WotC WotC general D&D survey just went live.

[mamba]

Heritages in LU consist of heritage traits and a heritage gift. To make a PC with a mixed heritage, you choose the traits from one heritage and the gift from another. In the playtest, you pick all the mechanical expressions from one species, and just roleplay whatever you want. Does that seem like the same thing to you?

No you do not, or at least that is not how I understood it, it says 'choose two Race options', they can come from either race. So just like LU, except that it is more flexible (because there are no two categories where you have to pick one from each race)

So yes, the end result feels like it is very much the same, 6 in one, half a dozen in the other.

 

[Mecheon]

They could if they did it like Level Up.

I do know there’s also a bunch of well rated ones on DMs Guild that do similar

Acourse, while very doable, given this is trying to be a new starter set and basic options, I can see it not being included so as to not overwhelm people with choice paralysis. Maybe more of a “hey you could do an aasimar like this” they did in early 5e

 

[Micah Sweet]

Oh no... you can say whatever it is you want. I just find the request for someone else to tone down their snark to be a little ironic is all. LOL.

Do my rhetorical failings automatically make those of others less bad?

 

[Micah Sweet]

No you do not, or at least that is not how I understood it, it says 'choose two Race options', they can come from either race. So just like LU, except that it is more flexible (because there are no two categories where you have to pick one from each race)

So yes, the end result feels like it is very much the same, 6 in one, half a dozen in the other.

I have never heard anyone other than you take that reading of the playtest rules. Everyone I've read sees them as I wrote. What do you think "race options" are?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I do know there’s also a bunch of well rated ones on DMs Guild that do similar

Acourse, while very doable, given this is trying to be a new starter set and basic options, I can see it not being included so as to not overwhelm people with choice paralysis. Maybe more of a “hey you could do an aasimar like this” they did in early 5e

It's not for a new starter set and basic options, it's for the new PH.

 

[Mecheon]

It's not for a new starter set and basic options, it's for the new PH

Which is intended for people new to the game, among others. It’s the first presentation of an edition update, so it wants to get things across cleanly and simply. A “choose your options”, which is how these tend to end up, while useful, isn’t typically PH material

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Youre right. and I suspect there probably isnt anyone on their staff that could design any product for any edition other than 5E/1D&D. Hell they can barely design a good 5E product.

You know Crawford has written at least one game that isn’t even similar to 5e, right?

You seem to be going really hard into the “what I don’t prefer is bad, not just not to my taste” mindset with this post.

 

[R_J_K75]

You know Crawford has written at least one game that isn’t even similar to 5e, right?

Which is?

You seem to be going really hard into the “what I don’t prefer is bad, not just not to my taste” mindset with this post.

You can interpret it that way if you choose.

 

[mamba]

I have never heard anyone other than you take that reading of the playtest rules. Everyone I've read sees them as I wrote. What do you think "race options" are?

yeah, should have quoted more, basically what I quoted the first time

'Then determine which of those Race options provides your game traits: Size, Speed, and special traits. You can then mix and match visual characteristics'

Does not say that all of this (except visual) has to come from one of the two races. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I would have mixed those as well, not just the visuals (with the specials all coming from one though, basically you can pick Size, Speed and specials from either race)

 

[Pedantic]

Flavour-wise, D&D has definitely been trying new things. Nothing to the scope of Eberron in 3E, but stuff like the Radiant Citadel is bringing in new voices and worldviews that I find interesting.

Mechanics-wise, I wouldn't say they've been very exploratory at all. We haven't had anything like the 4E Essentials or late 3.5 era books (Book of Nine Swords / Magic of Incarnum) where they pushed at the limits of what the system was capable of. Instead it feels like they're just kinda spinning their wheels. Even the playtests feels more like minor house rules than anything interesting or new.

It is interesting that all of those periods of mechanical exploration hit right before the end of each edition. 3.5 had essentially a refresh of the core material between PHB2 and the second Complete line, 4e ran some mixed experiments with its resource structure, but also really nailed down some other systems, and even further back, you could connect The Player's Options books into the trend.

I'd love to see that experimentation happen more readily.