D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[TiQuinn]

It's not an official setting, but I think @SlyFlourish 's City of Arches is built on the rules conceits of the 5e ecosystem.

From its design it is crafted so any combination of nature, nurture and heroic path are possible -- no matter how weird and offbeat they feel to us old timers.
The enemies are not purely evil, but shades of grey. The minimization of alignment in 5e is reflected in this choice.
There are dungeons, but there's also a stronger sense of urban play.

Same goes for Ptolus in 3e. Monte Cook wanted to create a city setting that was everything D&D turned up to 11, and he used it as his play test campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

because they were irrelevant or because they explicitly do not have them?

Don’t have them. 5e Background is a gameplay mechanic for PCs. NPCs have whatever skills and abilities their role requires.

We can assume they have some personal history, which is irrelevant.

 

[Remathilis]

And if this isnt enough to differentiate from the various settings that were pre-existing, I dont know what could be.

I mean depending on how much we want to nerd out over things, some of those are very fundamental and have no business either being changed, or existing in the older settings.

I think it's more a notion of emphasis. If I was making a setting designed explicitly to emphasize the new elements, those are what I would focus on. But all of those things can be added to any legacy setting (at least the kitchen sink ones) and maintain spirit of the setting. Nothing there is a explicitly out of bounds. Greyhawk already had psionics and smokepowder. The Realms had artificers. Aasimar and tieflings have been playable since 2e and easily spread across the multiverse via Sigil. The only settings that you have to take pause with is Dark Sun and Dragonlance, and even those limitations are more guidelines than actual rules.

 

[Azzy]

And if this isnt enough to differentiate from the various settings that were pre-existing, I dont know what could be.

I mean depending on how much we want to nerd out over things, some of those are very fundamental and have no business either being changed, or existing in the older settings.

Sure, some like DS and DL (which are curated settings), but others like GH and FR that have always accommodated additions (whether from additional products in the edition that introduced the setting or from subsequent editions) to the game, not so much.

 

[Scribe]

The only settings that you have to take pause with is Dark Sun and Dragonlance, and even those limitations are more guidelines than actual rules.

To a point, I agree. We wont see eye to eye on this though so, have a good rest of your day.

 

[Remathilis]

I appreciate this perspective. I am generally ambivalent about changes to settings to accommodate new edition rules and vibes. I don't regard the settings to be sacrosanct.

But I still think a setting built for a particular ruleset or edition is preferable.

I mean, when Eberron came out, it was touted as a setting designed for modern (WotC) era D&D, which at the time meant magic shops and any race being any class. But I think if Eberron has just been that, it wouldn't have lasted. Eberron brought a lot of unique flavor to D&D you didn't get in Greyhawk or Realms, and that flavor carried it into 4e and 5e. So yes, a 5.5 designed setting would be preferable, but it needs to be more.

Thing of it this way: what unique things did Nerath/Nentir Vale bring to the table besides perfect compatibility to 4e? What was it doing that couldn't be done in Greyhawk or the Realms? (And that's not a slight at it, I think it could be a great setting for 5e, but it needs a hook better than "the default setting for 4e".)

 

[Reynard]

I mean, when Eberron came out, it was touted as a setting designed for modern (WotC) era D&D, which at the time meant magic shops and any race being any class. But I think if Eberron has just been that, it wouldn't have lasted. Eberron brought a lot of unique flavor to D&D you didn't get in Greyhawk or Realms, and that flavor carried it into 4e and 5e. So yes, a 5.5 designed setting would be preferable, but it needs to be more.

Sure. I don't think anyone wants a boring setting, except Greyhawk fans.*

Thing of it this way: what unique things did Nerath/Nentir Vale bring to the table besides perfect compatibility to 4e? What was it doing that couldn't be done in Greyhawk or the Realms? (And that's not a slight at it, I think it could be a great setting for 5e, but it needs a hook better than "the default setting for 4e".)

I do not know.

*I kid! Pitchforks down.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a dragonborn Kingdom where each of the colors of Dragonborns were A noble house and common dragonborn wear a colored brown and would have random dragon ancestories.

ok so im having trouble understanding what you mean here. every dragonborn color is a noble house...but then there's commoners who just wear brown? or do you mean the commoners have brown scales and "wear" is a typo?

in either case i wonder if it'd be more interesting to split it by dragon type. so like maybe the metallics are the nobility and the chromatics commoners/warriors and gems are like the merchant and/or philosopher classes. or maybe the chromatics are a warrior nobility and the metallics commoners. just so commoners have a little more variety then brown.

 

[Reynard]

ok so im having trouble understanding what you mean here. every dragonborn color is a noble house...but then there's commoners who just wear brown? or do you mean the commoners have brown scales and "wear" is a typo?

in either case i wonder if it'd be more interesting to split it by dragon type. so like maybe the metallics are the nobility and the chromatics commoners/warriors and gems are like the merchant and/or philosopher classes. or maybe the chromatics are a warrior nobility and the metallics commoners. just so commoners have a little more variety then brown.

It's weird that no one wants evil orcs but we are going to do a draconic caste system based on scale color.

 

[Azzy]

It's weird that no one wants evil orcs but we are going to do a draconic caste system based on scale color.

Yeah, it's not a good look, IMO.