Kicking SR would, I imagine, lead to or necessitate serious revisions to Warlock (and their mojo slots) and Bard (regaining inspiration and making Song of Rest not a thing). So maybe we'll see those.
I don't think experimenting with Hit Dice in say UA High Sorcery Black Robe adept necessitates or strongly telegraphs dumping SRs. If anything having that Black Robe hit dice boost to spell's damage requires SRs to exist so that the choice of a Black Robes caster to channel their life force into their destruction has Raistlin level implications to their vitality, as opposed to everyone else in the party spinning dice for hit points. Otherwise, it's just a power pool and not really reflective of a character vitality. They're hit dice not level dice.
I've heard the "oh hit different hit dice uses are being explored so SR are going bye bye" elsewhere. I don't think so, at least not on account of these experiments. Now I think SR may be overused a bit or too relied upon on the adventuring day, so giving other uses of hit dice besides short rest actually enriches deliberating over the hit dice pool. I could see Short Rest being revisited though since (hot take alert) IMHO the whole SR thing sorta nerfs D&D in the first place (sayeth the player who admittedly and frequently says, "yeah, fun fight, who wants to sit around and talk about it for say 30 or so? All of us? Cool" pretty much after every encounter ... but that's what I get for playing a Swords Bard Rogue like a front liner.
I could see some of the CritRole "rally" uses of hit dice being put in place of SR (and you could give the Bard something to do there too) published in Tal Do'real (not a Superfan so not going to spell it right), and I'm sure a house rule equivalent at a number of tables to speed the adventuring day.
As for what's next on UA? Well the Warlock and Bard revisions I supposed would definitely be telling if SR elimination were really on the rise (though I'm not seeing it). I also don't think I'll see it, but I'm gonna say it because I'm tired of busting my flipped furniture whenever it doesn't show up: PATH OF THE DRAGON BARBARIAN WITH DRAGONRAGE!!!!!!!
Just a passing thought reminded from another thread here. But maybe they'll use UA to tease the Dragonlance-set miniatures wargame set to be released alongside and compatible withthe Dragonlance book. Specifically I'm thinking they'd give a look at how 5e characters are translated into wargame units. I'm guessing miniatures/wargames are probably built more "tightly" that TTRPG content, but I could see UA being used as a sort of sizzle/promotion to get buy in for the new product.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Just a passing thought reminded from another thread here. But maybe they'll use UA to tease the Dragonlance-set miniatures wargame set to be released alongside and compatible withthe Dragonlance book. Specifically I'm thinking they'd give a look at how 5e characters are translated into wargame units. I'm guessing miniatures/wargames are probably built more "tightly" that TTRPG content, but I could see UA being used as a sort of sizzle/promotion to get buy in for the new product.
Removing the Short Rests would lead to a lot of unnecessary headaches. Besides that it would be a problem regarding backward compatibility.
In my opinion it is a very bad idea, and I doubt that it will be applied. Disallowing SR is an option the DM has, but it shouldn't be done. I don't see the reason. It's not like you're going to let them do as many SRs as they want whenever they want, but one or two between LRs is necessary and part of the game design.
Adding more uses for hit dice can be interesting. They have already taken steps in that direction. But not to remove the SR, which would only cause problems.
It's going to cause some weird compatibility problems, but it's also going to be a pretty popular move. Online discussion and surveys and such have made it clear that a majority of tables are doing 1-2 combat encounters a day with no short rests. Reddit is filled with homebrew rules to deal with short rests, whether cutting them down from an hour to 5-10 minutes or just removing them entirely and altering rules to adjust for the changes that causes. The 5-minute adventuring day is more than likely here to stay. And as the default, not as something people whov'e read the rules berate other people for.
(for the record, I also hate everything about this idea, it just feels like that's where they're going)
If people want to not follow the suggested encounter & rest guidelines that’s on them. WotC really needs to stop catering to the lowest common denominator on everything.
