What 5e got wrong

If people need more subclasses (cleric domains especially) and are fine with non-WotC design... go onto the Unearthed Arcana subreddit and just scroll through all the pages. I've downloaded all manner of good subclasses and domains. I can't say how well playtested they are (if at all) but through casual eyes they seem good.
 

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If people need more subclasses (cleric domains especially) and are fine with non-WotC design... go onto the Unearthed Arcana subreddit and just scroll through all the pages. I've downloaded all manner of good subclasses and domains. I can't say how well playtested they are (if at all) but through casual eyes they seem good.
A quick eyeball usually shows if something is op or not its all good
 

Pillars of Eternity is a great example of how the 6-score system of D&D could have been easily updated into something more coherent, sensible, modern, and balanced.
Playing with Might and Resolve attributes would have not given me the impression i'm playing D&D anymore but some other games, it would have denature it too much. The D&D attributes to me are a core feature of it.
 

Playing with Might and Resolve attributes would have not given me the impression i'm playing D&D anymore but some other games, it would have denature it too much. The D&D attributes to me are a core feature of it.

Yeah, like it or not, those six attributes are a genuinely sacred cow for D&D.
 

Maybe 'generic' more than unique?

You could have a series of 'Elemental ______' spells. Bolt, blast, eruption, storm, whatever. When you learn the spell, you pick a damage type.

Only issue is that not all damage types are created equal. Some face more common resistances than others, for instance.

This and moving them away from the vancian system, perhaps something like the warlock, but with heavier firepower and more squishy. Sorcerers were originally just a spontaneous caster variant of wizards in an edition with so many spells they could feasibly represent almost any bloodline. The spell system here looks the same, but the rules for spell design are different. People are primarily going to play sorcerer to blow things up, so might as well make that the primary class feature of the sorcerer. Then they just need access to some of the neo-vancian support spells and they're good to go.
 



Problem is, psionics need that differentiation even more bad.

Perhaps the easiest thing would have been to admit "between wizards and warlocks, there simply is not enough design space for a full class"

...and then remove the Sorcerer, whose main reason de etre was its spontaneous casting in 3E.
So you could have Warlocks who make a Pact with The Great Wyrm or Chaos itself, or an 'Ordo Draconis' Wizard Tradition or a rebellious non-traditional Tradition of Madwands.

This and moving them away from the vancian system, perhaps something like the warlock, but with heavier firepower and more squishy. Sorcerers were originally just a spontaneous caster variant of wizards in an edition with so many spells they could feasibly represent almost any bloodline.
That also argues to their being little need for the 5e Sorcerer. All casters are now spontaneous.
 

Having run 5E now for almost two years, and a total of more than 1.5 years worth of weekly play...

The things it got wrong, IMO:

  • Travel Mechanics - each role should have its own skill. Lookout is clearly perception. Navigation should be a separate Wis Skill. Survival should be used for Hunting/Foraging.
  • Better, clearer, and more strictly adhered to non-stacking. Magic as is pretty much almost always stacks, and promptly breaks bounded accuracy.
  • Fighter bonuses too high. When an 5th level fighter is hitting with a +10 in a weapon (+5 attribute, +3 proficiency, +2 for style) before magic... it's a bit much.
  • more subclasses for everyone
  • A generalist wizard should have been included.
  • Better option sets in the DMG
  • more allowance for specific common options in D&D AL play.
 


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