Comments on: 5e Content Strategy: 2017 Update

By: Tim Baker

Tim Baker — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 07:29:00 +0000

In reply to MaxXimenez. As someone who's had the opportunity to playtest Kobold Press' 5th Edition content, I can comment on how well-organized their playtest program is. It's also large, gathering feedback from hundreds of players. That's not to say other companies aren't doing a lot of playtesting as well, but in terms of third-party 5e publishers, I can only speak toward Kobold Press' efforts.

By: Manos Ti

Manos Ti — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 08:40:00 +0000

Thanks for yet again a helpful brakedown Brandes. Let’s get down to what we have:
– SKT is a great sourcebook, not so great an adventure. I’m sort of running it right now (well sort of because I’ve modded it in order to fit in our adventure) and although it has a really cool story the structure is really loose, at least in the first three chapters. The DM HAS to railroad some stuff in order to keep the PCs at bay (sometimes literally) and this is not so great, at least if one wants to stick to the published module. But, as a sourcebook it is really good and it is a very good supplement of SCAG.
– VGtM is the other end of SCAG and I really like it. I’m pretty sure that XGtE will be equally great. I’ll second though the notion of the AL rule of PHB +1 is the ideal barrier against OPness. I think that Crawford has indicated that this rule is fundamental in their creating process but I cannot find the tweet right now.
– I bought TftYP just because I wanted to have my 5e book collection complete and also bought the pdf map bundle from Shley’s site (the maps in the book are really small). I see the value of having a collection of famous D&D dungeons handy, but still haven’t found either the time to really delve into them or even play any of them. Chances are, that time will take long to come. Now that I think of it TftYP is ideal as a package in Roll20, rather than as a hardcover book.
– The boom of ToA is an indicator of what we’re going to face in the future from WotC. Until now we had two storylines per season plus one sourcebook. As I see it now, we’ll have a major storyline per season, a “minor adventure book” (just like TftYP) and the sourcebook. They’re to invest in that major storyline with a plethora of side products (dice boxes, board games etc) and the announcement is going to be one large show.
– The GAP is the natural outcome of DMs’G. Since they had the tools to measure sales, they took the most successful AND famous creators, made them an elite squad and put them in the WotC doorstep. Now they are almost-but-not-completely WotC creators and there you have it, there is a new status to long for if you’re creating D&D content, to make it into the GAP. Of course this is a good thing and a win-win for everybody.
– After ToA FR are definitely here to stay. They’ve proven that pretty much anything can fit in this setting and I’d be really surprised if they steered away anytime soon. Bare in mind that the new D&D movie is expected some time next year and it is also going to be based in FR. I’d not be surprised if WotC issue a storyline linked to the movie.
– D&D Beyond has fallen onto its face after the pricing catalog was announced. I use it, but only as a quick reference tool for the three books and I plan to keep it that way.

By: Manos Ti

Manos Ti — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 07:41:00 +0000

In reply to Shawn E.. They are. The three versions of the Mystic confirm it. But IIRC Mearls had stated that Psionic rules still need a lot of polishing so I wouldn't expect any major release any time soon (any time soon=the following year). Of course, I stand to be corrected and I hope so as a Dark Sun and Eberron fan.

By: Dakota Graves

Dakota Graves — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 21:06:00 +0000

In reply to Alex Mitchell. Thanks! I'll check it out!

By: Alex Mitchell

Alex Mitchell — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 14:13:00 +0000

In reply to tribality. I totally understand-- nobody wants linkspam in the discussion!

By: tribality

tribality — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:30:00 +0000

sorry this was block earlier.

By: tribality

tribality — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:28:00 +0000

In reply to Alex Mitchell. I'll see what I can do about those flags.

By: Mikey Kromhout

Mikey Kromhout — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 06:17:00 +0000

In reply to Brandes Stoddard.

Hmm you would think they would just make each dragonmark a “subrace” of the race it is supposed to belong to and for the races that do not have sub races (half elves, half orcs, and humans notably) do what they did for half elves in the SCAG where you give up race abilities to gain the abilities associated with the dragonmark. For the highest level spells you could require a feat like they did for deep gnome spells (with a requirement for higher level spells) but with spells like teleport rather than a bunch of lower level spells

Funny enough I love paying in Eberron but while I like the story of having a dragonmark I have never really liked the mechanics of the dragonmarks. In 3e I was not really interested in spending feats to cast those spells a small number of times a day at not so great caster levels (and no I was not going to take the PRC to solve that problem since it does nothing else) for the most part (one exception was a halfling binder who could cast significant amounts of healing thanks to the feats int eh dragonmarked book and a bind to a healing vestige). In 4e most of them were not that great (major exception mark of storm but then a LOT of people used that) but it did not really feel like the old marks and they felt like they lost their niche in the game for the most part to me.

By: Alex Mitchell

Alex Mitchell — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 14:03:00 +0000

In reply to Dakota Graves.

I tried to post my sites earlier, but I imagine urls are flagged (very understandable).
I am ‘Red Fathoms’ on Tumblr. My website is linked from there.

By: Dakota Graves

Dakota Graves — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 13:38:00 +0000

In reply to Alex Mitchell. Do you have your work up online anywhere?