DnD 2024 discussion

In exchange, we let him try to murder us

Honestly for the classes it is harder to justify (cleric/Warlock) I was trying to figure out HOW to fit it in narratively and I came with this idea:

Cleric
A lot of dieties have more than one domain. If we can assume that the old subclasses are actually backward compatible (use 2024 base and 2014 subclass), I would suggest to my players that they choose a diety and then at level 3 choose one of that dieties Domains.

A cleric of Lathander would then choose Life or Light Domain.
A cleric of Athena would be Knowledge and War

Obviously this doesn't work with some domains/dieties but another idea would be they are more so still finding their way to their specific diety and they are getting their divine powers from the pantheon as a whole until then.

Warlocks
They have been more so getting dreams that manifest their power until level 3. This works with most of the 2024 subclasses at least, Fiends, Celestials, GOO, Fey. This all work great with this set up. Older subclasses...maybe not.

Oof they missed the (Hunters) Mark on the ranger

Lol, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who was irked about the new Paladin. That said, now that I've played it extensively from level 5-18, I will say that it's much better than I first thought. I'm still extremely annoyed that a smite requires a Bonus Action instead of just saying it can only be done once per turn like Sneak Attack or Eldritch Smite, alas...

Overall, I think 5.5 (well, as of UA8) is much better than 5e.

But I'm still mad at you Bonus Action Smite.

I agree with Treantmonk that it seems the developers want to really lean into hunter's mark, but by the time the ranger gets to higher levels they will probably be concentrating on other things than hunter's mark, so that spell is mostly a "well, I have plenty of 1st level spells slots and I don't feel like casting conjure animals right now, so sure let's hunter's mark" spell at higher levels. If they wanted to incentivise use a higher levels, they probably should have made the damage die scale sooner than level 20. becoming a d10 at lv 20 feels way too late. Perhaps a d8 at level 11, then d10 at level 14, then a d12 at level 17, and then 2d6 at lv 20? not sure

Just watched avideo with a brief breakdown on the core Druid class. Honestly, I'm inclined to say I like it overall. Archdruid not getting infinite Wildshapes is a hard nerf, but it'll impact very few games.

Druids are going to make solid blasters now -- Potent Casting combined with increasing their range on cantrips by 300 feet is comparable to Warlock with two invocations invested (although it doesn't all come online till level 11 I believe). I feel like it's going to be good.

If the "strike" and arrow spells end up working like smites (no concentration apply on hit bonus action to activate) I think it solves some of this as well.

Rangers end up maybe even outpacing/matching paladins for nova damage with new changes with a bit better dpr
Turn 1 set up HM, attack. Turn 2, attack and activate highest level strike.

Next turn you still have HM up and do it again. Potentially with better/more versatile effects.

I've lived with that and I'm ok with it.

I was looking forward to hearing about the crafting rules. This was very vague, but promising

Actual rules for the tools that are in the game...astonishing.

So with new rules being nearly fully available. What are you going to do in your games? Stick with 2014? Immediately move to 2024? Wait until dmg/mm releases? Allow some old content? Only new?

Personally eventually I will migrate fully to 2024 but until dmg/mm comes out I will Stick with 2014 with only some qol changes (monk martial arts dice)

I'm really not sure. My friends I play in person with really don't care for it, but said they would if I wanted them to. As for running games here, people are going to have to say either "2014/2024 only" or "can use either, but no mix/matching"

Sticking with 2014 I think.

So far my impression is that the character classes have become even more powerful. While I'm interested in seeing the final 2024 rules, I'm convinced that dnd5e2024 is going to be more of a fantasy superhero game that before.

If I want something more low power fantacy, the I'll grab Dragonbane

Same here. I'm sticking with 2014 at least until the MM is out. My tentative plan is to convert my game at that point, but I suppose there's always the possibility that once I have the new books in my hands, I'll decide they suck. That's what happened with 4E. :)

I'm also desperately trying to get the moniker of 5.5E to stick, because dnd5e2024 is a mouthful. ;)

The 2024 ruleset allow 2014 PCs to play with a 2024 party. The 2014 PCs might feel slightly less capable (or perhaps more capable if they're a paladin). As I understand it - you can also choose 2014 options for 2024 created PCs unless the same ability exists in the 2024 rules, so you can't cherry pick 2014 smite for a 2024 paladin.

There are a few small rule changes if the DM is playing 2024 rules with 2014 PCs. Potions are bonus actions, inspiration is a reroll not advantage, and grappling is slightly different. Many 2014 tables were using bonus actions potions and inspiration as a reroll anyway. I'm not keen on potions as bonus actions, and I preferred the old grappling rules, but I'm not going to throw a strop over those minor changes.

I'll be running 2024 games, but if people want to rock up with 2014 PCs then it's not a problem. It's to be expected.

I think the PCs are slightly more powerful, but the main change is versatility. E.g. a fighter can use second wind for getting bonuses on ability checks, not just healing. Barbarian's brutal strike lets the PC choose an effect.

When are you announcing your new 5.5 game, @Adam? The masses need to know!

Hellriders 3 and the follow-up Hellrider Apocalypse have both been run using the UA of the 2024 rules. The PCs are close to hitting level 19, so I expect my next game won't be too far off. I'll be using the new rules, but if people want to stick to 2014 characters in it then I don't mind.

At this time, not sure what I'll do for this website, but I think I want to see the SRD that comes out after the MM and DMG to see how I feel. If I like it, I'll probably get the PHB at least and decide based on reviews about MM and DMG. However, that means a while not getting the PHB for 5.5, so not sure if I can run games for people using the 5.5 version as I wouldn't be able to confirm their characters are made right.

So a ton of youtubers given the 5.5/2024 Players handbook had their embargo lifted today and are basically telling us everything. Should we make a new discussion thread for those who want to talk about what they hear and can be ignored by those who don't want to know yet?