Top 5 Reasons DC20 Is Better 

Secrect reason #7 Rolling high matters. ie fighting a goblin you know has a 12 AC and you roll and 18 in the die. 5e - uh yeah i hit & roll for dmg (which could be disappointing) DC20 - 18 plus my bonus is 22, 10 over target means doing 2 extra dmg (DC20 weapons do base dmg ussually around 2) So much more exciting, and that was just one roll.

DC20 is the Fantasy TTRPG for 2025 ❤

Thank you for promoting this great system!! Lets go DC20! 💪 I definitely hope the kickstarter gives it enough visibility to shine like other system we’ve seen.

I've only ever played 5e and haven't been into ttrpgs for the vast majority of my life. DC20 is the first ttrpg that I've been this invested in. I just like it a lot. It's so customizable.

I 100% used the Action Points AND Grit Points when a new Sorcerer player wanted to break his friend free from demonically cursed armor. It was an EPIC moment in the game!

Well said, all points I agree with. I hope allot of people switch and have more fun at the table with DC20

"If you know, you know" and if you don't, then you should; and you ought to now! ;-D

I love the design goals you've highlighted in this video, as they are definitely targeting a lot of the DnD design that drives me up the wall. I really want to jump in and kickstart this, but I just can't right now. Hopefully i can check it out once it's published.

4e's warlord: what am I, chopped liver?

The game system that I have developed combines the mana pool and stamina ideas, such that martial and caster classes use the same resource to cast spells or perform combat maneuvers. Cool to hear how DC20 addresses "spell slots" and martial resources.

Mix and match your ancestry is always a huge no-go for me. It smells too much of "I want to look like a dwarf but be as graceful as an elf".... like "I am an elephant but my father was a cheetah so now I can run a lot faster and have paws". Nope, not in my game. You want to be dwarf, you are a dwarf. Hammer, anvil, beard, alcoholism all included. No half orcs that look like barbie only with a green skin.

It’s hard to take another edition of D&D seriously with DC20 on the horizon.

Dungeon Coach’s time in Pathfinder2e play paid off in spades as the action point system and teamwork are key components of that system. Definitely going to check it out and pick it up when it is published.

Great video! I liked and subscribed. Good to meet you, "Slow Your Role." I have yet to watch others of your videos, but I hope, like Dungeon Coach, I find you to be level-headed about WoTC and a positive person in general. I have unsubscribed and blocked SOOO many D&D RU-vidrs who just can not get past vengeful corporate reviewing, that it was refreshing to watch you. I believe there should be room for all TTRPGs at the table, including D&D, and it appears you agree. DC20 appears as if it may be a main one at mine. (Player since 1979)

Thanks for sharing, this sounds like the kind of system I'd enjoy, I like flexibility and customization. I will add, the D&D 3.5 expansion material did introduce similar mechanics to how you were describing action points (the Factotum), Stamina Points/Techniques (Tome of Battle), and a pool-based casting system (3.5 psionics were pool-based). I've played around with all of them and they're a lot of fun, they just NEED to have their balance and scaling carefully tuned, otherwise they'll break in one direction or the other.

5e actualy does have a variant rule for basicaly using mana, just no one wants to deal with that headache

I love love love how DC20 makes spellcasters so much cooler, and also adds some more utility to high agility characters. My first character ever is going to be a high agility sorcerer with a homebrew subclass so it works perfectly under this system and I cannot wait. I was going to wait until it was out and see then but I had to contribute to the patreon after how excited this made me feel. I still can't believe it's basically at £1,000,000 raised!

To be fair, it seams very much inspired by Level Up Advanced 5th Edition is which happens to bethe best D&D version I've GMed by far. None of my players wants to go back. Every class has been reworked, and all martial classes have access to maneuvers. Not to mention you choose your ancestry, with their gift. Then your culture, background, and destiny. Teamwork is rewarded, nothing is overpowered and they have an extra class called the Martial, which is a support non casting class.

Excellent Video Sir. Well done.