I doubt we will see anything like it, but Id be interested in player options that build off of certain optional rules from the DMGFor example, in Tasha's we got the Gunner feat that basically unlocks the DMGs version of Firearms. I wonder if we could see any other feats, subclasses, or spells that also work with firearms. Going in a completely different option, maybe introduce subclasses/feats that are built around using Honor or Sanity score to some mechanical degree.
Itd also be fun to see completely new optional rule suggestions altogether
What I would love to see is some solid crafting rules. And also some rules, by subclassing or whatever, for a wizard to create their own spells. At least 1 spell in his entire career and/or any cantrip. I know those rules would be very complicated to design, but it would be nice to see.
What I would love to see is some solid crafting rules. And also some rules, by subclassing or whatever, for a wizard to create their own spells. At least 1 spell in his entire career and/or any cantrip. I know those rules would be very complicated to design, but it would be nice to see.
There are half decent crafting rules in Xanathar’s Guide.
As for Wizards creating spells, that would simply require following the guidelines in the DMG for homebrewing and then the regular Wizard rules to learn the spell. Technically speaking, even when you “learn” official spells at every level, you can always play it as your character having invented some of those spells for themself.
Agreeing that at least for spells, the rules for design are pretty much there. What would be fun though would be a Xanathar type table for arcanists that might include mishaps and some sort of trial and error mini game for magical experimentation. This could be related to magical crafting as one could presume an adventurer who is not dedicated to an artisanal craft (if they were a dedicated artisan they wouldn't be an adventurer) having preliminary efforts at magic going "kablooey" or getting cursed and the like.
Basically there already are good rules for homebrewing stuff, but playing the creation in game could use a table similar to down time activities in Xanathar's (though they'd take longer than a week in most cases).
Descent Into Avernus has a good undeveloped hook where the PCs aid Zariel in creating an infernal replacement for her sword with some exotic extra planar materials ideas. That, but blown up into tables and stuff would be cool, though in the end it's all sorta fluff not mechanics.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I feel like 5e is really trying to lean into the fluff with very rigid and simple mechanics. I think that kind of stuff would make a lot of people happy
What I would love to see is some solid crafting rules. And also some rules, by subclassing or whatever, for a wizard to create their own spells. At least 1 spell in his entire career and/or any cantrip. I know those rules would be very complicated to design, but it would be nice to see.
There are half decent crafting rules in Xanathar’s Guide.
As for Wizards creating spells, that would simply require following the guidelines in the DMG for homebrewing and then the regular Wizard rules to learn the spell. Technically speaking, even when you “learn” official spells at every level, you can always play it as your character having invented some of those spells for themself.
Yes, you are right about the spells. The problem is that many DMs are not very comfortable playing with homebrew. That's why I think it would be nice to have a wizard subclass that, instead of learning two spells from the list when leveling up, could "invent" their own. Or perhaps that at level 2 he "invented" his spell by being able to choose certain "properties" from a list, and that he could then add things to the spell at level 6, 10 and 14. Perhaps making the spell level up as that you add things to it, or something like that. I do not know. Or maybe at 2nd level you could invent a cantrip. At level 6 modify some properties of one or two existing spells (something similar to what order of scribes does, but not only with the damage type), and at level 10 and 14 create a spell from 0. And yes, thematically you can always say that your Tasha's Caustic Brew is actually "Bibaf Nom's spit", and that you invented it (Bibaf Nom, obviously).
What I would love to see is some solid crafting rules. And also some rules, by subclassing or whatever, for a wizard to create their own spells. At least 1 spell in his entire career and/or any cantrip. I know those rules would be very complicated to design, but it would be nice to see.
There are half decent crafting rules in Xanathar’s Guide.
As for Wizards creating spells, that would simply require following the guidelines in the DMG for homebrewing and then the regular Wizard rules to learn the spell. Technically speaking, even when you “learn” official spells at every level, you can always play it as your character having invented some of those spells for themself.
