Where do you see (or want) 5.0 to go?

[bagger245]

Last of all, I expect 5E to continue the tradition of being hated by fans of earlier editions more than the previous edition. If you as a fan of older versions of D&D dislike 4E, I fully expect 5E to be worse in that regard.

Yes. Anyone who hopes it will be like 3.5e or even AD&D is just dreaming. Future D&D will cater to kids who are just born around this time..

 

[ashockney]

Rechan, All of that = AWESOME! You're getting XP, good sir!

A lot like 4e, but even more streamlined. I really

dislike how basically your class/build hangs so important on a primary ability score, and that ability score needs to be huge. This makes multi-classing out of your primary score a pain in the ass, and gives huge incentive to play a race with the boost to that primary score, as well as having low stats except for your primary/secondary score or else "the maths" doesn't work.

No "Expertise" BS ever. Make "The math" work from day one.

Magical weapons aren't needed at all for "The Math" to work, therefore magical weapons can be made COOL, Unique, and Rare, rather than "+1 sword that does +d6 fire damage on a daily". I'd be happy if folks only had 1-3 magical items their entire career - and clung to them. Magical items are not in the economy.

Abstract the economy and integrate favors, boons, resources (Keeps et al) as part of it.

Tie combat powers/class features to the Combat Role, but create a separate Out of Combat Role and tie skills to that. Something like 'Scholar' 'Scout' 'Sneak' 'Socialite' 'Tough Guy' 'Athlete'. Each of these comes with a package of skills. This way, your Fighter is a Defender, but he can also be a Scholar (and have knowledge skills rather than physical ones), a Cleric can be a Sneak (stealthy and thiefy) and a Wizard can be a socialite (with social skills instead of knowledge).

Revitalize skill challenges; they don't go far enough. Instead, model them after combat, with various options. For instance social combat (whittling away resolve/putting conditions) instead of just "Bluff/intimidate/diplomacy vs. DC". Silo non-combat powers to the Out of Combat/Skill Role.

I almost want to see the system look like lego blocks; you can plug a piece in or leave it out, and it doesn't effect the Game. Such as a player picking a Class Feature package, a Combat Role, and Non-Combat Role. Leaving the economy out, leaving magical weapons out, or leaving COMBAT OUT is purely OK - you can assemble and run a game without one of the other parts.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Likewise, the PCs get some sort of Plot Agency, say 300 per person, with Plot Surges that they can use to get more. These are a weird mix of physical health, social standing, luck, pluck, and cunning. They replace hit points and healing surges, and instead of representing how close to death you are, they represent how close to failure you are.

Of course I'm getting less cunning. This orc keeps hitting me in the head with an axe!

 

[Raven Crowking]

Of course I'm getting less cunning. This orc keeps hitting me in the head with an axe!

I thought it was a pie?

 

[Nagol]

I thought it was a pie?

Looks like an axe to me! Giant In the Playground Games

 

[Jack Daniel]

I'll repeat here what I've argued on the WotC forums:

As it stands right now, D&D (even Essentials) is too bloated and complex. It won't draw in the new gamers. It certainly won't snag the grognards. By not having a simple, casual, play-out-of-the box core to the D&D game, WotC isn't getting my money. I'm standing here with a pile of money that I'd love to give to WotC, if only they produced a product that catered to my needs; but they don't.

5th edition needs to be simple. Ditch the powers, ditch the grid. System mastery? The character-building mini-game? There's no reason at all to put any of that stuff in the core rules of the game. Sell a simple "essence of D&D" as core, and put the complex tactical combat, the piles of powers for character building, and all that other nonsense in hardcover supplements. That way,

1) WotC gets everybody's money for the core game. People who would normally abandon D&D in favor of Savage Worlds or a retro-clone would be inclined, I think, to play a reasonably "basic" flavored 5th edition.

2) WotC would further get money from the roughly half of the player base that seems to enjoy drawn-out combat encounters being the centerpiece of the game session; and from the roughly half (not the same half but probably lots of overlap) of players who want to build powerful characters out of legos.

That's the way to please the broadest possible number of players. The best way to go? Ditch the PHB, DMG, and MM model. Swap for a new hardcover trilogy:

(1) Core Rules. Everything you need to play a Heroic Tier game. Character generation (not creation, generation), the basic four classes, the basic four races, lists of spells and monsters and magic items, the basic Dungeon Mastering procedures.
(2) Advanced Player's Handbook. Rules for character creation. All the character build stuff that doesn't really need to be in the core game. All of the extra races and sub-classes; feats; a more complex variation on the core skill system; Book of Nine Swords style "spells for fighters."
(3) Advanced Combat & Tactics. For players who like a little wargame in their RPGs. Optional rules like using grids, push-me pull-you square shifting stuff, tweaking HP totals to make combat longer, and the fine mechanical distinction between wielding a glaive vs. a guisarme vs. a bardiche.

 

[josha]

I think 5e should be a mutant hybrid of AD&D, 4e, and THIS.

It would bring back resource management, varying class complexity, the absence of miniatures combat in the core rules, and 3.5 style multi-classing.

Kind of like 3.5, but with AD&D style fluff, simpler rules, and some of the best aspects of 4e.

 

[Dice4Hire]

For good or ill, 5E will be online with a monthly or yearly subscription. 4E is moving strongly that way now, and 5E will be even stronger.

5E will not be started until all the tools for 4E are figured out.

 

[josha]

It might also be cool if WotC used Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk as the core setting in 5e. That way, they could build on an already awesome and fleshed out setting, instead of creating something boring, second rate, and overly generic (such as the Nentir Vale).

 

[Kaodi]

I wonder if you could solve some of the adventure day problem by simply reversing the way in which whatever passes for encounter and daily powers in the next edition work. Your limited powers are not what you gain back after resting. Rather, they are what you lose after resting. Call it groove, andrenaline, urgency, or whatever, but you need to build it up during the course of the day before you can pull out the big guns. Maybe it does not all disappear after a single rest, and maybe there are circumstance bonuses to it, but I think it could make things more interesting.