D&D 5E What does 5E NEED

[GameOgre]

I think the list of what we all want for 5E is endless and although fun to talk about not the focus of this thread.

Instead what do you think D&D 5E NEEDS? Not in order to sell the most product, not to beat anyone else or but what does it NEED to put out in order to offer the best role playing experience?

My list started off something like this.

Adventures, More Monster books, Adventures, A setting guide, Adventures, A Handbook with more class's backgrounds, spells, Adventures!

Basically what I wanted was WOTC to turn into Piazo but with D&D! Then the wife mentioned to me how off I am on Pathfinder right now. I own like $800 of Pathfinder books but mostly stopped playing it. See Pathfinder feed my crazy need to buy buy buy more and more stuff that I thought made my game better but in the end detracted from the game. Now keep in mind I could have simply not bought all those books and kept the game much less complex and not added layer after layer of crunch to my table. This is indeed a self inflicted wound. Also I realize that one persons wound is another persons heaven(err whatever,you get my meaning).

With D&D now ridding the rules medium buss and playing very well at my table I think adding tons of rule books over the next four years would just end with my book case with another $800 on it and me wanted to play something else.

So what does the game NEED over the next four years to keep it on my table?

Some sort of third party deal so that I can pick and choose third party stuff as I need(mostly one shot adventures for when im lazy).
Well for sure it needs more monsters. I think one new monster book a year would be nice. With a total of 4 monster books being ideal.
One expanded spellbook with tons of new spells for all the casters.
One rule book with optional rules that expand the core class's. Give each class more options and backgrounds ect..

In addition to this stuff they could release fluff setting books. A edition free setting book for each of the D&D worlds with articles released online that tune each world for the edition.

That's it.

So like four years from now I could still load all my books into my backpack for the ride to game night but still have enough released that it remains a healthy game.

I'm not sure that is true though. See ordinarily I would look at that small amount of sales and think that there is no way that would be enough. However since WOTC really does use the D&D brand in so many other ways to turn a profit perhaps they could do it?

Now like I said at the start, this is not what I would like to see from D&D 5E. Heck it's not even 20% of it. Perhaps though in this regard I am my own worst enemy as far as that goes. My shelves don't really need another $800 worth of books that are not being played on them.

But even if I got my list of what the game needs. Would that be enough for me? At this point am I so far gone in my crave for new that with such a slight book schedule I would grow too unhappy and move on to another system? I just don't know.

What do you think the game NEEDS in order to be the game being played on your table four years from now?

 

[Paraxis]

Four years from now? I have no idea. I could be coming to here everyday looking for scoops on 6e, I could be playing Savage Worlds, or Pathfinder 2e, or some game not even thought of yet. But sure I like D&D so good chance I will be playing 5e. Does it matter what splat books they put out, honestly not so much. 5e is easy to convert stuff for and we have decades of good material a lot of which is sitting on my bookshelves already.

All of that said, I guess I think 5e needs some new ideas and new ideas come from new people and so my hope is for some type of official 3rd party support license, but for now I am glad to see people putting stuff out like En5ider magazine and the new books from Frog God Games.

 

[Sailor Moon]

5th edition needs more options, not necessarily rules.

Subclasses, feats, gear, backgrounds, monsters, racial goodies, short adventures, class options such as Warlock pacts, and campaign setting material.

Again, you don't have to go the Paizo route and still produce a fair amount of material.

 

[Staffan]

In the short term (1-2 years), I would like to see about equal focus on adventures, setting material, and rule crunch - somewhat more on adventures, somewhat less on rule crunch. The rule crunch could in turn be split into about equal amounts of monsters and player crunch.

Long term, I would de-emphasize the crunch bits - after the PHB, some things would be low-hanging fruit (e.g. more subclasses, particularly cleric domains and sorcerer origins), but investing in this area would definitely bring diminishing returns. Similarly, more monsters are fun, and the game could definitely use some filling out at higher levels as well as some care taken to look at the spells that conjure monsters and make sure that they have options available for them. But there are definitely diminishing returns there too, and I'd like to see them avoid the "box-checking" of old when it comes to planar beings ("OK, so we have devils in Hell and demons in the Abyss... let's add daemons in Hades, and demodands in Tartarus, and...). Perhaps the first (or second) year should have both a Monster Manual and an Unearthed Arcana book, and then they could alternate every other year.