Yes, you are right about the spells. The problem is that many DMs are not very comfortable playing with homebrew. That's why I think it would be nice to have a wizard subclass that, instead of learning two spells from the list when leveling up, could "invent" their own. Or perhaps that at level 2 he "invented" his spell by being able to choose certain "properties" from a list, and that he could then add things to the spell at level 6, 10 and 14. Perhaps making the spell level up as that you add things to it, or something like that. I do not know. Or maybe at 2nd level you could invent a cantrip. At level 6 modify some properties of one or two existing spells (something similar to what order of scribes does, but not only with the damage type), and at level 10 and 14 create a spell from 0. And yes, thematically you can always say that your Tasha's Caustic Brew is actually "Bibaf Nom's spit", and that you invented it (Bibaf Nom, obviously).
There's a reason a lot of DMs are cautious about homebrew. The homebrew rules don't do a great job of explaining the parameters of spell levels, and the guidelines that are given are easily ignored by homebrewers ... just tour the homebrew spells on this site.
In terms of running the game, it's much easier to know players will select playtested spells that the DM is at least somewhat aware of, rather than having a character class whose every leveling up becomes a trust exercise in the player's efforts at innovation. "Game breaking potential" shouldn't be a class function. So, most games that do homebrew well I think, do it with care and a generally conservative approach to innovation.
Could WotC design a "tighter" spell design system? Possible, but that would risk the magic system getting "locked down" by rules parameters and becomes a shackle for even official magic design.
I think magic in all forms could have better design rules, that could also contain the hooks for entire campaigns (as the DM whose longest currently running game was initially predicated on the theme of "magical discovery"), but I could see such rules pulling too much focus from the core rules so imagine such a rules package would be separate optional text, a whole book basically. Frankly this is what Strixhaven should/have could have been, tying mechanics for playing the discovery of new magics in a magical university setting book ... instead of MtG Harry Potter.
Seems kinda thematically redundant. All of the subs are pulling a bit from Rune Knight, and I can't imagine what book this is for if its not a sequel to SKT.
As a fan of the giant monster type; this UA is a love letter.
And kudos to the Runecrafter Wizard not necessarily being limited to giant-magic…celestial words of power, Infernal curse marks, or eldritch babble all become valid character concepts. I cannot wait.
Seems kinda thematically redundant. All of the subs are pulling a bit from Rune Knight, and I can't imagine what book this is for if its not a sequel to SKT.
I mean, we have at least 3 dragon-themed subclasses, so I dont think theres an issue with having more than one giant/rune themed subclasses.
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Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
As a fan of the giant monster type; this UA is a love letter.
And kudos to the Runecrafter Wizard not necessarily being limited to giant-magic…celestial words of power, Infernal curse marks, or eldritch babble all become valid character concepts. I cannot wait.
I agree with this completely. Especially with the Runecrafter Wizard concepts.
As a fan of the giant monster type; this UA is a love letter.
And kudos to the Runecrafter Wizard not necessarily being limited to giant-magic…celestial words of power, Infernal curse marks, or eldritch babble all become valid character concepts. I cannot wait.
I kind of resent that the Runecrafter is a Wizard. Only Cleric has more subs as it is (Cleric has 14 vs. Wizard's 13, next closest is Fighter/Monk at 10), and Artificer is right there, sitting in a lonely corner with its 4 subclasses. It's just another INT caster focused on crafting, tools, knowledge, and creativity, that's also lacking in subs, no big deal.
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Kicking SR would, I imagine, lead to or necessitate serious revisions to Warlock (and their mojo slots) and Bard (regaining inspiration and making Song of Rest not a thing). So maybe we'll see those.
I don't think experimenting with Hit Dice in say UA High Sorcery Black Robe adept necessitates or strongly telegraphs dumping SRs. If anything having that Black Robe hit dice boost to spell's damage requires SRs to exist so that the choice of a Black Robes caster to channel their life force into their destruction has Raistlin level implications to their vitality, as opposed to everyone else in the party spinning dice for hit points. Otherwise, it's just a power pool and not really reflective of a character vitality. They're hit dice not level dice.
