You've got questions—we've got answers! Here's how it works—each week, our Community Manager will be scouring all available sources to find whatever D&D Next questions you're asking.
There are certain business and legal questions we can't answer (for business and legal reasons). And if you have a specific rules question, we'd rather point you to Customer Service, where representatives are ready and waiting to help guide you through the rules of the game. That said, our goal is provide you with as much information we can—in this and other venues.
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Beyond flavor aspects, are humanoid monsters going to have unique mechanics to differentiate them (so fighting an orc feels different than fighting a gnoll, for example)?
You can already see the seeds of this in the current playtest packet, as orcs have the ability to rage while gnolls have the savage trait. So, in many cases, yes, there will be mechanical differences. Kobolds, for example, have light sensitivity and very low hit points, which combine to give them a different feel than gnolls. As the monsters continue to get refined through playtesting, some of those may change, but that’s our starting point.
With the rerelease of older products coming soon, would it be possible for there to be conversion notes to D&D Next for a few products (specifically, adventures)?
As we continue to release adventure content for the playtest, we will almost certainly be drawing on older-edition adventures. When we do, we’ll be providing the conversion in its entirety, rather than requiring the DM to do the work of conversion. Additionally, we’ll be expanding our bestiary with new monsters so that you can convert other adventures yourselves.
Will higher-level applications of Combat Superiority include the equivalent of save-or-die effects (potential decapitation, for example)?
Right now, we don’t have any effects of that nature in the design. Since expertise dice refresh on a round-by-round basis, there’s a lot more potential for abuse of effects that can instantly kill or otherwise remove from combat an opponent. There’s no real resource expenditure there, and thus nothing to place any limits on the number of times you could drop enemies in a single shot. That said, we’ve only just scratched the surface of the design, so there is plenty of room to explore more options.
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How can I submit a question to the D&D Next Q&A?
Instead of a single venue to submit questions, our Community Manager will be selecting questions from our message boards, Twitter feed, and Facebook account. You can also submit questions directly to dndinsider@wizards.com. So, if you’d like to have your question answered in the D&D Next Q&A, just continue to participate in our online community—and we may select yours!
