The closer we get to release, the more I worry that their decision to make this a backwards-compatible revision that also has its own entire set of rules changes, subclasses, magic items, monsters, and adventures is going to leave everyone unhappy.
UA Playtest 8: Bastion System, Revised Cantrips
Quick summary: the bastion system are rules to create a personal home / guild hall / fortress for your party with prices and special abilities.
Ah, I missed the fact that the lvl19 ASI specifically is allowed to break the max of 20. Yeah, that's a weird interaction. They just need to change it so that it increases both your score and your maximum by +4.
I don't think what you said would make it work with Giant belts though, they just set your strength to be that number, you're not supposed to be able to boost beyond that number.
I did some math to see how good Sorcerous Burst is on average, now that it's a d8. Because these are averages, I'm only looking at additional bonus dice added from the base dice, because the chances of rolling a second round of bonus dice is so minuscule (even at lvl17) that they don't affect the average damage significantly.
From levels 1-4, you roll 1d8 as a base, which means you have a 12.5% chance to roll one 8 and get a bonus damage dice. Each 1d8 has an average damage of 4.5, so your average damage is 4.5 + (12.5%)(4.5) = 5.06. That's still less than a Firebolt's average of 5.5, but you do get to change your damage type every turn AND you're more likely to do 10 or more damage than a Firebolt (10% chance of 10 damage, vs (12.5%)(87.5%) = 10.9% chance of rolling an 8 and then at least a 2 to deal 10+ damage). At the same time, Sorcerous Burst is much more likely to do negligible damage than a Firebolt. A 5e goblin has 7 HP, for example. If you hit one with Firebolt, you have a 4/10 = 40% chance to deal at least enough damage to kill it with one shot from full health. If you hit one with Sorcerous Burst, however, you have a 2/8 = 25% chance to deal enough damage to kill them.
From levels 5-9, you roll 2d8, which gives you a 21.88% chance of rolling exactly one 8, and a 1.56% chance of rolling two 8s, for a total average damage of 10.13 (vs Firebolt's 11). At lvl11, the average damage goes to 15.19 (vs 16.5), and at lvl17 it goes to 20.25 (vs 22). So it's the same pattern at every level: Firebolt does more on average, but Sorcerous Burst has better chance to deal high damage, has a much higher potential damage cap, and its damage can be changed if damage type matters...while it also has a greater chance of doing a small amount of damage. It is, in short, a swingy and unpredictable spell, which is very thematic.
I think Sorcerous Burst is the right pick for a sorcerer looking for a damage-dealing cantrip. It's not strictly better than Firebolt, and is more likely both to overkill its targets and to not deal enough damage when you need it to, but it's also more likely to surprise you and deal way more damage than you thought it would. It's also more likely to be useful as a damage-dealer in more situations, since you can change its damage type.
Oh good, they finally addressed how the "X Savant" (the wizard school discount feature) actually incentivizes you to not take spells of the appropriate school on level-up, and hope you find them as scrolls to copy them later. It actually does what it should do now: give you more spells of a particular school.
Also, Memorize Spell means that the wizard is now not only the best utility caster for rituals, they're the best utility caster, period. Every weird, niche spell that could be useful but only if you happened to prepare it on the right day is now available to you with just a minute of prep time. That's simply fantastic, I love it.
I like the idea of Studied Attacks...but at the same time, I don't like how it makes it impossible to roll your 3-5 attacks at once, because the order of your attacks (and whether you hit or miss with a previous attack) matters.
I'm not sure what you mean by that? You can either use the ASI to get one of those abilities to its pre-capstone max of 20, and then the capstone takes it to 24, or you use the ASI to get a feat.
You say that's a problem, but it just sounds like you can double up your meme with a greentext
I don’t mind having to make “tough choices” in general, only when the obviously correct choice is boring and the suboptimal one is the cool fun one.
This perfectly sums it up. The problem is that increasing your scores needs to be pretty darn strong, strong enough to compete with a feat...but as you said, it's usually pretty boring. A couple of +1s certainly add up and make your character more powerful on average, but a feat that grants entirely new functionality just feels so much more impactful and fun.
I would have preferred them to entirely separate stat growth and feat selection, but the OneDnD method of just making most (all?) feats into "half feats" is acceptable as well.
I genuinely hope this results in healthy competition for D&D. That can only result in better content and games for us as players.