I've heard the "oh hit different hit dice uses are being explored so SR are going bye bye" elsewhere. I don't think so, at least not on account of these experiments. Now I think SR may be overused a bit or too relied upon on the adventuring day, so giving other uses of hit dice besides short rest actually enriches deliberating over the hit dice pool. I could see Short Rest being revisited though since (hot take alert) IMHO the whole SR thing sorta nerfs D&D in the first place (sayeth the player who admittedly and frequently says, "yeah, fun fight, who wants to sit around and talk about it for say 30 or so? All of us? Cool" pretty much after every encounter ... but that's what I get for playing a Swords Bard Rogue like a front liner.
I could see some of the CritRole "rally" uses of hit dice being put in place of SR (and you could give the Bard something to do there too) published in Tal Do'real (not a Superfan so not going to spell it right), and I'm sure a house rule equivalent at a number of tables to speed the adventuring day.
As for what's next on UA? Well the Warlock and Bard revisions I supposed would definitely be telling if SR elimination were really on the rise (though I'm not seeing it). I also don't think I'll see it, but I'm gonna say it because I'm tired of busting my flipped furniture whenever it doesn't show up: PATH OF THE DRAGON BARBARIAN WITH DRAGONRAGE!!!!!!!
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Just a passing thought reminded from another thread here. But maybe they'll use UA to tease the Dragonlance-set miniatures wargame set to be released alongside and compatible withthe Dragonlance book. Specifically I'm thinking they'd give a look at how 5e characters are translated into wargame units. I'm guessing miniatures/wargames are probably built more "tightly" that TTRPG content, but I could see UA being used as a sort of sizzle/promotion to get buy in for the new product.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
That could be interesting.
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Removing the Short Rests would lead to a lot of unnecessary headaches. Besides that it would be a problem regarding backward compatibility.
In my opinion it is a very bad idea, and I doubt that it will be applied. Disallowing SR is an option the DM has, but it shouldn't be done. I don't see the reason. It's not like you're going to let them do as many SRs as they want whenever they want, but one or two between LRs is necessary and part of the game design.
Adding more uses for hit dice can be interesting. They have already taken steps in that direction. But not to remove the SR, which would only cause problems.
It's going to cause some weird compatibility problems, but it's also going to be a pretty popular move. Online discussion and surveys and such have made it clear that a majority of tables are doing 1-2 combat encounters a day with no short rests. Reddit is filled with homebrew rules to deal with short rests, whether cutting them down from an hour to 5-10 minutes or just removing them entirely and altering rules to adjust for the changes that causes. The 5-minute adventuring day is more than likely here to stay. And as the default, not as something people whov'e read the rules berate other people for.
(for the record, I also hate everything about this idea, it just feels like that's where they're going)
If people want to not follow the suggested encounter & rest guidelines that’s on them. WotC really needs to stop catering to the lowest common denominator on everything.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I doubt we will see anything like it, but Id be interested in player options that build off of certain optional rules from the DMGFor example, in Tasha's we got the Gunner feat that basically unlocks the DMGs version of Firearms. I wonder if we could see any other feats, subclasses, or spells that also work with firearms. Going in a completely different option, maybe introduce subclasses/feats that are built around using Honor or Sanity score to some mechanical degree.
Itd also be fun to see completely new optional rule suggestions altogether
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
What I would love to see is some solid crafting rules. And also some rules, by subclassing or whatever, for a wizard to create their own spells. At least 1 spell in his entire career and/or any cantrip. I know those rules would be very complicated to design, but it would be nice to see.
There are half decent crafting rules in Xanathar’s Guide.
