D&D 5E Why I Feel Hopeful about 5E (and why I think it may be closer than some think)

[Sadras]

I can see why you would feel this way, with at will magic, and tactical combat blast spells, and limited short range teleports. But one thing I appreciated about 4e was that, if you could stomach the aforementioned caveats, it really kind of limited the world changing magic to a large degree with use of rituals and such. Sure instantaneous or short duration/range magic was plentiful, but things like fly, long range teleportation, Scrying and such where limited. Even something as low level as rope trick is quite a world changer when you think about it. One thing I hope 5e works on is re-balancing the spell list a little, which seems to have been ported over from 3e wholesale with a few tweaks.

You are right, 4E had a very limited world changing magic. And I really enjoyed the blend of blasting and ritual magic which they seem to have incorporated some within 5E. Rituals were definitely a flavourful element that needed to be kept. But lets take your issues and look for solutions. Fly - Just remove it from the spell list. Problem solved. I personally do not like Flying Wizards, its just to Matrix for my taste. Teleportation - why don't you just adopt 4E style with rituals and such and ignore the Teleportation spell of D&DN altogether. Do the same with Scrying and Invisibility. We really have very little to do - with so many systems and ideas to draw from. It might seem like a lot of work to continuously check the spell list, but I'm finding it relatively easy - as there is little else of the system that needs my changing. Magic is always a setting concern - just establish the limits. For instance, in my campaign, one of the magic limitations is that only 1 spell may be in effect on a person - i.e. Invisibility or Wind Walk not both and its usually the higher level magic. See how that limits magic? Perhaps you wish to be more lenient and allow as many as the Intelligence modifier of the caster ...etc caster...etc. Another one incorporated into our Campaign is for those Cantrip spammers, after a certain period of time - the spammer could be affected by a number of temporary conditions:1) Temporary blindness (sensitivity to light) - perhaps he cast the Light Cantrip too many times. 2) Partial numbness of the extremities or tongue 3) Fatigue/Exhaustion 4) Cold Shivers 5) Pounding headaches with an inability to Concentrate 6) Diarrhoea ...etc Apologies, I do not know what I'm doing wrong but my reply is coming out in block form - so annoying.

 

[Mercurius]

I came across this thread from last November after posting my "Chiropractic Adjustment" thread. I had to parse this bit out as I was pretty darn close....

Without pinning myself down to specific dates, I think we’ll hear an announcement sometime early in the year, possibly even January, with a series of previews and hype leading up to a major release—either an introductory set or the three core rulebooks—sometime in the summer, and a further major product at GenCon and a relatively heavy publishing schedule from late summer through the end of the year.

Whatever the specific dates are, I have a hard time believing that by this time next year, many or most of us won’t be playing 5E. And hopefully it will be a wonderful iteration of the Greatest Game In The World.

Make it so, Mearls.

I stand by the date I put forth soon after they announced 5E - 06/06/2014

Where is it, Mark? It is June 6th!

And then I replied with this:

I think your date is about right. If I had to guess, as I said in the other thread I'd say:

January: Announcement
Feb - May: Previews, hype machine
June: Starter set
July: Expansion adventure
August (GenCon): Holy Trinity
Sept - December: A deluge of materials, including Forgotten Realms book, adventures, advanced modules, etc. I could see a deluxe 40th anniversary edition of the holy trinity out in November in time for the holidays

I know, still no specific dates. Alas.

I can live with that.

 

[TerraDave]

Sure, but lots of people thought GenCon 2014. (though I think some of us also thought GenCon 2013...).

 

[Mark CMG]

Where is it, Mark? It is June 6th!

It's right here -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?355660-Pages-from-the-PHB

 

[SavageCole]

I think where a lot of people inevitably get upset, and some will get upset with 5E, no matter how great it is, is when they get too attached to their own unique brand of D&D. I think Mearls & Co are trying to create a form of D&D that is as adaptable as possible to different variants, that is made to be house ruled - that encourages it, even. So the system will be simply, but the entire body of D&D ideas will be usable in whatever combination individual DMs and campaigns so desire.

Spot on!

d&d is so amazing that people have really emotionally invested in it, and their individual concepts of what is d&d is very personal. Our views are formed from our diverse gaming experiences with our own groups of friends. So I like a game that acknowledges this and provides flexibility to season according to tastes. I am cautiously optimistic that 5e will do this, but I am infinitely confident that my group will have fun with 5e, because we will adapt (it, or ourselves) and joyfully plunge into creative collaboration with the game and each other every time we sit down to roll dice and make up (aka play make believe, or whatever pompous tabletop narrative storytelling label is popular these days).

As for me, I'm quite geeked up for 5e and think the next 6-12 weeks are going to feel long. I want to play now!