D&D (2024) What Should D&D 2024 Have Been +

[Scars Unseen]

Thing is, at this point I'd love a 6e.

But I'm 100% sure that they would make every single part of the game, without fail, something I hate. They've already stated they want less classes, while I want more.

So for now at least, I'm going to keep clinging onto 5e as long as possible.

Oh sure, I have no confidence that WotC is willing to make changes that I would personally be in favor of. For evidence, look at what they decided to do for the 50th anniversary of the game. A more forward thinking publisher would see this as a fantastic opportunity to market major changes they wanted to see with a new edition. Instead, we have a group of developers that do seem to want to make changes (evidence: the playtests), but not enough so to build the vehicle that will really allow change to be significant.

Worth noting that this was not the case when it came to WotC's (or Hasbro's) willingness to risk burning every last amount of good will they had in order to "correct" what they saw as an under-monetization of their customer base.

And yeah, every edition is as much a chance to bring changes I dislike as it is to bring ones I'd enjoy. But really, I think I'd prefer a publisher willing to make those potential fumbles if it meant they were willing to actually publish at a faster rate than the anemic rate WotC settled into.

But then, I'm assuming this thread's purpose is for blue sky thinking anyway.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I think 5.5e is looking pretty awesome so far, but one thing I really wish they had addressed in the playtests was the overwhelming power disparity between Multiclassed characters and Single class characters. With the exception of high level spells, all of the powerful class abilities come in the first few levels, and all of the high level abilities are hot garbage compared to what you get from taking level dips elsewhere. This is completely backwards of how level progression should work, and the main reason for the Caster vs Martial disparity.

I really wish they would buff level 10+ class abilities so that they were occasionally worth it, instead of having multiclassing always being the correct answer.

5e multiclassing has always felt tacked on. Like it was thrown in on the Friday before release. It completely ignores tiers of play and expected character progression.

I definitely prefer how Pathfinder does it, with multiclassing being feat based.

 

[GrimCo]

Honestly, it should have been 6th edition. 5e had good 10 year run. Playing it since it was D&D Next and i think most of us who are in the same boat are ready for something new.

I haven't looked at any playtest material for upcoming 5.5e, cuse i don't see much room for changes while maintaining full backwards compatibility. I applaud better book layout, better clarifications and such technical updates. But in the end, under new coat of paint, it's still 10 y old system.

 

[Horwath]

Give the complete new books as a playtest package on beyond on people already owning the old books. Hear suggestions, ironing out blatant errors and typos. Big problems and bad combo would arise in small time. Only then, finalize the books (I will not buy 2024 until some reprints, having a 10th printing on 2014 PHB and still dealing with errata). Offer the new books for a upgrade price and not full one on beyond, or go for upgrade+physical book for a combo deal.

yes, honestly compete books could have now been on Beyond and being beta tested.

 

[WisdomOfWombats]

In general, I would have liked less of the ideas from UA to end up on the cutting room floor.

• Grittier rules for taking long rests
• Shorter short rests. Sometimes they are desperately required in some of the official adventures, but they take too much in-game time. 10 minutes would be nice
• Less of „this class feature is basically that spell“
• Keep Half-elves and Half-orcs, I think they add to the game. So finding a way to make them work mechanically would have been nice
• The Monsters of the Multiverse Goliath in the core book, along with some of the other species from that book
• No gnomes
• Use templates for the druid‘s wildshape, like they did in one UA
• De-couple the Ideals, Bonds, Flaw, Personality from backgrounds. Backgrounds are a great way to customize your world, but having the lists for role-playing traits attached made it too much of a bother to create them
• Use broad personality types as basis for Personality, Ideals, Bonds and Flaws - just like the other D&D game does (Doctors & Daleks)
• Put all possible Downtime activities in the PHB and streamline them
• Reduce the spell lists to either Arcane and Divine, and maybe Primal, and add speciality spells via the classes, in case some spells need to be reserved
• Use Spheres again to separate Divine / Primal spells, so that a cleric gets spells that match their deity‘s portfolio (I guess that would be a game balance concern, to put assigning Spheres to the DM)
• Let the bard pick Arcane, Divine or Primal as their primary list
• Make the bard a half-caster and beef up other abilities
• Make the paladin and ranger into non-casters (5e really has too few non-casters)
• Tone down spells that reduce things like searching for food,water and a resting place to a mere speed bump
• Gain exhaustion for each unsuccessful death save or after succeeding on all Death saves. So dropping to 0 HP is more hurtful than it is now

 

[payn]

Havent seen it mentioned yet, but the modularity discussed during NEXT. I still dream of it.

 

[Sulicius]

Hey it’s another wishlist thread where people share their personal preferences!

 

[TiQuinn]

What do you wish D&D 2024 would have done that evidence says it isn't?

It's a little tough to say what they're doing and what they aren't doing since there's already been some things thrown out that were presented in the early playtest packets, so I'll just focus on what I would've liked to have seen (and maybe these are being done anyways):

• Make monsters much more powerful and dangerous - revamping their damage
• Update or replace Challenge Rating for guidelines that better help DMs determine how difficult an encounter is. Maybe it's not as simple as a CR number and requires DMs to analyze the encounter more
• Environmental damage from spells - It's always been a sore spot for me that a pane of glass will somehow withstand the effects of evocation spell like fireball or lightning bolt, or that said pane of glass is all that's needed to break the link between a caster and a target. I get why it is that way, I just dislike it a lot
• Replace inspiration with something a bit more dynamic
• Revamp the older subclasses to be in line with the power of newer ones

 

[Reynard]

Hey it’s another wishlist thread where people share their personal preferences!

I mean, yeah, it is right there in the thread title.

Thanks for your contribution.

 

[Distracted DM]

5e multiclassing has always felt tacked on. Like it was thrown in on the Friday before release. It completely ignores tiers of play and expected character progression.

I definitely prefer how Pathfinder does it, with multiclassing being feat based.

I think multiclass feats are how 13th Age did it? Did 4e have them as well?
But I think some of the 4e and 13th Age folks went on to work on PF2e

But yeah, I also like them as feats.