Be Anything You Want to Be

I watched a few more YouTube videos on One D&D, and the hype on this is a little out of control. You have these hype channels that make videos on the same thing daily in that "chase for subs," and every day, they need to outdo themselves and others. One of the newest lines is, "One D&D allows you to create any character you can imagine!"

Maybe in that limited sandbox of being forced to pick "race + class" that 5E has, opening up ability score allocation frees you up to create any A+B combination within that limited 5E sandbox, but you are not creating any character you can imagine. And a background system that lets you pick skills and ability score bonuses is not a "create anything you want" system.

Because I can imagine a lot, and much more than a tightly-constrained fantasy game that forces me to pick a class and stick with the railroaded power picks they give me. My imagination is not limited to a dozen races plus a dozen classes.

I can imagine a flying gargoyle with warlock magic and a giant sword.

I can imagine a unicorn that shoots lasers from its horn.

I can imagine an intelligent 5-foot gelatinous cube that uses pseudopods as fighting fists.

I can imagine an intelligent floating sea sponge that absorbs magic and uses the mana to cast spells back at enemies.

I can imagine a lot.

Can I play those characters in 5E? I am sure there is a 3rd party book somewhere that would get me close to some of them, but 5E is not a universal system that lets me design and play as any of these character types. For that, I would need to play a superhero game with a character design system. And for that, my options are GURPS, Savage Worlds Superheroes (a good system), and the classic Hero System.

Granted, Hero System is not D&D. This is, at its heart, a superhero game that gives you a pile of wood, nails, glue, paint, and tools and lets you build anything your mind can dream up. But there is nothing more satisfying than putting on a "game designer's hat," diving in with your tools and building a unique, one-of-a-kind character that works mechanically within the rules, and having the system "work the same way" with every choice you make. And when I realized a Hero System character sheet is not all that more complicated than a 5E character sheet, my thinking changed.

It is a strange thing to watch these YouTube channels and see them make these claims of "anything you can imagine" and realize their imaginations are limited to just combining a small handful of choices. A few ability score modifiers and skills is not a race, and you are WAY underselling your creativity. Where is my night vision powers, hearing, armored skin, claws, flight powers, emotion sense, jumping, gliding, +5 STR, enhanced sense of smell, fur, speed, running, extra endurance, swimming, vibration sense, water breathing, and thousands of other incredible powers you can design and choose for your creations?

If you think being given a couple ability score points and a few standardized abilities are complete character biology, you have never used the "power tools" of character design that other games provide.

If 5E is best as a superhero game - just play a superhero game.

And ultimately, the paths of those choices are predetermined and not really a choice at all. There are twelve tracks to roll a marble down, you can't change the track layouts, and all they let you do is pick the color of the marble and what track to drop it onto.

That is not freedom of determination, and that is not a diversity of choice.