With links and video:

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2021/09/so-d-55e-is-really-coming-in-2024.html

I thought we wouldn't know so soon, but apparently we are getting D&D 5.5e in 2024.

I heard about this on Reddit. The talk was included in the Future of DnD panel (around eight hours in). As the redditor mentioned, "They used the words "new evolution" and "new version", but not "new edition". They also confirmed that it's going to be backwards compatible with 5e.".

"New version", "backwards compatible"... Crawford mentions that the game "is always evolving" in the video, Winniger is saying that "new versions of the core rulebooks" with feedback on existing classes... etc.

Yeah, I'm betting on something like 5.5e.

This will coincide with the 50 year anniversary of D&D.


My opinion? Well, I'm a bit surprised, but not excited nor disappointed.

5e definitely needs a 5.5 version, because the new options in Tasha's and other books change some fundamental things about the game; so this is positive IMO. But I'm not really confident that they will improve the game a lot. Every change will have its fans and detractors, and making the game fundamentally simpler and more straightforward is basically impossible without alienating the (huge) fanbase that started playing with 5e.

They are probably not fixing weapons and armor, and I'm not sure they even fix the champion (although at the very least I expected the beastmaster ranger to be improved!). I'm betting they'll add more options and few rules changes.

I'll probably be playing with 5e, the SRD and some house rules regardless of what WotC does at this point.

Also, we are getting a new monster book, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. I dunno, the Creature Codex is hard to beat. Well, we'll see.

What's wrong with the Champion?

The wokeness in the core books will increase for sure.  So it will be a hard pass for me.

Quote from: Crusader X on September 26, 2021, 10:21:26 PM
The wokeness in the core books will increase for sure.  So it will be a hard pass for me.

Agreed.

I really don't want "D&D: Jeremy Crawford edition" so this sounds like something for me to avoid, too.

OTOH thanks to DnD Beyond it's already quite hard to avoid Crawfordism in my game. 

I don't want it or need it. I have used copies of the three 5th core books and it never really caught my interest even as a repair for the strangeness of 4th.

Not sure what the stores think. They seem to have smaller rpg sections than since we've had game and comics stores as a common thing.

New edition, eh?  I knew Wizards could not resist that sweet sweet new edition money.

I remember when those WotC shills were drinking the ever green cool-aid.  Good times

Quote from: S'mon on September 26, 2021, 11:07:10 PM
I really don't want "D&D: Jeremy Crawford edition" so this sounds like something for me to avoid, too.

OTOH thanks to DnD Beyond it's already quite hard to avoid Crawfordism in my game. 

That's a good point. I'm trying to find it but I thought I saw a blurb about new digital tools. Would that mean they won't partner with Fandom and D&D Beyond anymore?

I also couldn't help but think they'll have an excuse to purge anything pundit, zak, and mearls related to the core rules. I mean it's supposedly backwards compatible so maybe they can't change it too much....but who knows

Because re re re releases work. No woke for me, thanks.

The 5E core system, as released in 2014, is really good. Everything that's been done to it since (Xanathar's Guide, Tasha's Cauldron) has been awful. If the people working on 5.5E are the same people who ruined 5E over the past few years, then 5.5E is not going to be an improvement; it's going to be awful.

Quote from: Horace on September 27, 2021, 12:26:41 AM
The 5E core system, as released in 2014, is really good. Everything that's been done to it since (Xanathar's Guide, Tasha's Cauldron) has been awful. If the people working on 5.5E are the same people who ruined 5E over the past few years, then 5.5E is not going to be an improvement; it's going to be awful.

I agree. It'll be interesting to me to see if dudes like Joe Manganiello will still be so supportive. I mean, the critical role crowd is already woke but how much is the Joe and Vin Diesel types. Ah well, I'm not angry or sad, I left purchasing 5e after Tasha's and there's plenty good to play in the OSR.

I stopped playing 3e when 3.5 came out because I didn't want to check and adapt every module I had for possible changes (on top of managing high level characters in the bloated 3.0 rules).  I'll probably stop following 5e too when 5.5 arrives and do something completely different. SoulBound,  Doctor Who (1st edition with the Tom Baker setting), Slipstream,  Deadlands, FFG Star Wars,  WEG Star Wars, Stormbringer, Torg, Toon, James Bond 007, Fading  Suns, classic Delta Green, ...plenty of options... Or maybe go back to 4th Edition or even try my hand at that OSR thing I keep hearing about.

Hell, in 2024 I'm not even sure I will still have a group to play with.

y

Quote from: Horace on September 27, 2021, 12:26:41 AM
The 5E core system, as released in 2014, is really good. Everything that's been done to it since (Xanathar's Guide, Tasha's Cauldron) has been awful. If the people working on 5.5E are the same people who ruined 5E over the past few years, then 5.5E is not going to be an improvement; it's going to be awful.

What were your problems with XGTE? I liked nearly all the DM-side stuff myself, and most of the new PC subclasses seem ok to me. Definitely annoyed about Tasha's attempt to erase race stat mods though!

I'm not a fan of the 4e style monster stat blocks returning. Making spells into abilities just makes them stop working with spell interactions. What if someone wants to counterspell it?

Plus I liked the "day in the life" type spell lists where you get to see what the monster's life is like outside of combat according to its spell list.

The rest could be good.