Nem, I disagree with your assessment that D&D becomes less accessible to the poorer in society. A basic version, very playable, is available and if one of the players has access to the system, all do. Also, there is so much legitimately free material out there to be used (search for free material on the DMs Guild).
I think you're right, Nep, in that it doesn't become much less accessible to the poorer in society and tbh, 30 quid for the book is pretty damn cheap considering how much play-time you can get out of it alone. You really don't need the online component and as you say, there's a partially complete online version for free, as Vryx discovered.
However, it does create a higher tier of access. In essence, the Haves and the Have Nots. And I think this could negatively effect perception of the game.
The anticipated announcement about the next version of D&D came out yesterday. It's called One D&D. To paraphrase Jeremy Crawford, it's like D&D 5.5 and is supposed to be backwards compatible (we'll see).
Thanks for sharing Nep. I'm a little apprehensive tbh. The emphasis on giving us more and building on the existing system isn't the best sales pitch. What I'd like to see is refinement. But we'll see!
I would give it a go, but then it's been a while since I have played D&D so this gives me incentive to wait on buying manuals that will be out of date in a year or so.
I downloaded the first playtest material. It was called "Character Origins" and formalizes the role playing backgrounds which become very important. To summarize, when you build a character you select a race, class x` Race - Creature type, Size, Speed, Life Span, Special Traits Background - Ability score Bonus, Skill Proficiencies, Language, Feat, Equipment.
Every background provides a feat at level 1. Race doesn't modify ability scores. Background does.
An example race, Halfling
HALFLING TRAITS Creature Type: Humanoid Size: Small (about 2–3 feet tall) Speed: 30 feet Life Span: 150 years on average Special Traits:
Brave. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Frightened Condition on yourself.
Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a Size larger than yours, but you can’t stop there.
Luck. When you roll a 1 on the d20 of a d20 Test, you can reroll the die, and you must use the new roll.
Naturally Stealthy. You have Proficiency in the Stealth Skill.
An example background:
ACOLYTE Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher’s Supplies Language: Celestial Feat: Magic Initiate (Divine) You devoted yourself to service in a temple, either nestled in a town or secluded in a sacred grove. There you performed hallowed rites in honor of a god or pantheon. You served under a priest and studied religion. Thanks to your priest’s instruction and your own devotion, you also learned how to channel a modicum of divine power in service to your place of worship and the people who prayed there. Equipment Book (Prayers) Calligrapher’s Supplies Holy Symbol Parchment (10 sheets) Robe 3 GP
QUick observations: There are 3 types of spells: Arcane (wizard), Divine (clerical) and Primal (druidic) 1st level feats are special features not tied to a class but rather to a background. I see a potential problem here. In order to be a divine caster you must take the Acolyte background and so on. It feels very tied to the class.
Thanks for doing the 'heavy lifting' to get us 'u[ to speed'. It =does= sound like an interesting system. Sadly, I don't think I have it in me to try and 'learn' a new system <sigh>
I get you Mike. Thing is, it's not a "new" system as much as a major tweak. I don't think there's an impact on your gameplay in the system. There were huge changes from AD&D to 2nd Ed to 3.0/3.5 and of course 4th edition which wasn't even D&D to 5e. This isn't that. The fundamentals are there and they promise that everything will work pretty much the same.
They are calling it backwards compatible and it's not coming out until 2024. Right now play test begins. It's a long way from being a marketable product. But when it comes out it will be D&D.
Personally, I think they'd be better tying a skill expertise to the background and either keeping ability score increases as racial or make them completely customisable like in Tasha's. Tying the ability score increase to your background is begging to be ignored.
There is the normal expected complaints that I've already read and those folks sound like the folks that would complain no matter what. I like most of what I read but need more info. Here's a quick summary of "rule changes". What's interesting is that most of us play by these changes already through house rules or simply further streamline the game.
D20 tests - Every time you roll a 20 (to hit, ability checks, saving throws) a 1 is an automatic fail, a 20 is an automatic success.
Long rest - 8 peaceful hours with at least 6 sleeping. If interrupted, rest must be restarted an you may take only 1 long rest in a 24 hour period.
Inspiration points are lost during a long rest.
These are "categories" of items and the price was made consistent. A flute now costs the same as a lute, a set of dice cost the same as a deck of cards. And so on.
Musical instrument price change - 20 gp each
Gaming sets price change - 1 gp each
Artisan tool prices change - 15 gp each
Instead of having 8 spell lists there will be 3. It goes from Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorceror, Warlock and Wizard lists. It's now:
Arcane (for Bards, Wizards, Sorcerers and Warlocks),
Divine (for Clerics and Paladins)
Primal (for Druids and Rangers). The spells are pretty much the same, it seems.
There were some clarifications of conditions. For instance, when "incapacitated" it's now made explicitly clear that you can't take actions or reactions, you lose concentration, you cannot speak, and if you are rolling initiative while in this condition, you have disadvantage on the roll. These all make a lot of sense and most DMs would rule this way but there were probably arguments and these concepts simply needed to be stated explicitly.
So, all-in-all, not much seems out of whack, but I need to see much more before I give it a real rating.
Well I guess we will see if the "Spell List" thing is really a simplification or just a renaming. It would be quite easy to compress all of the Sorceror, Wizard, Warlock, etc spells into a single list and then just add a "Class" to the spell description and limit pcs to only casting spells that that match your class. One list, but the same effect.
I also don't really like changing the stat bonus for starting pcs to align with background. As stated, forex, in the Halfling description Nep posted, Halflings are nimble and dexterous. They are born that way. They should get a Dex bump no matter what background they take. Just like a dwarf has a hardy Constitution. Its in his genes. A Dwarf that chooses to become a Cleric doesn't suddenly lose his health. Alternatively, some stats make a little sense. A human who becomes a body builder or some other highly physical background will be stronger than other humans.
I would have preferred that they just give each pc a +1 and a +2 and let them put those into any statistic they wanted, regardless of race, class, or background.
Originally posted by Zeim: It would be quite easy to compress all of the Sorceror, Wizard, Warlock, etc spells into a single list and then just add a "Class" to the spell description and limit pcs to only casting spells that that match your class. One list, but the same effect.
Ah, I bet they will still be more than three spell lists, it's just that more spells will be added to the subclasses to create distinction and the designers probably don't consider these "spell lists"... even though they are literally lists of spells.
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I would have preferred that they just give each pc a +1 and a +2 and let them put those into any statistic they wanted, regardless of race, class, or background.
I think that's what they'll settle on tbh. They already offered it as an option in Tasha's.
Right now they are truly planning on 3 spell lists.
As for the attributes being tied to backgrounds and not race, there will be racial traits that offset the stat bumps. So for dwarves, there's dwarven toughness which adds 1 hp per level. For gnomes there's Gnomish Cunning which give you advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saves.
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