D&D 5E (2024) What Improvements Would You Want with 6E?

[Son of the Serpent]

How about 6e finally admits that Ranger aren't a real thing and just folds them back into Fighter?

I figured they were a fighter with multiclass in druid. And racism so potent they fight better when its poked

Obligatory im just kidding. I pass the tom sawyer test and do not see racism everywhere delusionally. Just a joke.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Admittedly it was for a parody, but I did a "5th level Magic-user" Gandalf I was pretty happy with in 1e, 3e & 4e. Specifically:

9th level Fighter/5th level magic user, "character with two classes" and a Staff of the Magi & Ring of Fire Elemental Command - and psionic* enough to destroy a Type VI demon, one-on-one.

5th level half-celestial* wizard, same items.

5th level Deva* Wizard.

* Because, y'know, Gandalf was a Maiar.

As long as you're a 5th level magic-user, it counts!

Actually that would do it (probably without the psionics tbh).

Also nice touch with making him half celestial. I forgot about that.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Yeah, according to him, and his entirely off-screen A-game. But, yeah, in 4e, you could literally be a Demigod, not that you'd need to be...
Admittedly it was for a parody, but I did a "5th level Magic-user" Gandalf I was pretty happy with in 1e, 3e & 4e. Specifically:

9th level Fighter/5th level magic user, "character with two classes" (hilariously, every time he drew Glamdring, he got no exp!) and a Staff of the Magi & Ring of Fire Elemental Command - and psionic* enough to destroy a Type VI demon, one-on-one.

5th level half-celestial* wizard, same items.

5th level Deva* Wizard.

* Because, as you know, Gandalf was a quasi-angelic Maiar.

As long as you're a 5th level magic-user, it counts!

And staff of the magi too. Nice. I think you actually hit all the bases.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Actually that would do it (probably without the psionics tbh).

I just like how it'd've let him beat the Type VI Demon, without anyone else even seeing how he did it. Kinda fit. Also, it was the closest I could come, in 1e, to making him even vaguely angelic - because psionics was heavily associated with outer-planes beings in 1e. A stretch, but it worked on both levels.

My 3.5e version had the minor problem of having absolutely no chance vs the Balor.

And staff of the magi too. Nice. I think you actually hit all the bases.

Yeah, in the books, it sounds like the staff is maybe just a tool, the power is his, but the D&D Staff of the Magi does do a number of Gandalf Tricks leading up to the Bridge, including shattering it and the 'fall' leading them into that bizarre off-screen battle (Retributive Strike: 50% chance you shift to another plane). After that, the Staff of Power fits what Gandalf the White did with it.

I was exposed to D&D right before LotR, so it was like "oh, Ring of Air Elemental Comman" "oh, elven chainmail, elven cloak & boots" "oh, +1/+2 vs goblinoids" "oh, Crystal Hypnosis Ball" "Oh, Staff of the Magi"..."Oh, Hold Portal..."

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I just like how it'd've let him beat the Type VI Demon, without anyone else even seeing how he did it. Kinda fit. Also, it was the closest I could come, in 1e, to making him even vaguely angelic - because psionics was heavily associated with outer-planes beings in 1e. A stretch, but it worked on both levels.

The 5e version had the minor problem of having absolutely no chance vs the Balor.

That part too actually. You actually fought something pretty equivalent to a balrog. You lived the dream lol.

 

[Undrave]

I figured they were a fighter with multiclass in druid. And racism so potent they fight better when its poked

Sounds like a subclass to me!

The Ranger is just three subclasses: the woodsy martial guy, the woodsy guy with a bit of druid magic, and the Beastmaster

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You asserted that designing games and selling them are separate, but hardly demonstrated the point. Game design is about creating an experience for people to enjoy. Getting people to enjoy the experience is included in that process, by neccesity.

Ad populum is a fallacy when asserting universal, abstract truth by appeal to popular opinion ("2+2=5 because that's what people put in tests"). When the matter in question is what is popular or what will be successful in achieving popularity, that is not fallacious. Game design is Rhetoric, not Logic.

I’d say it’s Pathos, not Logos, but yeah basically.

I have never really seen this, bit I only play with friends and family at home.

There was one guy, friend of a friend, who came to one session in college blazed out of his mind who wanted to be some combination of Billy Joel and Doctor Who, but that was a rather special incident of incoherence that no system could have helped.

GURPS could do it!

But you CAN live up to and surpass both. Just doesnt happen immediately. And not in 4th or 5th edition.

It’s easier to do in those two editions than in earlier ones, but okay.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I’d say it’s Pathos, not Logos, but yeah basically.



GURPS could do it!

It’s easier to do in those two editions than in earlier ones, but okay.

I have a high standard for "living up to" something. You have to match or exceed something in varience, scale, fluidity, power, and same capabilities without any missing all at once with all these qualities applying to eachother simultaneously.

So for instance can you cast fireball? Ok. Can you cast fireball at a moment's notice without several seconds preceding it? How many (and specifically which ones) spells can you do that with? Do you have a lot of different spells? Which ones? Are the right ones able to happen without incantation (and obviously there are several that dont need that requirement). Can you shapechange without the use of a class feature? Thats another thing. How or why you are able to do something is part of it too. Gandalf has many abilities durectly due to the type of beingbhe is rather than being a wizard. And many other issues. It will be a challenge. That or you probably arent hitting the nail on the head as well as u think u are.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Gandalf isnt simple

 

[Tony Vargas]

GURPS could do it!

Well, if you used material from both GURPS: Dr Who and GURPS: River of Dreams.