The “I Know A Guy” House Rule
Originally posted by David Nett on Twitter, the “I Know A Guy” house rule is intended to give all players a way to influence the story without handwaving away any difficult narrative situation the DM might want to put them in. The comparison that David used was the moment in Empire Strikes Back when Han decided to go to Lando for help, but wasn’t actually sure how Lando would receive him. In other words, the PC knows this person, but they don’t get to control what they do. The text of the rule is as follows:
~~~~ In any situation (where it makes sense), a PC can declare “I know a guy,” and then quickly sketch that NPC & the relationship. Fewer details are usually better - that leaves room for the DM & PCs to play. Upon declaration, the NPC exists. Then, when the PCs try to interact with the NPC, the player who created that NPC makes a Charisma roll to see how the NPC reacts. Depending upon the situation, the DM may decide advantage/disadvantage applies. ~~~~
Another Twitter user suggested implementing the rule with uses equal to a PC’s charisma modifier, minimum 1. I don’t like that version, because I think one of the benefits of this rule is to allow players with characters that don’t usually have as much to do in social interactions (read: martials and/or characters with low charisma) to participate in the story, as long as they are engaged and thinking about their characters. I might instead tie it to expending a heroic inspiration, which has some synergy with rewarding a deep connection to one’s character (through good RP) with a new way to shape the story.
The History of DnD that Hasbro Refused to Learn From - Extra Credits
The EC team put together this breezy and accessible overview of the legal, financial, and creative history of DnD, from its creation in the 1974 to the OGL fiasco of early 2023. It’s sad but a little funny how cyclical the licensing situation has been for the past 50 years. Here’s hoping that the community’s protests earlier this year helped break that cycle.
In order for subclasses to feel impactful and varied, they do need to change how you play pretty significantly...but that means they need to have a pretty hefty set of abilities right when you first get the subclass. I don't think it's a coincidence that the classes that are the worst offenders as "most abused multiclass dips in 5e" all get their subclasses at levels 1 or 2.
Oh for sure that’s why they’re doing it. Subclasses require a bucket of features when you first get them in order to substantially differentiate themselves from the main class, which means it’s a big power jump. All the most common dips in 5e (warlock, cleric, sorcerer) are classes that get their subclass at 1st level.
PHB 2024 Playtest Drops Tomorrow - Overview
Crawford says it’s the biggest yet, with 7 classes (Experts: Ranger, Rogue, Bard; Priests: Cleric, Paladin, and Druid; and Monk confirmed), spells and weapon mastery tweaks, capstones back at lvl20 (epic boons will be pushed to another UA), and subclass progression reverted to the 2014 cadence after lvl3. Notably, rogues are seemingly getting another feature at lvl5 to make up for the fact that they get very nothing from their subclass between 3 and 9.
Yep, you can’t change the URL but the display name can be changed at any time. Clearly I was more careful when typing one than the other lol…
Honestly it sounds a lot like the Heroic Inspiration system from the OneDnD playtest material. Mostly the part about getting one every session (human characters get one for free every long rest) and having more defined reasons for a DM to hand it out.
This feature really is lackluster, especially given how it initially looks pretty strong.
How about something like the Nature Cleric’s 6th level ability, Dampen Elements, reworked into an Aura?
Starting at 7th level, when you or a creature within 10 feet of you takes acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage, you can use your reaction to grant resistance to creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you against that instance of damage.
So, it’s more limited in range than the cleric’s (10’ vs 30’), but you have the option of applying it to multiple people if they all get hit by the same elemental damage, so it should still work for spells. Shame it won’t work against Magic Missile or other force / bludgeoning damage spells anymore though. Maybe you could put “force” in there as another option…but that could probably lead to cheese, since on-demand resistance to force is likely to open up some abusive interactions (like make Staff of the Magi a much less suicidal nuke).
It’s also balanced somewhat by the fact that a paladin’s reaction is more useful than a cleric’s usually.
We just created https://ttrpg.network/c/ttrpglfg
Which came first for you: DnD, or DnD media?
Up until 4e, DnD (and TTRPGs in general) were pretty much only spread through the game itself. You either knew someone who played, or maybe you heard about it on the internet and you were interested so you sought out a local game shop, something like that. Regardless, your first experiences with what DnD was like (ignoring fear-mongering movies and other negative media) was likely to be from playing it.
