D&D (2024) Toward a Theory of 6th Edition

[steeldragons]

So, going back to the OP (TL;DR most of the rest of the thread and tangential arguments)...

Sounds like what you want is a kind of Champions-esque "build you own" class/game system. Your character is a collection of various proficiencies and skills of various levels

To that end, your character might be created thusly (thinking out loud/off the top of my head):
1. Base Class. Different elements (features, skills, armor, weapons, ability/facility with magic, etc...) need to be fixed to the "base" framework.
e.g. A Fighting Man gives you access to all armors and shields, all weapons, bonus to weapon attacks and physical feats, start with [let's say] 3 starting individual skill/features and pick 2 more every 3 levels.

2. "Theme/Background". A combination of the 5e "Background" and some of the 5e subclass flavor/features might fall in here. Other sets (though less in number and more specific in flavor) of skills might be packaged here that get overlaid upon your base. Say you might pick up additional feature packages at set points as you level up (5th, 9th, 16th, or what have you).
e.g. The Outlander: gives you Survival, Tracking, Nature Lore for a specified terrain, Stealth & Hiding in natural surroundings, Light Armor proficiency if you don't already have it, and a bonus weapon proficiency.

3. Individual skills/features. Single elements that your previous choices permit and/or you add to your character as you level up. THIS is where things can get out of hand with option paralysis as each element is individual, so the list would inevitably get longer and longer the more kinds of characters and abilities they would have grow and grow.
e.g. use thieves' tools, ride/control a mount, special Attack maneuver, learn another spell/weapon, know first aid, etc...

 

[Morrus]

and I'm talking about Geek & Sundry having permission by the owners of Star Trek, to play a Star Trek RPG game on their channel.

Permission!

I suspect the negotiation was the opposite way round...

 

[Cristian Andreu]

It's rather evident to me that 6e will be about the true core of D&D: the Warlord.

We'll see Warlords, Warladies, Warlads, Warlandlord, Warlalalas (for the Bard stand-in), Warlollypops, Other Warlord, Warlordier, and Warlordiest.

It's the only reasonable course of action.

 

[steeldragons]

So, since this is now rattling around in my brain (thanks so much), and you mentioned liking the pared down idea of base classes, I"m seeing something like this...

1. Choose your base character from one of the following:
Fighter: You excel in combat. You like using weapons and armor.
Armor & Shields: all. Weapons: Choose 4. Magic: No.
Feature 1: When you make an attack against a target, with a weapon or unarmed, add your Strength modifier +2 to the attack roll.
Feature 2: When you make a skill or save roll that relies on your physical strength (Str), toughness (Con), accuracy or reflexes (Dex) add +2 to the roll in addition to the relevant ability modifier.
Feature 3: Choose 1 Background.
Feature 4: Choose 2 individual skills/abilities from the Elements list.

Supporter: You excel in an array of skills which may be as focused or diverse as you wish. You might use certain weapons and/or magic.
Armor & Shields: Choose 3 with which you are proficient. Weapons: Choose 1-3. Magic: Choose 1-3 basic spells. Your combination of Weapons and Magic known can not exceed 4.
Feature 1: Choose 3 separate attacks, whether by a specific weapon or specific magic spell, and you add +2 to the attack roll or spell save DC (as relevant, player's choice if both are possible).
Feature 2: Choose 3 ability scores. When you have a skill or save roll dependent on one of these skills, add +1 to the roll in addition to the relevant ability modifier. Once chosen, these 3 abilities can not be changed.
Feature 3: Choose 1 Background.
Feature 4: Choose 3 individual skills/abilities from the Elements list.

Caster: You excel in the use of magic powers. You like using spells and your wits.
Armor & Shields: No. Weapons: Choose 2. Magic: Choose 2 basic spells.
Feature 1: When you make an attack against a target with a magic spell, add your Casting Ability modifier +2 to the attack roll or spell save DC (as relevant, player's choice if both are possible).
Feature 2: When you have a skill or save roll that relies on your intellect or memory (Int), reasoning or judgement (Wis), or personality or force of will (Cha) add +2 to the roll in addition to the relevant ability modifier.
Feature 3: Choose 1 Background.
Feature 4: Choose 4 individual skills/abilities (including additional magic spells or abilities) from the Elements list.

Character Background List (far from a complete realm of possibility, but for examples' sake)
Background: description
Background Feature 1: You know and excel at 1-4 automatically granted Skills. Add +2 to rolls attempting to use these skills.
Background Feature 2: Choose 1-4 additional Elements. Note the combined total of Feature 1 and Feature 2 can not exceed 5 and will fluctuate depending on the Background's flavor and areas of expertise.

Possible "suites": Soldier/Guard, Mercenary/Gladiator, Berserker/Mad Man, Outlander/Scout, Scholar/Historian, Archivist/Scribe, Friar/Priest, Thief/Burglar, Assassin/Bounty Hunter, Magician/Hedge Mage, Druid/Shaman, Medic/Herbalist, etc... etc...

Elements List: 1 extra Weapon Proficiency, 1 extra Armor or Shield proficiency, 1 magic spell, 1 magic ritual, 1 mental ability, 1 divine channeling, 1 combat maneuver, 1 roguish maneuver, 1 language/field of study, 1 such like, etc... etc...

