Rfkannen
2021-09-29, 07:08 PM
There has been talk about how wotc's hiring choices mean that there is a good bet that this "5.5e" is almost entirely meant to make room for a wotc owned 5e integrated virtual tabletop. My guess is that while they have this opportunity to change the books, they will shift the game in mild ways towards their modern design sensibilities: no races will have alignments or asi, the monster manual will be entirely different since wotc changed how they design monsters, the dmg will have more focus on social encounters, etc.
Wotc has said that the new books are going to be compatible with all previous books. I suspect that since xanathar's and tasha's are getting rereleased, those books, in particular, will have everything in them usable with these new books. so all the classes will be in the game, all the classes will have any feature that any subclass works off of, and all classes will get their subclass features at the same levels they do now. In addition, I am not expecting tasha's variant features to be built into these new books, as that would make tasha's variant features not compatible with these new books and reduce the appeal to consumers.
based on that, here's a chart about what definitely won't change about each class:
Barbarian: How often you can rage. The mechanics of each subclass depend a LOT on a certain amount of rages per day.
Bard: the mechanics behind inspiration
Cleric: Weapon and armor proficiencies. Channel divinity
Druid: Frequency of wildshape (since they can change circle of the moon, the rest of wildshape can change)
Fighter: Second wind and fighting style.
Monk: the entirety of the ki mechanic. The level 1 ability named martial arts (notably, the stunning strike ability could change!)
Paladin: channel divinity
Ranger: anything could change.
Rogue: the conditions that allow a sneak attack
Sorcerer: sorcery point amounts.
Warlock: Anything could change but I doubt they will give it any part of the hexblade patron
wizard: how you learn spells
Going off of all those assumptions, here are my theories on what might actually change.
High level abilities; I found it very noticeable that almost all of the tasha's variant features replaced low level features. I suspect that they might be leaving early levels alone but changing up the higher-level features of some classes. This would also be FANTASTIC marketing; they know that the current high level abilities aren't great, and giving better ones would let them sell higher level adventures.
Feats: This seems like a good time to alter any feats in the PHB. In particular, I expect magic initiate will be changed to let you cast spells gained through it with your spell slots. This is mostly just to keep consistency.
Fighting styles: I am fully expecting great weapon fighting to be changed. Not because of balance, but because it would be hard to program.
phb subclasses: the subclasses in the PHB are free game because no other book interacts with them. I suspect things like four elements monk, berserker, and champion to get a change.
The layout of the dmg; I doubt much of the content of the dmg will change (expect for expanded social interaction rules), but wotc has gotten so much flack about the layout of that book that there is no way they don't change it. This is just pride.
Literally everything about the monster manual except for which monsters are in it.(I am not expecting that book to be recognizable, but they will not cut or add anything). From mordenkainen presents it is pretty clear that this is going to happen.
What do you think? Are my assumptions faulty? If they aren't, what other changes might we expect?
Wotc has said that the new books are going to be compatible with all previous books. I suspect that since xanathar's and tasha's are getting rereleased, those books, in particular, will have everything in them usable with these new books. so all the classes will be in the game, all the classes will have any feature that any subclass works off of, and all classes will get their subclass features at the same levels they do now. In addition, I am not expecting tasha's variant features to be built into these new books, as that would make tasha's variant features not compatible with these new books and reduce the appeal to consumers.
based on that, here's a chart about what definitely won't change about each class:
Barbarian: How often you can rage. The mechanics of each subclass depend a LOT on a certain amount of rages per day.
Bard: the mechanics behind inspiration
Cleric: Weapon and armor proficiencies. Channel divinity
Druid: Frequency of wildshape (since they can change circle of the moon, the rest of wildshape can change)
Fighter: Second wind and fighting style.
Monk: the entirety of the ki mechanic. The level 1 ability named martial arts (notably, the stunning strike ability could change!)
Paladin: channel divinity
Ranger: anything could change.
Rogue: the conditions that allow a sneak attack
Sorcerer: sorcery point amounts.
Warlock: Anything could change but I doubt they will give it any part of the hexblade patron
wizard: how you learn spells
Going off of all those assumptions, here are my theories on what might actually change.
High level abilities; I found it very noticeable that almost all of the tasha's variant features replaced low level features. I suspect that they might be leaving early levels alone but changing up the higher-level features of some classes. This would also be FANTASTIC marketing; they know that the current high level abilities aren't great, and giving better ones would let them sell higher level adventures.
Feats: This seems like a good time to alter any feats in the PHB. In particular, I expect magic initiate will be changed to let you cast spells gained through it with your spell slots. This is mostly just to keep consistency.
Fighting styles: I am fully expecting great weapon fighting to be changed. Not because of balance, but because it would be hard to program.
phb subclasses: the subclasses in the PHB are free game because no other book interacts with them. I suspect things like four elements monk, berserker, and champion to get a change.
The layout of the dmg; I doubt much of the content of the dmg will change (expect for expanded social interaction rules), but wotc has gotten so much flack about the layout of that book that there is no way they don't change it. This is just pride.
Literally everything about the monster manual except for which monsters are in it.(I am not expecting that book to be recognizable, but they will not cut or add anything). From mordenkainen presents it is pretty clear that this is going to happen.
What do you think? Are my assumptions faulty? If they aren't, what other changes might we expect?