D&D General You're In Charge of D&D -- 2025 Edition

[delericho]

I'm all for this, only I'd rather see it become the main brand rather than be firewalled away from it.

That I would be opposed to. I started playing back when I was 12; I wouldn't want the game to become something I wouldn't be happy introducing to my 12-year-old nephew (or my children in a few years).

I like to think there's room for the sort of "mature themes" material I was envisaging. In particular, I dislike the current obsession in the media to shy away from anything that could be labelled 'problematic' (it's one of the reasons "House of the Dragon" is such a poor successor to "Game of Thrones", IMO). But at the same time, I think it's right that it be an opt-in niche rather than an opt-out default.

 

[CreamCloud0]

-NPC job 'classes' so there's not such a dissonance between a commoner and any level 1 PC
-expanding on the weapon, armour and equipment tables, more types, more materials for them to be made of, more properties, more tools and items that have purposes and are useful
-something analogous to legendary skill capabilities, the 'being able to balance on a cloud' kind of stuff
-i'd love to try get a revamp on the martials (and halfcasters) to convert them into AEDU structure, it'd be a big change but i think it'd be a worthwhile one

 

[Digdude]

Birthright.

There we are all four of us Birthright supporters.

 

[payn]

There we are all four of us Birthright supporters.

 

[Aldarc]

All editions of D&D released to Creative Commons.

 

[Lanefan]

There we are all four of us Birthright supporters.

I suspect if they were able to get a license from HBO to indirectly model a new Birthright on a lot of Game of Thrones setting conceits (as in, not a direct ripoff but close enough in spirit that getting HBO's OK would be a good idea) there'd very quickly be a lot more than four of us on board.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Big thing I would do is go back to what WotC attempted in Princes of the Apocalypse, which is to have each campaign book include character options for players and subsystems for the DM. Imagine how much improved Rime of the Frost Maiden would be if it had the Winter Walker Ranger, an ice-themed sorcerer, and a yeti druid...and scalable rules for navigating and surviving the cold so that the environment felt like an actual threat.

I would like a book of magic items and gear and artifacts. I love me moar stuff. Maybe sneak in some vehicles and some actual chase rules (the ones in the DMG don't count).

Finally, Gamma World. Here's what I would do: Removing ability scores and just using modifiers. Decoupling subclasses from classes, so any class can pick a subclass. Ten levels. Add mutants. Stir.

 

[GreatestHonor]

Forgot initially, but i would redo ranger. Give the class a definable identity like the others, remove its dependency on hunter’s mark (or just make it a magical ability instead of a spell), and build more rules around exploration.

I’ve never played the class personally, but i think its a shame that it is so poorly maintained for those who like to play as one.

 

[Atomoctba]

Probably, in my hubris, I would attempt to turn the D&D more as I like it and alienating a significant portion of the fan base. So, I would be the worst person possible to take charge of it. Said that, I would empower more the DM and give 5e more knobs to turn to everyone attempt to use it as written in their own tables, lessening the need of house rules if you want X or Y in your own setting. A knob to dial between very grounded heroes and amazing superheros, with all intermediate states. A knob to determine how common and ubiquitous is magic on your setting. A knob dialing how fast resources (spell slots, natural healing, etc) are recovered. A knob dialing how tight bounded accuracy should be and so on.

Also, hard reset on timelines. Forget everything that happened in FR since Avatar Crisis, including it. Call back Greenwood (at a bare minimum as a consultant) to take FR from that point on. Eberron does not need resets, but call Keith Baker to a more prominent role. Find Zeb Cook and put him as consultant to Planescape, and so on.

Put ALL editions as fast as possible in Creative Commons. Let people play tinkering with the ruleset they love most.