 

[zedturtle]

What hasn't been mentioned at all yet is Twitch and Streaming and how it may impact 6E.

3 years ago you were lucky if there was 2 games on the D&D page and only Rollplay had more then 5 viewers, but today there is consistently a dozen games in the page, and even that is really impressive because of its consistency. Aside from the, about a dozen, staple games on Twitch (Hearthstone, Overwatch, League of Legend, ect.) literally every other multi-million dollar triple A game dies off after a few months. The new Legend of Zelda game, which is the highest rated game of all time, first contender of game of the year, and came out about 5 months ago, it has the same amount of channels playing it as the D&D page, and less viewers.

3 years ago there was really only one channel playing TTRPGs on Twitch with any degree of success and that was Rollplay, now I can easily name half a dozen. Plus Companies are allowing some of these channels to use their IP, and I'm talking about Geek & Sundry having permission by the owners of Star Trek, to play a Star Trek RPG game on their channel, and HyperRPG got the rights to play a Power Rangers RPG by Saban. And of course D&D has started their own channel, which is growing. Plus all the cross pollination between all of these channels is insane, they are not competing at all, they are all interested in one thing only, growth. And they are receiving it. It's only getting bigger, more channels are popping up and being supported by the streaming community, more companies are showing an interest, more celebrities are participating. D&D is entertainment, it is a spectator sport.

Its not going to be too long untill a TTRPG is made specifically for streaming.

And with D&D proper in the business of streaming, I'm sure they are learning how the medium works and gathering information and data, and learning from successful channels and from their own failures. They're only going to get better at it.

So then I wonder how much of all this will be reflected on 6E. the DMG is a book made specifically for a DM to run a game, and the medium used to be exclusively the tabletop, but more and more its also streaming.

Do you think it will have tips on how to run a stream of D&D? Maybe talk about cross chatter, when to have breaks and how long they should be, ect...

Some channels like HyperRPG are very viewer interactive. Maybe the 6E will have a guide on how much the viewers need to donate to give a player or the DM advantage on a roll, maybe talk about what parts of the system are okay to let viewers fiddle with and which not to. The same way it gives advice to DMs on tweaking their game

What about rules and options specifically for streaming? Like a rest mechanic that is optimal for streaming. because they found out that the audience likes it when there is a "breather" or inter-party interaction every 45min, so they tweak the resting mechanism to need to happen about every 45min.

Or maybe borrow small mechanics from a different RPG that was made specifically for streaming?

Oh, what about deliberately excluding certain things that previous editions had specifically because they assume that 6E will be watched by a broader audience? Like maybe they get data that says the audience doesn't like Advantage/Disadvantage, so they get rid of it for 6E.

I don't know what, if any, impact streaming will have on 6E, or even what that would look like. But I've read on these boards about how 4E was affected by videogames and MMOs. And D&D isn't afraid of being influenced by culture trends. But at the same time, still no PDFs, so its hard to say for sure what sticks and what doesn't.

Considering when Mearls did the round table with Mercer/Colville/Koebel that incorporating the streaming subculture more would be something they were looking at for 6th edition, I think that’s a good point.

 

[corwyn77]

So, since this is now rattling around in my brain (thanks so much), and you mentioned liking the pared down idea of base classes, I"m seeing something like this...

1. Choose your base character from one of the following:

Cool, but we already have True20.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Yeah, although I started off the thread riffing on pie-in-the-sky ideas, probably the more useful discussion is about what is possibly/likely to actually change in 6e. I would posit:

Ranger from the ground up
Small shift in balance of power from archery to melee
Rethinking ability scores, so that:
- Race is not as vital for optimization
- Characters are more varied
Some rethinking of ASIs and Feats

Less likely, but on my wish list, would be a rebuild of the magic system:
- Spell lists purged and rewritten so that all spells are good choices
- More rituals
- Incentive for casters to occasionally use weapons instead of all cantrips, all the time

Also, although I loathe the warlord, my early Christmas Gift to [MENTION=8900]Tony[/MENTION]Vargas is that I would like the Fighter to be more of a harness for creating interesting sub-classes.

 

[Satyrn]

Also, although I loathe the warlord, my early Christmas Gift to [MENTION=8900]Tony[/MENTION]Vargas is that I would like the Fighter to be more of a harness for creating interesting sub-classes.

Given Mike Mearls' regrets about how the fighter was made, I'm gonna probably find that I don't like the 6e fighter's "story first" design.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Why the focus on rules? D&D is more then a bunch of rules.

How about more citation of the historical and cultural underpinnings?

Explaining that D&D is a group activity that requires people to work together and not be jerks.

Better advice on the business of running a game.

Game design advice, managing group dynamics, and all the other stuff that isn't a rule?

Sent from my VS990 using EN World mobile app

 

[Guest 6801328]

Why the focus on rules? D&D is more then a bunch of rules.

How about more citation of the historical and cultural underpinnings?

Explaining that D&D is a group activity that requires people to work together and not be jerks.

Better advice on the business of running a game.

Game design advice, managing group dynamics, and all the other stuff that isn't a rule?

Sent from my VS990 using EN World mobile app

Well, sure....but that's all independent of any particular edition, right? Why is a discussion about it relevant to a discussion about what 6e might look like?