D&D (2024) YOU are in charge of the next PHB! What do you change?

[Minigiant]

Rogue can already disengage & attack (in either order) thanks to Cunning Action.

The idea is that Disengage and Dodge get upgraded like the Attack action.

Attack -> Extra Attack
Dodge -> Extra Dodge
Disengage- Extra Disengage.
Dodge-> Dodge and Attack.
Disengage-Disengage and Attack.
etc

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's not so much "baby d&d" but just resolution mechanics that are simple and allow for creativity.

This is a good article about that: The Real DIY D&Ders - Questing Beast

I understand the concept. But I also DM for kids. Many of them will view it as baby D&D.

And since many of the folks on ENWorld learned D&D as kids, I'm skeptical that a simplified version is needed for them. I've personally taught kids as young as seven to play.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I DM for kids, among others, and giving them something they perceive as the "baby D&D" is a good way to make many of them leave the table.

It’s more D&D Hard Mode, tbh. It’s all about how you present it.

 

[Hakdov]

One thing that I would love to see changed and would probably have very little push back from anyone - fix the damn economy! The gold based economy is not only seriously unrealistic (not only in history, but also in most fiction), it's also dumb in a gaming sense. Copper and silver are pretty much useless. Also, players have little need for money to buy non-magical items.

In most other rpgs, you will start with the cheapest equipment and have to save up to afford things like plate armor. In D&D, you start off with good equipment and can afford the best equipment after 1 or 2 adventures. I think they have a lot of room to improve how this works.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One thing that I would love to see changed and would probably have very little push back from anyone - fix the damn economy! The gold based economy is not only seriously unrealistic (not only in history, but also in most fiction), it's also dumb in a gaming sense. Copper and silver are pretty much useless. Also, players have little need for money to buy non-magical items.

In most other rpgs, you will start with the cheapest equipment and have to save up to afford things like plate armor. In D&D, you start off with good equipment and can afford the best equipment after 1 or 2 adventures. I think they have a lot of room to improve how this works.

What metal they use is less important, IMO, than the fact that every bit of mundane equipment an adventurer is likely to need (barring buying castles or whatever) will have been purchased by level four or so.

Unless you want to bring back purchasing magical items en masse -- which changes the game dramatically -- I think the easiest answer is to dramatically slash how much treasure is given out, but there should also be more things to purchase, even if they're mundane.

 

[DammitVictor]

Bring back the Domain rules. If you think structures are expensive, start pricing infrastructures.

As far as "baby D&D" goes, my experience is that most of the people who WotC is criticized for "pandering" to with softer rules actually go gaga for old-school adversarial meatgrinder play. Most people, again in my experience, respond very strongly and very positively to dramatic tension and the very real possibility of failure.

The most important freedom in D&D is the freedom to lose. Literally everything else follows.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I'd keep the default PHB, and have a new one as a 'PHB 2'.

It would include:

• Old races and feats now work like the new post Tasha's options. With options like picking casting stats, and being able to choose to cast the gained spells with spell slots.
• Dragonborn replaced with the new versions.
• Genasi reprinted but actually made not awful.
• Ranger reprinted as the Tasha's ranger.
• Sorcerer reprinted, giving all subclasses their own origin spells, and allowing them to use sorcery points to fuel their subclass features.
• Base sorcerer now uses spell points, which are merged with sorcery points.
• Banneret and battlerager reprinted.
• Warlocks amended so that blade pact now uses cha for attacks, replacing hex warrior.
• Two completely new classes. The warlord and the swordmage.
• Some new feats and spells.

 

[MichaelSomething]

How big should the PHB be? Three hundred pages? Four hundred? More?

 

[Malmuria]

It’s more D&D Hard Mode, tbh. It’s all about how you present it.

I think a new edition would be more satisfying to everyone if they had some verson of a basic/advanced split, probably without calling it that. 5e has grown successful in part by catering to a wide variety of playstyles, but becomes 'everyone's second-favorite edition.' When these discussions of what the next edition should include come up you can almost guess what people's favorite edition is. Some people really like the simplicity and maybe only play 10-15 times a year and haven't gotten past level 6. Other people have lots of opinions about the best paladin subclass including UA options, having played all of them.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think a new edition would be more satisfying to everyone if they had some verson of a basic/advanced split, probably without calling it that. 5e has grown successful in part by catering to a wide variety of playstyles, but becomes 'everyone's second-favorite edition.' When these discussions of what the next edition should include come up you can almost guess what people's favorite edition is. Some people really like the simplicity and maybe only play 10-15 times a year and haven't gotten past level 6. Other people have lots of opinions about the best paladin subclass including UA options, having played all of them.

I actually think they could do this right now just by collecting things from across all their books and UAs and such, and putting the full complexity of 5e in DnD, and the sidekicks as classes and other super simple stuff in DnD Lite. Leave out some of the more complex rules, maybe include only some feats that give the flavor of a PHB class to the dirt simple Lite Classes.