D&D (2024) Playstyle Changes from 5E to 5.5E?

[mellored]

Well only Paladins are being nerfed into oblivion, since if you nerf OP spells then casters still get to just pick other ones instead. But yeah there will be nerfs other than just Paladins

1 OP paladin thing got nerfed.

A bunch of other under powered stuff got buffed.

Weapon Mastery.
Lay on hands is a bonus action.
Wrathful Smite, Blinding Smite, Thunderous Smite, Staggering smite all don't take concentration, and can't be wasted.
More channel Divinity's.
Abjure Foes works on anything
Sacred weapon and vow of emnity is no action.
Aura of Alacrity is expanded and works just by walking though.

Paladins are now more than just smite + aura.

 

[CapnZapp]

1 OP paladin thing got nerfed.

Sounds about right this will be described as "nerfed into oblivion"

 

[CapnZapp]

No but seriously -

Why play a dull mediocre Paladin when you have ruled the battlefield for ten straight years...?

Time to find a new class!

 

[Clint_L]

Without getting into it too much, I'll summarize by saying that I think doing a 5E revision instead of a new edition was playing it safe and unfortunate.

Strongly disagree. Every previous edition has spilt the player base and offered diminishing returns. Sticking with what works and allowing the game to evolve incrementally over time is far better for the game, for the player base, and for the business model.

Expecting me to throw out hundreds to thousands of dollars, plus all my sunk cost in learning the game, maintaining campaigns, etc and start over every five years was always a terrible idea born of desperation.

 

[mellored]

No but seriously -

Why play a dull mediocre Paladin when you have ruled the battlefield for ten straight years...?

Time to find a new class!

My guess for next top class druid.

But I expect dropping a zone and shoving people in and out of it will be the optimal strategy. And spiked growth is amazing for that. Other summons are also quite good.

Plus the ability to turn your low level slots into useful wild shapes is going to scale great. I.e. a level 1 slot for 30 THP.

 

[bmfrosty]

I would rather they made the game they want to make creatively rather than the iteration that the brass thinks will make the most money for their shareholders.

I'm mostly thinking about release schedule. Think of it as tick tock. Tick is a new version with a bunch of things fixed, and maybe some adjustments to the math. If they want to add a new class or subclass, or adjustments to classes and subclasses, they wait until tock to add a new fighter or barbarian subclass or the artificer. I actually want them to stop the nickle and diming mentality where we get where we only get things like the purple dragon knight fighter subclass if we buy the sword coast adventurer's guide.

Or at least put out the little book specific subclasses as free pdfs or the like until they can group them up in a tock/patch release.

They know what their upcoming projects are well ahead of time. They should be able to anticipate a bit better this cycle.

FWIW, I don't play 5e anymore. This is bleed over frustration from about 5 years ago. I think the last book I bought for 5e was Tasha's, and it had both nothing and everything to do with why I almost quit tabletop RPGs entirely.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm mostly thinking about release schedule. Think of it as tick tock. Tick is a new version with a bunch of things fixed, and maybe some adjustments to the math. If they want to add a new class or subclass, or adjustments to classes and subclasses, they wait until tock to add a new fighter or barbarian subclass or the artificer. I actually want them to stop the nickle and diming mentality where we get where we only get things like the purple dragon knight fighter subclass if we buy the sword coast adventurer's guide.

Or at least put out the little book specific subclasses as free pdfs or the like until they can group them up in a tock/patch release.

They know what their upcoming projects are well ahead of time. They should be able to anticipate a bit better this cycle.

FWIW, I don't play 5e anymore. This is bleed over frustration from about 5 years ago. I think the last book I bought for 5e was Tasha's, and it had both nothing and everything to do with why I almost quit tabletop RPGs entirely.

I hear you. I don't play WotC 5e either, except for the game my friend is running for my kids.

 

[CapnZapp]

My guess for next top class druid.

But I expect dropping a zone and shoving people in and out of it will be the optimal strategy. And spiked growth is amazing for that. Other summons are also quite good.

Plus the ability to turn your low level slots into useful wild shapes is going to scale great. I.e. a level 1 slot for 30 THP.

I'll try to remember this prediction when our 2024 edition starts up.

Let's see if any of my players will catch up on this.

 

[CapnZapp]

Strongly disagree. Every previous edition has spilt the player base and offered diminishing returns.

That's an extremely narrow and uncharitable viewpoint.

Sure some players always stick with the old, hut as long as the new edition brings in more new players than it loses old ones, to say it splits the player base is, while technically correct, deeply misleading, and the publisher should rightly ignore it.

Both 3E and 5E are huge successes that only very few consider "diminished returns", instead modernizing the game and making it accessible to others than the old grognards.

Without 3E we would still be THAC0. Without 5E we would still spend hours to create NPCs that the party kills in seconds.

 

[mellored]

Without 5E we would still spend hours to create NPCs that the party kills in seconds.

More of a 4e thing, but yes.