Awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed that.
I don't know about this version. These guys have a lot on their shoulders, and big shoes to fill.
All I'm going to say is good luck because they are going to need it. Interesting though, thanks for posting.
I especially liked the shot at Paizo for attempting a '4.25' system, which really shows how little they really understood the nature and origin of the pathfinder system.
Yeah, Pathfinder is clearly more 3.75 than 4.25.
I agree those guys looked stumped when they mentioned Paizo. I also consider Pathfinder definitely more 3.75. Any 4.0 edition and up, that blood is on their hands.
Things they talked about for 5th edition.
1. You'll be able to play without grid maps.
2. Doesn't look like they will be rereleasing any old campaign settings but it's still up in the air.
3. They're trying to bring players from all editions into one D&D game that you can customize to your own liking while keeping fans of all editions together.
4.They will sell seperate rules supplements to cater to what people like?
5. Skill checks/challenges and such will be determined with Ability scores.
I especially liked the shot at Paizo for attempting a '4.25' system, which really shows how little they really understood the nature and origin of the pathfinder system.
The shot at Paizo about a 4.25 came from the audience, not Mearls or Crawford. And they reacted exactly as they shoul have, saying, "No comment."
I finished watching the video this morning. I think it provided a nice overview of where they were going. I liked how they replied to the business focused questions and how they talked about how the newer board games, etc. help them in terms of sales of the D&D brand and letting the RPG be itself (or however they phrased it). I like that they aren't trying to make the next edition have 30+ books you need in order to play. It sounds like they can move away from a couple books a month model to having a few big releases for the RPG each year (with each book supporting multiple option "modules" in addition to the core) coupled with a few of the board games and similar products that are part of the overall D&D brand. It also sounds like electronic DDI type support is going to continue. I think this is all a good thing.
I'd like to see them take a Paizo approach of some stand alone adventures and maybe one adventure path per year. I don't want to see a return to a lot of splat books of the Complete X or Y Powers variety and fortunately it doesn't seem like that's the intention at the moment.
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I don't want to see a return to a lot of splat books of the Complete X or Y Powers variety and fortunately it doesn't seem like that's the intention at the moment.
Well, it's easy to say "we don't intend to churn out player books indefinitely" and it's another thing to actually do it.
For instance, when Paizo came out with the Advanced Player's Guide fairly soon after the Core Rulebook came out, the response seemed to be along the lines of: "Don't worry, we're trying to get our player splatbooks out of the way early on, but that's going to be it -- we won't keep churning things out just because we have a schedule". But I don't see the release schedule slowing down in the near future.
That's not a bad thing, of course! I highly encourage Paizo to do whatever they can to make money and stay in business and keep making products. But I always take claims that "we won't keep churning books out forever" with a big grain of salt.
I forgot to mention they are bringing turning undead back to 1st level priests and clerics.
Skills based off of ability checks sounds an awful lot like Non-Weapon Proficiencies, which equates to a colossal step backwards in my book.
Skills based off of ability checks sounds an awful lot like Non-Weapon Proficiencies, which equates to a colossal step backwards in my book.
It's hard to say without knowing what the numbers will look like. I certainly wouldn't miss having one PC with a +0 modifier and another PC with a +15 modifier for the same skill, for instance.
Personally, I think the big leap forward with 3E's skills was with predetermined DCs. In most older RPGs, the assumption was that the GM would assign a penalty for hard tasks, but it was rarely clear how big a penalty would be appropriate for which task. Then 3E comes along and it's chock full of examples of easy tasks and hard tasks for every skill. Hallelujah!
As long as they don't get rid of clear advice for skill DCs, they might do okay.
My impression from watching the video was that they were just saying they hadn't committed to any specifics about what old campaign settings they would support and in what fashion. Outside of the video, I thought I read that Forgotten Realms would be the main setting supported out of the gate but after that nothing was decided.
My pure speculation, not based on anything, is that they're going to setup the base game/default setting using the Forgotten Realms as the base (Realms deities as examples in Core with a Nentir Vale sort of generic setting that fits in Realms, etc.). They'll later (within a year) release a more deluxe and detailed Forgotten Realms product, either a hardback book or boxed set.
After that, I think they'll go for a new campaign setting before they rerelease existing material.
As for me, I'd love to see a return to Greyhawk or Mystara, but I kind of doubt it.
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Skills based off of ability checks sounds an awful lot like Non-Weapon Proficiencies, which equates to a colossal step backwards in my book.
Proficiencies and skills (as used in PF/3.x) are both just modified ability checks...
Remember, just like adding ranks to skills, you were able to add additional slots to proficiencies. You just didn't have an obscene amount of them to use...
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2. Doesn't look like they will be rereleasing any old campaign settings but it's still up in the air.
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I doubt this, especially for "Forgotten Realms" I seem to remember that if they don't publish anything "Forgotten Realms" related for a certain period of time the rights revert back to Ed Greenwood.
No way they'll let that happen...
That's a shame because I believe Ed Greenwood's version would be the best version of the Realms.