D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Oofta]

You're avoiding the point. Gandalf was possibly the most powerful wizard in Middle Earth and who was seen to cast at most third level spells, putting his spell slot casting on a level with fifth level primary casters. And of the 12 classes in the D&D 5e PHB either five or six (depending on how you count the warlock) are full casters. Someone said they wanted to play a LotR style character - but by the time you hit fifth level you've about half the party casting more than Gandalf does, and he's the archetypal wizard.

Yes there's a case that in D&D terms Gandalf works better as a partial caster - but he's one of the inspirations and touchstones for the wizard class.

Middle Earth and D&D magic are simply very different. For that matter, D&D magic is different than most fiction that came before it because wizards represented artillery from the wargames that grew into D&D. Besides, if Gandalf wasn't a charlatan (which I still say he was), he was a politician/bard. His real strength was in talking people into doing things like poor Bilbo and spinning tales of how awesome he was when there are no witnesses. Then when there are people around like Minas Tirith, it's always "Better be careful because I'm about to pull out a big ol' can of whup-ass and ain't nobody seen a can this big. You'll be sorry when I pull it out any moment now." Another example is when he takes credit for getting the Ents involved, something he had little or nothing to do with it.

Which doesn't make Gandalf any less important, but it always seemed to me that for Tolkien he represented the leaders that exhorted others to go into battle while they stayed back in the command bunker.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Middle Earth and D&D magic are simply very different. For that matter, D&D magic is different than most fiction that came before it because wizards represented artillery from the wargames that grew into D&D.

Indeed. D&D (especially 5e) is very high magic fiction.

Which doesn't make Gandalf any less important, but it always seemed to me that for Tolkien he represented the leaders that exhorted others to go into battle while they stayed back in the command bunker.

The thing is he didn't. Tolkien was well aware of the leaders who exhorted others to go into battle; he was literally at the Somme. And the characters he focused on were generally at the thick of it; Aragorn and even Gandalf were. Elrond, Galadriel, Denethor, and Saruman were all background characters. Middle Earth is far from an idyllic setting, but Tolkien chose to focus on the best. And yes there's definitely an element of conman about Gandalf.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

The fighter mountain thing isn't anime. It's literally Celtic Mythology. On the other hand if we're looking at the inspiration for D&D we have Hercules for the fighters who literally carried the world on his shoulders.

You mean a divine demigod of strength?

 

[Yaarel]

Gandalf is a level 20 Paladin, casting something akin to Flamestrike.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

If that's just how D&D works, why did 3e and 3.5e and PF all define extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like? Shouldn't those have all been the same thing, since it's just part of the world? What about all the power sources in 4e? Why were they differentiated?

Different designers of different eras believe different things. We're talking 50 years of different designers altering things to their preferences.

 

[Epic Meepo]

That's partially the same problem as the Aberrant Mind sorcerer. I want psionics to matter in the world. I want there to be a multitude of different types of psions, specializing in various types of powers. I want psionics to have at least as much breadth and variety as magic does. And I want them to be distinct from magic. Not necessarily 2e-level "psionics and magic do not affect one another unless specifically stated" – I'm completely OK with e.g. dispel magic working on a psionic power. But it should work in a distinct fashion.

Playing a reskinned diviner does not do that. It would suffice if I was running a one-shot with pregens and I wanted one of the characters to be a psion. But it does not work for a world where there are multiple different schools for teaching people to develop psychic powers, and with multiple psionic factions around.

"But that's not how the Forgotten Realms is!", some would say. To which I say, "I don't care, because I'm not really interested in playing in the Forgotten Realms."

The hypothetical people who say, "That's not how the Forgotten Realms is," are overlooking the fact that Forgotten Realms supplements provide full guidance for incorporating all the classes from the 3e psionics system (and many of the rules from earlier psionics systems) into the world. Most NPCs aren't aware that psionics (which is called the Invisible Art in Faerun) is distinct from magic, but there are factions of psionic individuals who are fully versed in psionic lore.

The 3e Player's Guide to Faerun includes a list of several psionic factions active in parts of Faerun, at least two of which train people in the use of psychic powers. The 3e Underdark supplement also mentions that (if your game uses the 3e psionics rules) drow cities have academies which train psions and psychic warriors. In addition, as recently as Out of the Abyss for 5e, duergar worship a deity of psionics and maintain at least one organization of highly-trained users of psionics.

Also, per the edition-neutral Grand History of the Realms, one of the major fallen empires of ancient Faerun was a psiocracy whose rulers crafted devices which could awaken the psychic powers of common folk. (It also had a dedicated university for the study of psionics and a church worshipping a deity of psionics.) And in 4e, there were multiple instances of spell-scarred and plague-changed creatures developing psionic powers during the Spellplague. So, lots of different ways to develop psionic powers in the Realms.

 

[Neonchameleon]

You mean a divine demigod of strength?

And explicit inspiration of the fighter according to the 2e PHB.

"The fighter is a warrior, an expert in weapons and, if he is clever, tactics and strategy. There are many famous fighter from legend: Hercules, Perseus, Hiawatha, Beowulf, Siegfried, Cuchulain, Little John, Tristan, and Sinbad. ... Your fighter could be modeled after any of these, or he could be unique. "​

I mean the first listed inspiration of the fighter class.

 

[Scribe]

The D&D Fighter is not, and I would say never has been a demigod of myth...until epic levels of play, which is certainly not where the majority of play happens.

I mean does anyone honestly want to argue that the level 3 Human Fighter without feats is Mythic Hercules?!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Different designers of different eras believe different things. We're talking 50 years of different designers altering things to their preferences.

My point is that there is no one true way for "how D&D works".

 

[Staffan]

Would you be able to get behind the book saying that's what happening, or does it need to be obscured because we don't want to hear the "M" word?

I mean, I think Earthdawn seems pretty neat, and that's pretty much what's going on in that game.