That seems to have changed with 5e. DnD media is bigger than it's ever been. Actual play podcasts and shows are everywhere. Speaking personally, though I had been in lots of LGS from playing a ton of MtG growing up, my first direct exposure to DnD was finding The Adventure Zone (way back when it first started as a "one-off" side thing from MBMBAM). From there, I learned about Critical Role, and it only took a few watches of that before I resolved to actually find a group to play with.
How about everyone else? Did you get into the game because a friend invited you to play, or did you get hooked on some DnD show and decide "I want to do that, too!"
Clarifying Language: One D&D, 2024 Core Rulebooks
D&D Beyond - Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Tools, Rules, Races, Classes, Items, Spells, Monsters, and More
Reposting the June 8th, 2023 D&D Community update below:
As we continue playtesting and discussing materials for the upcoming Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual, and even release updates on the D&D Virtual Tabletop and evolving D&D Beyond toolset, it's important to clarify the language we use around these projects. One D&D is the overarching initiative shaping the future of the game. The updated fifth edition rulebooks, VTT, and D&D Beyond updates are housed under this initiative. When talking specifically about the revised fifth edition core rulebooks and their predecessors, we'll identify them by their year of publication. So, if we're talking about the barbarian class in the upcoming Player's Handbook, we'll refer to the book as the “2024 Player's Handbook.”
When the 2024 core rulebooks release, we'll drop the “2024” and simply refer to them by their title. (e.g., the 2024 Player's Handbook will just be the Player's Handbook). At that point, we will only clarify the publication date of the books when we're comparing the 2014 and 2024 versions, or simply referring back to the older version.
We recognize that the term “One D&D” has caused confusion around the updated rulebooks. The 2024 core rulebooks aren't ushering in a new edition of the game; the books you enjoy today will be compatible with the updated core rulebooks, because it's all the same edition of D&D. If you're a casual reader, though, this may not have been clear with how we've used the One D&D term in the past. That said, we'll be updating the language we use here on D&D Beyond and elsewhere so as to eliminate confusion around our continuing support for fifth edition.
Reference: All OneDnD (PHB-2024) Playtest Material
Unearthed Arcana Playtest Materials Get Unearthed Arcana playtest content, try it out in your game, and then provide feedback! Check back regularly...
This is a link to the full list of Unearthed Arcana playtest material on DnDBeyond. The most recently released material (as of June 22, 2023) is the Playtest 5 packet, featuring Weapon Masteries, updates to weapons and spells, as well as new versions of the Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. The survey period for this packet closed on May 17th.
Additionally, a Youtube playlist for the developers to talk about all UA releases can be found here.
A reminder of what can happen when the community pushes back - OGL 1.0a & Creative Commons
Over the past few weeks you, the community, have made your voices heard. And we’ve listened. OGL 1.0a will remain untouched AND the entire SRD 5.1...
When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.
Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:
88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2. 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2. 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a. 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy. 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons. These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.
The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.
We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched. We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license. You choose which you prefer to use. This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.
Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.
So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?
We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.
We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.
Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.
We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.
We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.
Kyle Brink
Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons
My New Favorite House Rule: Flashing Before Your Eyes
To commemorate the opening of this server, and in the interest of preserving information, I thought I would re-post the all-time top homebrew thread from the subreddit, courtesy of /u/obsidiandice:
This rule came out of discussion with some fellow DMs, and several of us have adopted it to great effect.
Flashing Before Your Eyes
Any time you are incapacitated for your turn, the DM will ask you a question about your character or their history. If you answer the question, you get inspiration.
This has been amazing for reducing the frustration of characters getting stunned or knocked out without reducing the drama or impact. The player gets 30-60 seconds of spotlight time that keeps them emotionally engaged in the battle, and a mechanical reward that will help them shine when they return to the fight.
Here are some examples that have come up so far:
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Is this the nearest you've ever come to death? What are the closest calls you've had before?
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If you die in this battle, what is your proudest accomplishment?
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What is your biggest regret?
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What memory do you draw upon as you try to shake off the mind flayer's influence?
This gives players an avenue for sharing backstory that's memorable and dramatic rather than dry exposition. Anything you introduce will be great fodder for the DM to bring back in subsequent sessions.
Update: After playing with this rule for a few more months, I have revised it to, "The first time in a battle you are incapacitated for your turn..." I've found that the second time usually feels more forced and artificial, and granting inspiration every single round makes death saves too trivial.---