As someone that has not played 5th ed Tabletop, how well would it translate to a Turn based CRPG?
I assume this is what we will be getting by the way, I see no reason why a studio would come in off the back of two successful TB rpgs and make some kind of NWN shit show.
The only mechanic which would cause any grief to convert would be the "reaction". It would be simple enough to work into turn-based, but very difficult to translate into RTwP. Reactions are very important in 5E.
It wouldn't be simple in either system. For instance, Counterspell allows you to try and interrupt a creature casting a spell. It automatically cancels spells of the same level or lower than the slot used for Counterspell. For higher levels, the user must pass an ability check with a DC of 10 + the spell's level. The player doesn't know what spell is being cast or its level (for obvious reasons). Additionally, you can Counterspell another Counterspell. If the UI and the animations revealed the spell and/or its level, the spell would become significantly stronger.
And that's just Counterspell. There are other reactions to be considered, such as:
Opportunity Attacks - These are not free in 5E. Characters only have 1 reaction per round, so if they spend it to make an opportunity attack, they can't use another reaction in that same round.
Shield - When hit by an attack or targeted by magic missile, you can cast this spell to give a +5 bonus to your AC/take no damage from magic missiles. This happens after you're hit but before you take any damage, so that's another step of the process where the player would need an opportunity to react.
Uncanny Dodge [5th-level Rogue trait] - "when an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you".
Absorb Elements - When you take acid/cold/fire/lightning/thunder damage, you can cast this spell to gain resistance (halved damage) to the triggering type until the start of your next turn. The player would need an opportunity to spend their reaction after the spell/attack has landed, but before their HP is reduced.
And many more: the Protection fighting style, Battlemaster's Riposte and Parry, over a dozen Paladin abilities, Lore Bard's Cutting Words, War Wizard's Arcane Deflection, War Caster and Shield Master feats, etc.
Some reactions are exclusive to subclasses/feats and could be ignored in an adaptation without them, but some are very important to their respective classes and couldn't be removed without significantly shifting 5E's balance. Wizards and Sorcerers (plus other multiclassed builds and subclasses) would be significantly nerfed without Counterspell and Shield. Rogues are significantly more fragile without Uncanny Dodge. The game as a whole is balanced around opportunity attacks and their limitations. The list goes on.
In order to adapt the RAW/RAI, the game would have limited options:
- Make all attack and spellcasting animations slow enough that players have time to react with a context menu and/or pause to choose the reaction. Only viable in a RtwP system without simultaneous resolutions, otherwise characters would have to either delay their action or miss the opportunity entirely. Most players would hate this for obvious reasons, and most combat animations would have to look silly. Not really an option.
- Automatically pause every time the PCs have a reaction available. Many (if not most) would find this annoying in both TB and RtwP.
In short, Larian is not adapting the reactions as written. And to be fair, I don't think anybody would.