D&D 5E Sell 5th edition to a 4th edition fan...

[parhadokzal]

I don't think the real question is whether I sell you the concept of 5E, or vice versa, but what is WOTC going to do to sell 5E to all of us. It has the same lackluster approach to adventures the 4E had. If 4E had some strong adventures I would still be playing it. If 5E had a strong line of adventures I might play it more.

I am not completely happy with either, but it appears Paizo is the only company that acknowledges you have to sell the rules, with more than just the rules.

My group and I resolved this exact issue with me converting all our adventures to 4e from PATHFINDER, as we love Adventure Paths but prefer 4e rules!

 

[Sailor Moon]

IMO in both 4e and 5e, people take party construction too seriously. I always encouraged people to just pick a class they wanted and play it. If you end up with a party full of rogues, awesome! You can assassinate whole rooms before they even know what's happening. Party full of wizards? Wipe the big bad in one round by dropping all your big spells at once.

It's more fun IMO to sit down to a table with a team built somewhat at random and figure out how to make it work than it is to carefully build a team. This is true in both 4e and 5e for me.

YMMV of course. But I sometimes think people took roles to mean, "required part of a machine," when really they were more like, "here's a general idea of how to play your class."

Don't include 5th edition in your assumption there because the game was designed more around picking what you want to play instead of picking pc's to fill specific roles and which of those will synergize the best.

 

[Authweight]

Don't include 5th edition in your assumption there because the game was designed more around picking what you want to play instead of picking pc's to fill specific roles and which of those will synergize the best.

I agree the game was definitely designed around people just picking whatever, except for healing which seems close to mandatory. My point was people still seem to think it's important to build a whole party as a unit, when it really isn't. In 5e, what you mainly want is: someone who can heal, someone who can stand at the front and fight, and whoever else you want.

 

[Nebulous]

Don't include 5th edition in your assumption there because the game was designed more around picking what you want to play instead of picking pc's to fill specific roles and which of those will synergize the best.

I mostly agree with this, but our current group is missing any kind of area control magic, and the PCs are aware of that. So far they have been able to control chokepoints and funnel groups of enemies into favorable positions, but the first time they get mobbed by twelve orcs in the open, they're going to be very sorry they don't have a Sleep or Fireball. And the group is aware of this, and might drop the fighter to swap out with a wizard.

 

[Sailor Moon]

I mostly agree with this, but our current group is missing any kind of area control magic, and the PCs are aware of that. So far they have been able to control chokepoints and funnel groups of enemies into favorable positions, but the first time they get mobbed by twelve orcs in the open, they're going to be very sorry they don't have a Sleep or Fireball. And the group is aware of this, and might drop the fighter to swap out with a wizard.

You don't really need to swap out the fighter, just use tactics.

Take advantage of cover and any other obstacles at hand. Use formations such as being back to back or a wedge shape.

What classes is the party made up of?

 

[Nebulous]

You don't really need to swap out the fighter, just use tactics.

Take advantage of cover and any other obstacles at hand. Use formations such as being back to back or a wedge shape.

What classes is the party made up of?

Rogue, fighter, cleric, monk, warlock. I think they really want the wizard though. The cleric is actually the tank, he's tough.

 

[Sailor Moon]

Rogue, fighter, cleric, monk, warlock. I think they really want the wizard though. The cleric is actually the tank, he's tough.

You have a very good party there. The fighter, monk, and cleric can easily take on a group of orcs while the rogue and warlock snipe from a distance. If need be, the rogue could enter melee and start back stabbing.

 

[mlund]

In 5e, what you mainly want is: someone who can heal, someone who can stand at the front and fight, and whoever else you want.

So you mean in 5e encounters are usually built so your typical Instance of a Group to, say, encounter a Dungeon should have 1 character to Tank, 1 character to act as the primary Healer, and somewhere between 2-4 (let's say 3 for the sake of average) random people to help keep up Damage on the enemies?

Nah, that's crazy-talk. Nobody in their right mind could operate a successful game doing that.

- Marty Lund

 

[Authweight]

Well, the guy who stands at the front and fights isn't really a tank in the traditional sense. He's typically both the best at taking hits and the best at doing sustained damage. Everyone else is just plain worse at regular old fighting than he is. They make up for it with utility and other cool tricks. It's a different paradigm.

 

[Nebulous]

You have a very good party there. The fighter, monk, and cleric can easily take on a group of orcs while the rogue and warlock snipe from a distance. If need be, the rogue could enter melee and start back stabbing.

Lol, this essentially IS what happens nearly every time. The monk and rogue deal good damage (the rogue does crazy BS damage), and then the cleric with spiritual weapon added does good too. The fighter is being run as a basic NPC so he doesn't get much attention aside from being a bag of hit points. The warlock is good when he hits, but he seems to have a knack for missing a lot of magic attacks.