Here, here and here some information from the D&D XP Seminar Charting the Course: An Edition for all Editions.
A lot of encouraging things: - The art will be harken back to the good old days - Flexibility will be key to gameplay - Old-school randomness will make a comeback - and so on.
I've particularly appreciated 2 statements from Monte Cook: - instead of increasing attack bonuses, give higher level characters more interesting things to do - Moving away from looking at a character sheet for options, to limitless options (to make players more creative in game)
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 2,327 Location: New Hope, MN Karma: 93
Re: D&D 5E « Reply #93 on Jan 27, 2012, 12:13pm »
Quote:
Q: How easy is it to switch to different styles of gameplay with this modular approach depending on the play groups mood or progression of the story? Mike: The idea is that, hoepfully if we do it right, that you can switch on the fly if you need to from one encounter/story bit to the next. Like maybe you can use miniatures and grid rules for this fight, but switch to some social modularity for the next bit. If we do it right that should be fairly easy.
This is more focused on magic, talking about the return of the Pseudo-Vancian Magic System: old school magic plus at-will powers as feats (or so it seems).
Update mainly focused on Skills/Abilities: - stats are going to be capped again to a limit - stat modifiers are going to be granted both from race and class - if you wanna perform an action (usually ruled by the skill system in 3E or 4E) you automatically perform it if the scene is "relaxed/unstressed" - Saving Throws are going to be more focused on the single ability (not so different from C&C ones according to what I've understood) - Designers said if you wanna escape from a grapple you can save with your Dex or other ways - characters are going to have themes (noble, commoner, etc.) granting some kind of skill bonus - if you going to roll on a skill but you don't have that skill, simply test the key ability - goods/equipments are going to be valued in silver pieces - customizable monsters "on the fly" (adding a particular feature on the spot won't change the challenge rating and will grant an additional amount of XP) - wizards are going to be "vancian", but Designers talked about using different systems for other spellcasters - some 4E rituals are going to have very rare components, pretty quest-worthy - introduction of weapons classes (bows, axes, swords)
This should be all they said (I hope I've missed nothing too important).
Just a few notes: - 4e already has a partially Vancian system, i.e. daily. Actually, this is more Vancian than previous versions, since you can only memorise one instance of a given spell, as it seems reading Vance's tales.
- 4e already has weapon classes, though they are not directly associated to game effects.
- 4e already has a partially Vancian system, i.e. daily. Actually, this is more Vancian than previous versions, since you can only memorise one instance of a given spell, as it seems reading Vance's tales.
True enough, but it looks and feels a lot less Vancian (whether in the strict sense of Vance's tales or in the extended sense as used by Gygax and more generally to allude to the classic D&D system for spellcasters) in light of at-will and encounter spells. I have little interest in a battle of semantics, but I suspect that having a spellcaster partially required to prepare spells, while in generally having much of his magic repertoire available repeatedly throughout the day, is a significant enough difference to suspect that the presence of daily powers does not a Vancian system make.
On the plus side, and a positive note, it will be a way to ease 4e players into seeing how the Vancian system can work in ways and terms familiar to them.
Encounter Powers are simply Vancian Spells memorized multiple times (or at least they are if you have 2-3 encounters at day): if you do too much encounters you increase the difference, otherwise it's the same thing (except At-Will Powers, of course).
I think I see where you are going with this, but that depends on an "encounter economy" which feels unlike old-style spell selection. After all, since all spells were "dailies" in classic Vancian style, it was not only uncommon, but actually unwise, to have too many multiply prepared spells. Unless you knew what you were facing and had a specific plan for a specific goal, it behooved you to have a variety of spells, each usable only once. This had the added feature of reducing the MUs (and cleric's) use of spells in every combat (unless the MU had a wand of magic missiles!). Still, since "spell slots" are a zero sum game, the decision to have knock or detect invisibility means the decision not to have web, and the decision to have fly or phantasmal forces means not to have fireball. Encounter powers allows a reliable and reliably recurring MU response from encounter to encounter.
Please note, if you like 4e play, I am not in any way trying to disparage it. My point is just that, in this regard (i.e. MUs and spell selection) it calls for such a different play style and series of assumptions (e.g. "encounters per day") from OD&D and AD&D that I am not sure that the two are comparable.
Don't worry, what you're saying is true: basically 4E Magic doesn't look Vancian, but it becomes if you do the right mixture of exploration/roleplaying/encounters (kinda house-ruled but still pretty vancian).
Joined: Sept 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 1,214 Location: Melbourne, Australia Karma: 195
Re: D&D 5E « Reply #102 on Jan 30, 2013, 7:35am »
So, I downloaded the latest 5E package to take another look...
To my eye it's looking more like a blend of 3E and 4E each time I download the latest package.
I guess it makes marketing sense that Wizards primarily want to win over the 3E (and Pathfinder) and 4E players, but I can't shake the feeling that a huge opportunity is slipping away. Or has already passed by.
What happened to all that talk of "roots" and "back to basics"? And keeping a lid on the numbers and stats?
I'm sure 5E will be very neat and Wizards will sell lots of pretty books. But I'm disappointed that it's shaping up to be another iteration of the tiresome "character builds" game, and greatly saddened that genuinely inspirational game called "Dungeons & Dragons" will be lost to another generation.
On the other hand, I guess it's great news for the retro-clones
The thing is, the playtest packets are showing us, in a narrow way, what the designers want to focus on. In light of the recent articles on the WotC website, the presumption will be the that "basic" form of the game will not revolve around "builds", but will rather use classic-looking forms of the main classes and races. It will be the "standard" (and "advanced") options and modules that will pull back the veil and allow for customization. I get the feeling that they are trying to make sure that the basic forms will be more or less reproducible as one of a set of "standard" options, such that a player who is using a basic class and one using a customized one can play together. The advanced rules they have admitted will not be designed to see how well they work together, but only how well each one works with the basic and standard expressions.
What does that mean? I think it means that a good deal of the 3e/4e blend you are seeing is their attempt to try out some standard or advanced options right now, which may mean that they are getting a better sense of what the basic game will be. I suspect that old schoolers who want to try the game out will be more inclined to play using the basic options for the most part.
Joined: Jun 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 88 Location: Torotno Karma: 16
Re: D&D 5E « Reply #104 on Jan 30, 2013, 9:48am »
No I think you're right. They've said the play test packets are there to test out new ideas. New character classes have popped in and out of packets, new ways to handle spell casting, etc. I think they've more or less settled on their 'core' rules. That stuff doesn't seem to fluctuate much.
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