D&D 5E What would 5E be like if the playtest's modularity promise was kept?

[dave2008]

Yeah, I remember it being said at one point that you’d be able to have each player playing a character built like it was from a different edition, and even at the time that sounded like a pretty absurd claim. But, I gave WotC the benefit of the doubt that they were trying to build an edition that would be highly customizable, and I don’t think that ever really came to fruition.

I guess I disagree in that I believe 5e is highly customizable. What I would agree with is: Wotc has not support a lot of, or deep, customization.

 

[Parmandur]

I guess I disagree in that I believe 5e is highly customizable. What I would agree with is: Wotc has not support a lot of, or deep, customization.

And I think they changed their tune based on their market research: they wanted a big tent, but they hadn't yet figured out what that constituted amon players.

 

[Maxperson]

Honey and wine can do that too.

Honey is different and wine goes bad.

Being dehydrated (and thus preserved) is not 'unhealthy'

No. Leave a piece of potato out and see if it dehydrates or quickly looks worse than a McDonald's fry that has been sitting for 50 years.

Science isn't evil.

Ooooooookay. I'm not sure why you had to say that.

Hemlock and anthrax are all natural. Penicillin is processed.

There's a difference between "processed" and "processed food" which has a specific meaning that is used. "Processed foods" are not good for you, even if other foods that don't fall into the "processed food" category are "processed."

 

[Charlaquin]

I guess I disagree in that I believe 5e is highly customizable. What I would agree with is: Wotc has not support a lot of, or deep, customization.

Yeah, that’s a fair point. 5e is pretty customizable, it’s just that the customization isn’t really supported in the way that was originally pitched.

 

[dave2008]

Honey is different and wine goes bad.

No. Leave a piece of potato out and see if it dehydrates or quickly looks worse than a McDonald's fry that has been sitting for 50 years.

Ooooooookay. I'm not sure why you had to say that.

There's a difference between "processed" and "processed food" which has a specific meaning that is used. "Processed foods" are not good for you, even if other foods that don't fall into the "processed food" category are "processed."

What the hell is this argument!

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, that’s a fair point. 5e is pretty customizable, it’s just that the customization isn’t really supported in the way that was originally pitched.

Well, that much is true. But it isn't because the system can't do it.

 

[Parmandur]

What the hell is this argument!

I don't know who or what he is responding to, but it must be a doozy.

 

[Vaalingrade]

What the hell is this argument!

How popular pseudo-science is high quality.

 

[FrogReaver]

This should have been a pole question. On a scale of 1 -10 how modular is 5e.

 

[Ondath]

This should have been a pole question. On a scale of 1 -10 how modular is 5e.

The thing is, while this is a valid question (and despite what I say in the beginning, I think there is absolutely some modularity to 5E), it really wasn't what I had in mind. I was much more interested in discussing what a 5E that could reasonably emulate all editions within it would look like (which is what Monte Cook and the early design goals of the playtest indicated). The fact that most of the pages discuss not this but prefer dunking on the thread by saying "5E IS modular, duh" or going off onto a tangent about quality is a bit sad (also, once again, the point about OSE's model of genre rules is completely ignored!).