Level Up (A5E) [+] What features should a "Advanced 5E" have?

[Lylandra]

We explicitly legalized the metric system in 1866, thanks. It's currently still illegal to sell draught beer and cider in metric units in the UK.

So, you know, when y'all have finally caught up to the U.S. on legally allowing universal use of the metric system, maybe you should adopt Rebel English. Y'all went and converted from 1,000,000,000 being "one thousand million" to the American name "one billion" back in 1975, so it's a process you have familiarity with.

And you confuse all Germans learning English with this nonsense, as our Billion is 1.000.000.000.000 (and yes, we use points to separate the digits and commas for decimals.)

on a second note, y'all won't have to bother with the 6' problem in metric

 

[Morrus]

So as you probably guessed, we are going ahead with this. We've had it on the cards (in concept form) for over a year, and it's time to light a fire under it.

We are only just starting work on it, and we plan to recruit an elite team of diverse 5E designers to work on it over the coming year, along with public play tests and feedback, the whole works.

To that end, we're putting out the initial publicity stuff now -- just a mailing list and a Kickstarter notification signup. That way we can keep people notified about playtests, surveys, and other news.

Kickstarter register:

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition

Level up your 5E game! The standalone advanced 5E tabletop RPG which adds depth and diversity to the game you love! #levelup5e

www.kickstarter.com

Mailing list:

Page Not Available | Mailchimp

mailchi.mp

Now, I want to reiterate this is very early stages. We want folks to be engaged, which is why we're gathering interest at this stage. There's a lot of work ahead of us - recruiting the team, and creating our 'list' for the project, which threads like this will help us do. We'll put out a survey on that topic soonish, so sign up to the mailing list for that one.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

So as you probably guessed, we are going ahead with this. We've had it on the cards (in concept form) for over a year, and it's time to light a fire under it.

We are only just starting work on it, and we plan to recruit an elite team of diverse 5E designers to work on it over the coming year, along with public play tests and feedback, the whole works.

To that end, we're putting out the initial publicity stuff now -- just a mailing list and a Kickstarter notification signup. That way we can keep people notified about playtests, surveys, and other news.

Kickstarter register:

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition

Level up your 5E game! The standalone advanced 5E tabletop RPG which adds depth and diversity to the game you love! #levelup5e

www.kickstarter.com

Mailing list:

Page Not Available | Mailchimp

mailchi.mp

Now, I want to reiterate this is very early stages. We want folks to be engaged, which is why we're gathering interest at this stage. There's a lot of work ahead of us - recruiting the team, and creating our 'list' for the project, which threads like this will help us do. We'll put out a survey on that topic soonish, so sign up to the mailing list for that one.

This had me giggling like a schoolgirl in my living room this morning!

I'm so thrilled by this.

EDIT: will the features be playtested here? Like in a dedicated sub-forum or something?

 

[Morrus]

This had me giggling like a schoolgirl in my living room this morning!

I'm so thrilled by this.

EDIT: will the features be playtested here? Like in a dedicated sub-forum or something?

It will be similar to the way WotC or Paizo does it - -playtest packets focusing on specific things, with follow-up surveys. Definitely be on the mailing list for those!

 

[akr71]

1. De-coupling genetic/ancestry attributes from cultural attributes. Sure, all dwarves may have darkvision and resistance to poison, but why would a dwarf automatically know anything about stone or building. Same goes for elves and their automatic weapon proficiencies.

2. How about a third tier of weapon proficiencies. Call it 'militia weapons' - simple weapons would be the ones that deal d4, militia do d6 and martial deal d8. There would be some other adjustments for heavy and versatile weapons.

3. Have choosing to carry a weapon mean something. Weather that is weapon specialization or a feat, have something mechanical that makes a battle axe different from a long sword.

4. Skills. More of them and a way to get better at them.

 

[Fenris-77]

Send me all your spam, sir, I stand ready.

 

[CapnZapp]

Clearly broadcasting the specific design goals will be critical to a product such as this one. "Advanced 5e" means completely different things to different people.

How important is 5e compatibility? What does "compatibility" mean in this context (to the dev team)? Being able to use 5e adventures is one thing; being able to multiclass freely between 5e and a5e classes would be a completely different thing. For possibly the first time, the online element needs to be central: how easy would it be to use a5e characters in a roll20 or fantasy grounds campaign?

Focus on new stuff or focus on upgrading existing stuff? Will there be a "Fighter" class intended to replace the 5e Fighter, or will there be, say, a "Warrior" class intended to supplement the 5e Fighter?

"upgrading" can mean different things. For a spell, it can mean making a poor/weak spell a contender again, buffing it to be on par with a good spell of the same level. That's an example of a small tweak. On the other hand, for a class, it can mean completely ripping out the guts of, say the warlock or sorcerer class, reassembling its constituent parts to enable many more archetypal characters. That's an example of a bigger tweak. Yet another form of upgrading would be to take a cue from PF2 and make monsters more fearsome. (Presumably the A5E monster book can assume "options on" games, including feats, and whatever stuff the game adds. The 5E Monster Manual suffers from being written with an options-off assumption that makes its critters too easy to overcome by any group except those running without feats, m/c, items or an appreciable amount of powergaming)

Is the focus on taking the game in a new direction? Or more conservatively, bringing better support for, say, 3E (or OD&D etc) concepts that 5E let fall by the wayside (for Paizo to pick up the pieces)? Or even more conservatively, just focusing on what 5E already offers, but adding more crunch - in the "spirit" of 5E (without putting a "personal touch" on the new content).

An example of expanding the game would be followers or strongholds. But that's stuff that likely could be used for 5e itself. If any such supplementary material is planned, what is the reason for tying it to this specific product? (What does strongholds have to do with A5E? Why does it need to be in the A5E rules as opposed to a general 5E supplement?)

At this stage the answers aren't important. I'm supplying questions, not asking for answers.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

First of al I would want the system to be compatible with 5.0 as for what I would like:
Open up some option in the skills area, particularly out of combat.
I think that the number and way of doing skills is ok but I would like some strong DM advice ( for those that do not play outside D&D sandbox) on "Fail Forward", "Yes, but" and "Fail = Success with complications".
I would like to see a return of action points. Win action points for say difficult successes or criticals and spend them for inspiration or accumulate a few and spend for an action surge.
Prestige classes, perhaps as a feat harness.

 

[Minigiant]

Got another one.

Fluency rules

• Giving PCs levels of fluency (non-fluent, elementary, limited working, professional, native).
• Choosing native languages
• Separating read, write,and listen
• Having accents
• Having dialects
• Using idioms and figured of speech
• Adjustments of social spells (comprehend language, tongues, speak with X)

 

[Haldrik]

A ranger without magic and a full warlord class

I think of these as:

Skirmisher (light armor) − athletic stunts, grappling, unarmed combat, speed
− nonmagic ranger archetype
− nonmagic monk martial artist archetype
− possibly magic archetypes

Knight (heavy armor) − formal military education, heavy weapons, tactics, history/culture, deception/trickery, morale, persuasion, intimidation, empathy
− nonmagic warlord, inspiration to restore nonzero hit points
− "lazylord" via granting actions to allies, by setting up, coaching to call attention to openings
− possibly magic archetypes (≈ Paladin, Eldritch Knight, etc.)