After playing a martial in DC20, its hard to want to go back to 5e combat

I’m still waiting with bated breath for the DC20 system to gain momentum. I’ve checked out Daggerheart and MCDM; they just don’t quite hit the mark for me personally. Yet, I just don’t see many DnD channels/podcasts talking about it. Hopefully that changes and soon.

Sounds a lot like pAthfinder 2e, but they've empowered the players even more. Might make it a PITA for the DM to run.

DC20 is amazing! It is my new game of choice!

DC20 is the D&D 6th Edition we all wanted!

I’m looking forward to trying it. I’m confident that I’ll like the system, but I foresee a risk in play testing. My sense is that despite the dynamic character creation, the skill and combat checks are going to get too same-y after repeated plays. When I hear that you can make an intelligent barbarian, that can use intelligence tactically in combat, then might use intelligence to leverage tools to break open a door, then use intelligence to gain advantages in social situations….. you see where I’m going. I’m basing this on just what I’ve seen on other videos. I hope I’m wrong and that DC20 becomes a great success.

One additional thing I like is the "5" rule for scaling die roll effects. So much to like!

There's a lot of good ideas in DC20 and it very impressive work by The Dungeon Coach, but the fun thing is that the 5 things you mention is some of the think that i'm not so keen on. Don't mind the mana points that much, but think the other things make the system unnecessary complex. The things that I like the most is probably only one roll for hit and damage, reduces number of hp complained to D&D and Pathfinder, fewer ability score and only the bonus as the score, that you have fewer spells but each spell can do more things and the elegant multiclass rules.

Ancestry rules make every characyer the same, striping aeay the uniquenes of having an ancestry. If its just bonuses you can pick and choose from a laundry list , then they become just bonuses. Im not sure...

I think the biggest struggle this will have is it sounds so different from 5e/OSR that conversions of existing content will be a chore. Most of the other Not D&D options I am seeing are close enough to something else that there is already lots of resources available. Maybe being close to PF2E it can benefit from those adventures/worldbooks.

So thats why squidwart doesn't use the technique! As a bard he would have to multiclass into a martial first.

Gogo DC20 💜

Personally, DC20 is too generalized and bland for me. That being said, I am happy new alternatives are appearing left and right. More options is always better than less options.

the Help action helps with narrative combat and skill checks, I can imagine some great cinematic moments that will be played. Quickie, a +1d8 descending to d6 and d4 means everyone can pile in!

The reason that D&D uses spell slots instead of "mana points" or what have you is that arcane magic is not powered by the caster. At all. D&D magic is straight up "You say these words and a thing happens". Wizards in particular are simply scholars who have learned the cheat codes of the universe and are applying them. The reason for spell slots is that when you prepare spells for the day, you are literally pre-casting them. You cast the entire spell (Which is long and complicated and takes like 10 minutes so you can't just do it in combat) and leave out like the very last word and gesture, so that you can then cast it on the spot by just finishing the spell. The slots are because you have to keep the spell in your mind the whole time, until you cast it, so it's a pretty serious discipline you have to develop over time, and most people simply couldn't do it, which is why Wizards need a high intelligence. There's a lot of misconceptions about the whole D&D magic system amongst players, but yeah, that's why. Fireball cast by one person is the same as fireball cast by anyone else, because anyone who makes those words and gestures in that order will get the same result. You can't fireball harder because you have more midichlorians, a fireball is a fireball. If you want a bigger one you have to figure out a whole new spell (Which is basically what Metamagic represents as well--you've figured out a trick with the language of magic that allows you to splice in a certain phrase into nearly any spell and make it behave slightly differently) It's very different from magic in most other fictional properties where the magic is something analogous to physical strength that the magic user has within themselves and can exert to varying levels and potentially exhaust themselves. A D&D Wizard is not actually tired after blowing all their spell slots, they've just run out of their pre-prepared spells. It's just all abstracted heavily, and maybe it would make more sense if you could prepare new spells if you take X minutes per spell to re-cast.

