just me thinking out loud - I haven't thought anything through in detail, I'm sure it's full of holes, and it would probably suck anyway.

So like how D&D originally came.

I was actually recently thinking about trying to put together my homebrew campaign into a "Source Book" and I had the idea of instead making it a collection of booklets. Things I could print out and staple like a Zine. Instead of one big book, break everything up into it's own booklet. The starting village gets it's own book, including a map, NPCs, and maybe a basic quest or two.

Then the High Level Wizard NPC who is a patron of the party gets his own book. It goes over him, his tower, his personal introductory quest..

Any major faction gets their own booklet. Each core quest gets it's own book, etc.

I thought this would be really neat just to see all bundled together as a box set. Then when you're running it at the table, you only need the relevant booklet or two. While it seems novel it also feels tedious. Having to reference other books. Sure Guard Captain Oren is described in the Quest Book where he's relevant, but maybe I want to give him a retinue of 6-8 guards to accompany him. Now I need to go find the RorSkellian Military Faction booklet.

I don't know. I think it'll be a fun project to do for myself, but I'm not sure it would be a great idea for a product.

I could see a big benefit to doing the core books like this though. One player is rolling up a new character so they have the classes booklet, someone else is shopping so they have the equipment one, a third player is picking out their spells to prepare so they have the spell booklet.

Plus it's so easily expandable. They could put out new class booklets, new monster booklets. A big monster compendium where they are broken down into either challenge rating or perhaps setting/environment?

And Digital is great for RPG material. I love being able to clip up my monster book and save just the pieces I need for my notes, and to reference at the table. but I still like to sit down with my physical book and read it for ideas. I also think the market is held up largely by RPG collectors. I think a lot of us buy a lot of books we never actually use, but we like having them to skim through to mine for ideas or to dream about actually playing.

 

[mamba]

Why not? Aesthetics?

yes, basically aesthetics / flavor. I prefer them to be that skilled at it over it being something they cast

@CreamCloud0 gave a longer description, I summarized that to flavor

 

[Blue]

RAW does reward xp for overcoming challenges via any means. You gain xp for defeating monsters, which is typically but not exclusively killing, routing or capturing them; any way that the pcs overcomes them qualifies.

Sorry, I used the word killing loosely. It isn't defeating monsters though, it's defeating combat encounters. So if you avoid combat encounters RAW gives no chance for XP.

I can't clever my way through and ever get a single XP by RAW. I can't have a brilliant mystery or convincing a duke and get XP unless those were combat encounters, which means able to overcome the challenge with combat.