D&D (2024) Why no new packs since late September?

[Micah Sweet]

There is a fair amount of shuffling, but so far all the basics components are still there.
Rogues still have sneak attack, cunning action, and uncanny dodge.
Bards still have spells and inspiration.
Rangers still have multi-attack and half the spells.

I see no need for a new monster manual.

The issue with the MM is all the humanoids. They're going to want to re-write a lot of entries.

 

[mellored]

The issue with the MM is all the humanoids. They're going to want to re-write a lot of entries.

Why?
It doesn't matter if monsters get +2 dex +1 con from their race or +2 dex +1 con from their background. The total is the same.

So their damage, defenses, and hit points they have will all be the same.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why?
It doesn't matter if monsters get +2 dex +1 con from their race or +2 dex +1 con from their background. The total is the same.

So their damage, defenses, and hit points they have will all be the same.

I'm talking about how they're portrayed in the lore write-ups, not the mechanics. We can't have humanoids portrayed as evil anymore, remember? Beyond that, culture is being drastically cut except in setting books, so what are they going to write about? Ohysical characteristics only? We may end up with a lore dearth similar to 4e's original MM.

 

[tetrasodium]

Do you have math to back that up?
Or is it just what you are afraid of?

I agree that 6e PCs will probably be stronger based on an assumption & a flaw in 5e. It's going to be a few days before I'm back home from holiday stuff so this is pulling from memory & some speculation.

5e PCs aren't so much strong as utterly insulated from risking ways that make them godlike.
The vaguely unspecified 1-10 exhaustion is too similar to death at negative ten for there not to be a replacement to death saves or sidebar option at the very least.

Take the bard reaction heal with bardic inspiration & barkskin (THP) HoT.. Without the death save shift stripping away one of the most obnoxious layers of risk insulation these kinds of shifts would just make the already excessive durability into something comically fitting loony tunes better than d&d.

Assuming that holds true PCs need the ability to make strategic decisions with more depth than "nova now?.. Yes or no?" & "save scum rest now yes/no.". With that strategic depth players are suddenly able to work together leveraging reciprocity for force multiplication or to fail as a team when main characters engaging in whatever the heck "protagonist play" near each other in a team game.


There are still a few missing pieces in the gm's toolkit and a lot of blank slates but the potential is there.

 

[Corinnguard]

Unless they take a page from Pathfinder 1st edition, and relegate the cultural lore to accessory books such as the Elves of Golarion, Blood of Angels or Inner Sea Races. The first two are unlikely given the number of races in 5e. But a remake of Races of Faerun for One D&D is still a possibility.

 

[mellored]

I'm talking about how they're portrayed in the lore write-ups, not the mechanics. We can't have humanoids portrayed as evil anymore, remember? Beyond that, culture is being drastically cut except in setting books, so what are they going to write about? Ohysical characteristics only? We may end up with a lore dearth similar to 4e's original MM.

Can't say I pay much attention to the lore. But culture (background) and race are kind of 2 different things now. That allows for more combinations, which is a good thing IMO. I can more easily make goblins wizards and tiefling barbarians.

Still don't see why the monster manual needs to change. The stereotypical sneaky evil goblin works just fine.

But I was more commenting on power creep. Which I just don't see. It looks more balanced, not less.

 

[Blue]

They are releasing two D&D Editions?

OneDnD and 6e?

I even heard about a third one. 5.5. But I am not sure about that.

They're releasing zero D&D editions, since it's all "Just D&D" according to their video. It's just the 50th Anniversay books being published in 2024 that is still the same game. As they say. Again and again. There is no new edition. Really. They promise. Buy books in 2023, it's all one happy edition.

OneD&D is a playtest name, just like D&D Next. It's not an edition.

 

[JEB]

Still don't see why the monster manual needs to change. The stereotypical sneaky evil goblin works just fine.

Enough people disagreed that we got Monsters of the Multiverse, so it's practically a certainty that the Monster Manual will get the same kind of treatment in 1D&D.

 

[Blue]

Enough people disagreed that we got Monsters of the Multiverse, so it's practically a certainty that the Monster Manual will get the same kind of treatment in 1D&D.

Heh, before 5e came out we got 13th Age, a d20 from lead designers of D&D 3.0 and 4e. It's in playtest for a new edition currently. One of the things that they are saying is that individual monster math and design will stay the same, so the their monster books will completely rremain untouched.

On the other hand, the encounter building rules got an overhaul and are being playtested.

 

[mellored]

The vaguely unspecified 1-10 exhaustion is too similar to death at negative ten for there not to be a replacement to death saves or sidebar option at the very least.

I have never seen exhaustion show up in any of my games. But this new version seems much more usable.

Take the bard reaction heal with bardic inspiration

It is harder to waste (or forget), but you get less uses.

& barkskin (THP) HoT..

The old Barkskin was nearly useless. So replacing it didn't change anything.

The new one is effectively Heroism, which any cleric could of cast since 2014. No one thought it was overpowered before.

Without the death save shift stripping away one of the most obnoxious layers of risk insulation these kinds of shifts would just make the already excessive durability into something comically fitting loony tunes better than d&d.

Not sure how that is a new problem. Healing word and Aura of vitality yo-yo has existed.

Though my personal house rule for this play test was going unconscious gave you a level of (new) exhaustion.

Worked really nicely IMO. It provided a slow ramp to more and more dangerous territory and some tense decisions. Do you push on to the final fight with -2, let the rogue the front line for a bit, or is discretion the better part of valor.