As for Wizards creating spells, that would simply require following the guidelines in the DMG for homebrewing and then the regular Wizard rules to learn the spell. Technically speaking, even when you “learn” official spells at every level, you can always play it as your character having invented some of those spells for themself.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Agreeing that at least for spells, the rules for design are pretty much there. What would be fun though would be a Xanathar type table for arcanists that might include mishaps and some sort of trial and error mini game for magical experimentation. This could be related to magical crafting as one could presume an adventurer who is not dedicated to an artisanal craft (if they were a dedicated artisan they wouldn't be an adventurer) having preliminary efforts at magic going "kablooey" or getting cursed and the like.
Basically there already are good rules for homebrewing stuff, but playing the creation in game could use a table similar to down time activities in Xanathar's (though they'd take longer than a week in most cases).
Descent Into Avernus has a good undeveloped hook where the PCs aid Zariel in creating an infernal replacement for her sword with some exotic extra planar materials ideas. That, but blown up into tables and stuff would be cool, though in the end it's all sorta fluff not mechanics.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I feel like 5e is really trying to lean into the fluff with very rigid and simple mechanics. I think that kind of stuff would make a lot of people happy
Yes, you are right about the spells. The problem is that many DMs are not very comfortable playing with homebrew. That's why I think it would be nice to have a wizard subclass that, instead of learning two spells from the list when leveling up, could "invent" their own. Or perhaps that at level 2 he "invented" his spell by being able to choose certain "properties" from a list, and that he could then add things to the spell at level 6, 10 and 14. Perhaps making the spell level up as that you add things to it, or something like that. I do not know.
Or maybe at 2nd level you could invent a cantrip. At level 6 modify some properties of one or two existing spells (something similar to what order of scribes does, but not only with the damage type), and at level 10 and 14 create a spell from 0.
And yes, thematically you can always say that your Tasha's Caustic Brew is actually "Bibaf Nom's spit", and that you invented it (Bibaf Nom, obviously).
There's a reason a lot of DMs are cautious about homebrew. The homebrew rules don't do a great job of explaining the parameters of spell levels, and the guidelines that are given are easily ignored by homebrewers ... just tour the homebrew spells on this site.
In terms of running the game, it's much easier to know players will select playtested spells that the DM is at least somewhat aware of, rather than having a character class whose every leveling up becomes a trust exercise in the player's efforts at innovation. "Game breaking potential" shouldn't be a class function. So, most games that do homebrew well I think, do it with care and a generally conservative approach to innovation.
Could WotC design a "tighter" spell design system? Possible, but that would risk the magic system getting "locked down" by rules parameters and becomes a shackle for even official magic design.
I think magic in all forms could have better design rules, that could also contain the hooks for entire campaigns (as the DM whose longest currently running game was initially predicated on the theme of "magical discovery"), but I could see such rules pulling too much focus from the core rules so imagine such a rules package would be separate optional text, a whole book basically. Frankly this is what Strixhaven should/have could have been, tying mechanics for playing the discovery of new magics in a magical university setting book ... instead of MtG Harry Potter.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Apparently, we're looking at a sequel to Storm King's Thunder or something.
Oh goodie goodie gumdrops
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Seems kinda thematically redundant. All of the subs are pulling a bit from Rune Knight, and I can't imagine what book this is for if its not a sequel to SKT.
As a fan of the giant monster type; this UA is a love letter.
And kudos to the Runecrafter Wizard not necessarily being limited to giant-magic…celestial words of power, Infernal curse marks, or eldritch babble all become valid character concepts. I cannot wait.
I mean, we have at least 3 dragon-themed subclasses, so I dont think theres an issue with having more than one giant/rune themed subclasses.
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I agree with this completely. Especially with the Runecrafter Wizard concepts.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I kind of resent that the Runecrafter is a Wizard. Only Cleric has more subs as it is (Cleric has 14 vs. Wizard's 13, next closest is Fighter/Monk at 10), and Artificer is right there, sitting in a lonely corner with its 4 subclasses. It's just another INT caster focused on crafting, tools, knowledge, and creativity, that's also lacking in subs, no big deal.