I would also gradually go to more setting material and fewer adventures. I think the need for adventures is the greatest at the start of an edition, mostly to serve as examples of "here's how to do it" and to build up a small library of good ones. But once DMs get their feet under them, setting material is more useful to them as inspiration for making their own adventures.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The only thing I think the game will "need" by the time that fourth year rolls around are e-book versions. I suspect that in this time that e-books will begin to really incorporate graphics and pictures into their e-books, and when that happens, e-books and their respective tablets/e-readers will become even more the standard to society on the whole and the D&D game manuals will need to follow suit. We'll see a much larger cross-section of people with tablets at the game table (or any table for that matter), and having the manuals available in there will almost be a requirement.

I seriously don't believe they "need" anything else. Do I think they'll give us additional stuff in the next four years anyway? Absolutely. We'll see probably another 6 to 8 adventure path hardcovers/softcovers over the next four years (with additional minor player material to support them), probably one or two more Monster Manuals, and a host of material contributed to the game from other game companies (either through the actual OGL, or just released as their own entities because they know *wink wink* that WotC and the D&D department will turn a blind eye to them when they do.)

I really think this is going to be the era of "The game is the game. It's really fun. Just play it." And they aren't going to bury those 3 core books under a mountain of other crap.

Then again... that's just my opinion... I could be wrong.

 

[DaveMage]

Good conversion guides to use products from other D&D editions.

If they made those, drivethrurpg would already provide anything anyone ever needed.

 

[Umbrathys]

Not to beat a dead horse... And my apologies to horses everywhere... But I really need comprehensive psionic rules. Something within the current rule-set framework of D&D5E, but something "different" from magic (just an example: minor psionics follow similar rules as cantrips. Devotions cost 1 power point to use and 1 power point to scale. Sciences cost 2 to use and 2 to scale. Each specialty gains unique abilities similar to wizard's school specialties. Etc.). I don't necessarily "need" Dark Sun 5E (I am perfectly capable of using any version of any setting across the years for my campaigns, even making up my own when an idea strikes me), but I am not a game designer. So, a functional, crunchy wrapped in a bunch of fluff, rules-set would satisfy my needs
I would even pay top dollar per page ($70 - $80 for 168 pages, etc.). Here's my money! Someone come and take it

 

[Kaychsea]

Imagination and letting go of the past.

 

[Cernor]

What 5e needs is a race that gives +2 Wis.

As it is, 5e doesn't need anything, as it has all the guidelines you'd need to create things which you think you need. That being said, rules for creating scrolls and potions would be nice, as well as clarification on the rules for hiding. While I could houserule something in or make a ruling on the fly, they could release something in UA to make the creation of potions and scrolls worthwhile (because as it is now you'd be better off using your time and gold to make permanent magic items). And we can always use more classes, races, and monsters.

 

[Umbran]

What do you think the game NEEDS in order to be the game being played on your table four years from now?

I think what it needs to be played on my table may not bet the same as what it needs to be played on someone else's.

For example, you say adventures, adventures, adventures. I like adventures, and could use some. But, probably more than adventures, I can use adventure seeds.

For other gamers, it may need character options, because some folks won't play a game unless there's the ability to make a character that is mechanically interesting for them - and interesting for some is being hugely kickass, for others it is being hugely complicated, and so on.

I think what it needs most of all, then, is a decent licensing paradigm. I'm not sure OGL is actually decent for this, but the 4e licensing was also not useful. Something in between. Something that follows the spirit of the adage, "An open mind is one thing; letting geese run around in there is quite another." An allowance for people other than WotC to play in some rationally limited way so that all the various needs of publishers and player types is met. I am not a lawyer, or a publisher, so I don't know what would actually work. For all I know, having really active staff pursuing more traditional licenses with various 3PP would do the trick.