I do prefer 5Es spell-point system over it's default of Spell-Slots. I assume the mana-pool is the same thing or similar to the spell-point system, but the more it diverges and does it's own thing the better I say. Honestly prefer the idea of "concentration spells" simply requiring more action/mana-points to use in the first-place as opposed to litetally cutting yourself off from casting other spells or concentration spells (depending on the system).

Very interesting, though I just hope there are still clear and reliable differences between 'classes'.

mana-pool and 5e comparison. The main reason 5e uses spell slots is because 3 and 3.5 used spell slots 4e didn't and it was popular to hate on 4e. 5e has a variant rule to switch to mana-pool for a reason.

I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain spell slots to new players

I think this will be a really fun system to run!

I’m backer #109

I've backed the Kickstarter (got in on the Early Bird time frame :) , and one this I would be SUPER excited about is the way multiclassing sounds in DC20.

Superb video! I 100% agree with all your points!

A better comparison would be Pathfinder 2e, maybe you haven't play the system but the Dungeon Coach took a lot of the features that make Pf2e great and use it for his game

I’m super excited for DC 20!

I just like 5e the way it is. I don't need anything else.

Excellent takes excited to see the dc20 content moving forward!

He literally paid off every D&D RU-vidr didn't he?

I suggest people buy DC20... I will not because my own homebrew does the same things as DC20 but in better ways. A few years ago I shared some of my homebrew with the Dungeon Coach. He adjusted things his way. I ended up adjusting things my way. I like my way better... But for those who play Pathfinder and DnD, you will find DC20 is much more fun.

I am with you on DC20. I have backed most of the big players in the new system explosion of this year. And though I am still deeply interested in them, the bete DC20 actually has impressed me as being the lead horse.

Seems like every few years in TTRPGs somebody gets the idea we should replace all these discrete choices with a bunch of point tracking (Actions, Stamina, Spell Points), and then a little while later somebody else come along with the notion that all this book keeping is a drag at the table and we should simplify it to you can do this or this, and you can do this other thing once per time period. I've been down that road a few times myself.

Let’s go DC20!!

Martials having spell like abilities is literally what 4e is an nobody wanted

Please do more videos on DC20. I’m subscribing in good faith that you will

How resource heavy is the system? Are many abilities uses/long rest or dependent on the stamina or mana points? That's my main gripe wit 5e that it's balanced around resource attrition rather than just action economy.

So all martials are battle masters from 5e and all casters are sorcerers from 5e, and it includes variant races from ... 5e...idk. im sure it's more complex than that but im not exactly sold on this being ground breaking based on these 5 points. Action points over "action/bonus action" is a plus but also not exactly new amongst table top systems. Im not really seeing a huge draw to engage with this over something else.

All of this has been done before; GURPS in 1986 and Hero System in 1990 come to mind.

Spell slots are at the same time a simplified yet needlessly complex version of a mana system. I like mana points better. But do spell levels still exist in this game? Or are spells only restricted by the caster's mana capacity?

I HATE "just spells for martials" if you want spells play a caster. I come from 2e and i think that balance is stupid. I think that martials should advance faster and be forced to protect weaker casters that take longer to lv at low lvs and then later the reverse becomes true. The whole video game everyone has a role and is balanced thing destroys team bonding and roleplay imo.

Stamina is dumb because it A) restricts what martials could already do, and B) it encourages the idea that you need a mechanic on a character sheet in order to be able to do something. Long ago, if you wanted to jump from a balcony and land next to an enemy with a powerful downward strike, you didn’t need a special ability nor permission from the game system, but rather the GM would decide if any modifications should apply, and what kind of checks might be needed, and then describe how epically the character performed.

This all sounds like all characters will become a gray slop with no defining characteristics.race seem like won't mean anything and the class seem all like they can do anything and won't have niches

Have they mentioned if there will be VTT integration?

I'll definitely check it out for the original design thinking. Though... increasing versatility also increases complexity, which makes systems harder on newer and more casual players. I understand that you're an evangelist and not an objective analyst, but if you were you would be obligated to talk about how increasing versatility doesn't make a game better, it moves the complexity/ease of learning slider.

