D&D General 5E, A5E, or ToV?

Weiley31 · May 12, 2024

Jadeite said:
There's also C7d20 from Cubicle 7 but they have yet to release anything for it.

C7d20 is an interesting case.

Adventures in Middle-Earth is/was the proto-ground work for C7D20 and their take on the mechanics of 5E. (Examples specifically being the Journey rules and Downtime).

Then those systems got expanded in two of the current released Vault 5E books: Uncharted Journeys and A Life Well Lived. And then there is going to be the upcoming Crafting & Alchemy book.(which seems to expand on AiME's crafting system. Which 5E heavily needs honestly).

Broken Weave is technically the start of the current format of C7D20. More a setting book as they DO intend on releasing a C7D20 book for the actual ruleset.

Honestly, I would just expect C7D20 to JUST BE refined Adventures in Middle Earth mechanics minus the license/Tolkien estate and adjusted for the level 1-20 range+higher spell casting of base 5E.

ezo · May 12, 2024

So, I am not "familiar" with all three:

5E most definitely familiar
A5E a bit, but not much at all
ToV never even heard of it

A5E I don't see as "Advanced" so much as just needlessly complex. I know that probably sounds strange, but I'm otherwise not sure how to put it.

Now, 5E is what we play (heavily homebrewed in most cases), but in many ways still isn't to my taste. I love it, in theory, but in application I find it lacking or overkill in other cases.

Weiley31 · May 12, 2024

ezo said:
ToV never even heard of it

Tales of the Valiant is an evergreen evergreen version of 5E by the wonderful people of Kobold Press.

It's pretty much basic 5E with some "slight" modifications on the rules, but is expressly purposed as "Well, there will ALWAYS be a version of 5E for people to play LOOOONG after WoTC eventually moves on to 6th Edition and beyond. Unless they do something stupid like ALMOST kill the OGL again. Then we got your back on that via Tales.of.The Valiant."

It currently has fans both expressing their liking of it while also being criticized for playing it too "safe" to 5E. It is not the Pathfinder 1ization of 5E, which some people thought it was going to be ala DND 3.5 and Pathfinder 1.

Shiroiken · May 12, 2024

Not familiar with the Black Flag stuff, so I can't vote against it. I like the concept of the A5E stuff, but hard to convince a group to try it. From what I've seen though, I'm holding out for 5E Revised.

Shardstone · May 12, 2024

I recently finished the core rules for my own 5E spinoff, so I'll be playing mainly that. However, out of these three options, my choice is 5.2 D&D. I like Level Up, but I don't enjoy its exploration all that much; I don't think it's bad, just not to my taste. Tales of the Valiant has left me feeling very underwhelmed, but that's only having read the SRD. I need to get the PHB soon to see how it goes. That being said, 5.2 WotC D&D has some of the best class design going off unearthed arcana, and I like the bastion rules a lot. Ultimately, though, I plan on stealing as much as I can for all three to better enhance my own table.

Shardstone · May 12, 2024

Quickleaf said:
So far they all interest me in different but equal ways…yet none really hits the sweet spot of what I want, which is why I’m hacking my own.

A5E I think has way better quality of supplements than most of 5e. I love the dungeon book from ENPublishing. However, I find the player facing stuff more complex than I’d like - same reason why PF2e makes me go “oh boy, more complexity and playing the character building mini-game.” But I get that it’s hugely popular.

WotC 5e is familiar now, so it’s a decent enough baseline. I do like their monster lore too, and VgtM was a great monster book. But I’ve found so many issues and gaps in what the rules care about (not in a nitpicky way, in a “why did you gut exploration? why are chases crap?” more foundational way). I think the focus is in the wrong place, hence my hacking. But I do enjoy things like the potion miscible tables, the magic items, the lore attached to the classes, the design of the rogue class is IMO top notch.

TotV feels like a very slight permutation on 5e…too slight for my tastes, too familiar to the baseline. But I only followed the playtest for TotV, not what’s currently been published so I’m not certain where the changes are. I have deep affection for Kobold Press, love the Tome of Beasts and Courts of the Shadow Fey, so I really want to like TotV.

Right now though, my answer is “None of the above - doing “5e-esque” my own kitbashed way for now.”

Let's be honest, you woulda' made your own 5E-spin off regardless

Quickleaf · May 13, 2024

Shardstone said:
Let's be honest, you woulda' made your own 5E-spin off regardless

Ok, I deserve that. Guilty as charged.

I'd probably let a player use A5E classes alongside 2024 WotC 5e spells, with Luck rules from TotV. And then house rule it all together like a patchwork Frankenstein's monster.

Distracted DM · May 13, 2024

Quickleaf said:
Ok, I deserve that. Guilty as charged.

I'd probably let a player use A5E classes alongside 2024 WotC 5e spells, with Luck rules from TotV. And then house rule it all together like a patchwork Frankenstein's monster.

What do you like about the 2024 5e spells over the 2014 or A5e versions?

Distracted DM · May 13, 2024

Re: the poll, I'm a little surprised that so many people are familiar with A5e but prefer 5e. Even if you don't use the classes, spells and feats are IMO better- and Trials & Treasures and the Monstrous Menagerie are spectacular.

I guess @Waller you may want to define what parts of the system you're asking about?

Or taken as a whole, if you could only have one, which would you use?

For me it's A5e. It's annoying to have to house-rule out the parts that are broken, but it's still better than 5e 2014 and we don't yet have 5e 2024/Revised.

Weiley31 · May 13, 2024

Quickleaf said:
Ok, I deserve that. Guilty as charged.

I'd probably let a player use A5E classes alongside 2024 WotC 5e spells, with Luck rules from TotV. And then house rule it all together like a patchwork Frankenstein's monster.

EXACTLY as Mother Nature intended.

D&D General 5E, A5E, or ToV?

Which one?

I am familiar with all three: 5E

I am familiar with all three: A5E

I am familiar with all three: ToV

I am not familiar with all three

Weiley31

Legend

ezo

I cast invisibility

Weiley31

Legend

Shiroiken

Legend

Shardstone

Hero

Shardstone

Hero

Quickleaf

Legend

Distracted DM

Distracted DM

Distracted DM

Distracted DM

Weiley31

Legend

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