Summary
The 2024Player’s HandbookforDungeons & Dragonsis adding a lot of cool ideas and features, but there’s one that could be a detriment to many campaigns. As the first of the three core rulebooks to get a revamp, the newPlayer’s Handbookwill herald some major changes for the game when it arrives in September. Everything’s still intended to be backward compatible with previous 5e material, but on top of reworked elements like classes, spells, and weapons, it’s easy enough to add new systems into the mix without breaking the balance of the basic ones.
Things get more complicated when deciding just how many systems should actually be included in a campaign, and there’s a reason thatDnDgenerally tries to avoid too much of the number crunch that permeates some tabletop RPGs. At its core,DnD5e is intended to keep the action moving, whether that action comes in the form of combat or roleplaying. Streamlining things too heavily in favor of this goal can be a mistake, but although fleshing things out with more rules and options can be tempting, additions can quickly end up distracting from the best parts.
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Crafting Is A Major Change For Dungeons & Dragons
The 2024 Player’s Handbook Is Adding A Brand-New System
One significantaddition to the 2024Player’s Handbookis a new crafting system, and as exciting as that could be, it’s also easy to see how it could end up dragging down campaigns. Although it makes sense that seasoned adventurers with wide-ranging talents might craft some of their own gear, it’s not something that was covered extensively in the 2014 version of theDungeon Master’s Guide.Crafting is more or less just briefly mentioned in the section on downtime activities, with a bare-bones system focusing on the gold and levels necessary to craft magic items of each rarity.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everythingdid end up expanding a bit on crafting, but there’s still not that much to the system. It does encourage some more interesting possibilities than what can be found in theDungeon Master’s Guide, particularly in some possible complications that could occur while crafting. Considering how anemic the guidelines remain and the fact that the expanded system still isn’t in the core rulebooks, however, possibilities for crafting have remained largely sidelined through the years.
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Although the details of the newDnDcrafting system remain unclear, it does sound like it will be more robust than in previous treatments.Putting it in thePlayer’s Handbookis also a big game-changer, as systems intended to be deployed on a more campaign-by-campaign basis are often relegated to theDungeon Master’s Guide.There’s no way that crafting will be the right fit for every table, however, and taking this approach might open up a can of worms.
Crafting Affects The Core Loop Of D&D Gameplay
Official Rules For Loot & Magic Items Are Usually Simple
The current approach togathering equipment and magic itemsin the averageDnDcampaign tends to feed directly into adventuring and roleplaying. A lot of great items can be found throughout dungeons or received as rewards for successfully completed tasks, providing a direct system of loot-focused motivation. When a character is interested in acquiring something more specific, they often take care of it through shopping, which can be played as either an efficient exchange of currency for items or a more roleplay-oriented shopping arc with opportunities to haggle and barter to bring prices down.
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The problem with crafting is that it tends to provide its own lane of progression, andDnDisn’t particularly in need of another gameplay loopin that regard. If characters end up locking into the incremental dopamine hits provided by making and improving items at the expense of other aspects of the game, it could create an imbalance that leads to an ultimately unsatisfying campaign. This is especially true in any situation where the party’s interests end up split, as there isn’t necessarily much for one player to do while another keeps the focus on crafting.
Crafting Could Be Fun For The Right D&D Campaign
Being Excited About Crafting Is Perfectly Reasonable
A more robust crafting system could also have some significant upsides, and it’s something that some groups already play with homebrew rules to support. In a campaign oriented around survival, for example,crafting basic supplies can help foster a sense of scrappy ingenuity. It’s also possible to use crafting to make looting more engaging, as a plant monster that might not drop any gear could still provide ingredients for crafting potions or poisons. Deployed carefully, crafting has the potential to make a great campaign even better, and there’s a chance the newPlayer’s Handbookwill provide some solid tools.
At the same time, it still feels like keeping it in theDungeon Master’s Guideandletting DMs decide whether crafting is the right fit for a campaign might lead to less potential for problems. Although including crafting in thePlayer’s Handbookdoesn’t mean that a DM can’t make the ultimate call, it does position a side feature as possibly being a core component of the game. Whether thePlayer’s Handbookwill end up noting crafting as optional remains to be seen, but if it’s going to be in there, this would probably be the wiser course of action.
Choosing not to focus on crafting doesn’t mean there can’t be exceptions, and any player looking to craft one particular item of importance for their character can always still check in with their dungeon master about the possibility.
For any group going in without a clear idea of whether crafting should be included, the best solution is tohash things out in a Session Zero, where everyone can figure out what each person wants to get out of a campaign and how to make those desires compatible. If the crafting system in the newPlayer’s Handbookis good, plenty of groups could emerge excited by the new possibilities. Others might make a huge mistake in going down the rabbit hole, however, and it’s definitely best to approach the new addition toDungeons & Dragonswith care.
Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular tabletop game originally invented in 1974 by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson. The fantasy role-playing game brings together players for a campaign with various components, including abilities, races, character classes, monsters, and treasures. The game has drastically expanded since the ’70s, with numerous updated box sets and expansions.