The fact that these are the top 5 key features indicates to me that DC20 isn't interested in making any of the fundamental structural changes necessary to make a D&D-based TTRPG properly work. For example, no mention of lowering the power level progression or evening out resource availability across various timescales.

I love some of these ideas but honestly they seem sub par for an entire game creation. These either come off as changes or home rules you can adjust in D&D which the DM guide states “make it your game” or it seems a bit to close to MCDM. Obviously a bias as a patreon there. There game feels more original whereas DC20 even their logo feels like a D&D clone 😞

Most or all of these ideas were done before in 4th edition, in common house rules, and in other games over the last several decades. It's reinventing the wheel and the process probably could have gone a lot faster if it wasn't cobbled together from 5e house rules. It's cool that that's what you guys did, but try to have a little more awareness of things like where spell slots come from, even if you don't like it. I'm reluctant to get the game or look into it knowing that it's coming mainly from people who know modern 2020s 5e and nothing else.

Kind of reminds me of the FAGE system

Would you say that turns in combat take longer than in 5e because the players have more options to consider?

Is it a sin if I call it playing D&D even if I'm using DC20 system?

I'm hearing a lot of stuff from 4E here, why shouldn't I just go back and play that great game instead?

I'm really intrigued by DC20, but I think we still miss the buy-in for GMs.

Well said!!!!

i still feel like these new TTRPG's are to simplified... they have lost the complexity of older systems and that has been a major turn off for me--- that includes 5e and PF2e,.

I wonder if the same crowd that hated 4E for borrowing CRPG mechanisms will love this for exactly the same reason.

So my question is what differentiates DC20 from Pathfinder 2e? PF2 has a lot of the same high points: custom ancestries, action point system, unique actions, good balance, a focus on team play, etc. Granted, the mana and stamina pool systems sound interesting, but that wouldn't be enough to entice my players to make the jump to a new system when they're so invested in PF2.

Mana is just as bad as spell slots, theirs alot better way to do magic drawing from history and mythology you can get far more interesting systems that require far more planning and problem solving by players, abit more work but far more rewarding.

Correction! Stamina automatically fills outside of combat.

Ancestry system sounds like a dumb way to make choices less consequential. Kids today…tsk tsk.

Reminds me of lvlup advance 5e almost

There are so many games better than DnD. Oh so many games

Sounds pathfinderish to me. 😅

wake me up when there's Roll20 support

Just switch to SWADE, better than pf 1 and 2 and 5e.

Action Points are in my mind a bit of a bait and switch with the penalty. It is forcing you to play how the dev wants you to, rather than allowing you to just play as you want. If you want to attack 4 times, there shouldnt be a penalty to do so...not if they are saying you have these 4 pts and you can use them how you want. Yes, you might have other options, but if you want to keep it simple, let them just attack 4 times. Or whatever. Now its better semantically than the PF 3 ACTIONS because at least when you call it points you can say different actions cost different amount of pts and get around that complaint somewhat, but if an attack is 1 pt, I should be allowed to do four of them with no penalty. Done. I also hate the modern take on races and such. I dont mind there being a system for creating homebrew/special races, but I dislike the "I am an elf, but I dont have elf traits" approach. Seems cheezy. REALLY hate the Prime Mod which basically makes all the attributes basically the same so why have more than 1 if you are going down that road....damage not being rolled...look, I know some people want a super super simple game, and maybe this fits that. But 5e is already so simple, I hardly think it needed to be watered down even more. I sincerely hope that those who were looking for an even more simplfied game gets what they wanted with this...truly. But for me, its just not hitting the spot. To be fair One DnD missed the mark too in most ways. I dont think DnD needs to go completely the PF1/2 route, but there should be more: At the very least no dead levels in martials and separate out feats and AIS and not tie them to classes.

Needlessly complicated and fiddly. It's no better oe worse than 3e. Use Basic Fantasy RPG. less rules = more freedom to do crazy rhings.

D&D Begone

So it's 4e

It’s suspiciously similar to 4e.