D&D 5E Sell me on 5th…

[bedir than]

I mean, I was pretty clearly speaking mechanically. Every Wizard is going to be pretty much the same, mechanically. Once you pick a subclass of, say, Fighter? Things will be pretty much the same, mechanically. There are ten Fighter subclasses (and some of them...are really pretty bad. Like Banneret.)

You can attach whatever story to that you want. Many Wizards could just as easily be played as Artificers, or Bards/Sorcerers with good Intelligence, etc. Hence, mechanically, there's only a handful of stories. You've always been able to invent whatever story you want that has zero impact on mechanics. Nothing about that has changed.

Nope, a dwarven Bladesinger doesn't mechanically play like an elven Bladesinger and those are the same subclass.

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah, larger sized PCs is something 5e is really staying away from.

I'm glad of it. Large sized characters are a pain in the butt to accommodate when it comes to building terrain for miniatures-based play, which is my jam. You try building an inn that easily accommodates a full-sized minotaur plus base.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm probably not the best to convince you to play 5e since I've grown bored of it and am now having fun with OSE, but I think the main draw would be because that's what your friends are playing and you'd like to play dnd with them.

Some of the good things with 5e I found was how easy it could be translating (simple) characters from earlier editions. A fighter/thief could easily just be a straight fighter with the criminal background to get the right skills (you can also change the skills/tools/languages as you wish with backgrounds). A fighter/mage/thief could be the exact same character with the eldritch knight subclass. In that way, I've found creating characters in 5e easy. I have had a few character ideas fall flat due to everything needing a bonus action, but that was maybe only 1 or 2 ideas out of who knows how many.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm going to start by pointing out that 5E isn't for everyone, so it might not be for you. Nothing wrong with that, as there's plenty of other RPGs out there than can scratch your itch.

I’ve been playing since ‘77, and I’ve gotten to try most of the D&D stereotypes across the various editions. My fave so far has been 3.X, because of the flexibility.

As 3.5Ed ran its course, I started playing odder and odder characters, built using unusual classes & races. I haven’t gotten to play everything I wanted in that edition, and still design PCs with that ruleset. As time passed the more exotic they got.

5E has several monster builds from Volo's Guide to Monsters and a few things from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverses, but it doesn't have the sheer volume of stuff that 3E put out. You might find some races that appeal to you.

But what I saw from the 5Ed playtest reports kinda left me cold. And many of the subsequent threads here over the years haven’t much moved me. However, a close friend is thinking about getting into 5Ed, and I’m wondering if I’m not giving the system a fair shake.

If you liked the base chassis of the 3.X system, you'll easily see it in 5E. The biggest difference you'll see is that it moves away from 3E's "a rule for everything," and puts a lot more on the DM to determine what to roll and how hard it is. You should be familiar with this, since that's how things worked in OD&D, BECMI, and AD&D. There's also not nearly as much in the way of "builds," since the characters are much more streamlined in design. Since a lot of people who enjoyed 3E liked the mechanics heavy aspect of it, they have a hard time adjusting to 5E's "rules light" design.

 

[edosan]

I think (for me obviously) 5e is the middle ground between B/X’s simplicity and 3.5’s crunch that I’ve wanted for ages. I think it takes some of the best ideas in D&D’s history and tried to make a ”greatest hits” version.

I especially appreciate its modular nature - for example, feats and multiclassing are in there but they’re easy to leave out. It’s probably the least reliant on magic items than any version I’ve played (thank you bounded accuracy) I know a lot of people disparage 5e in favor of OSR but I think 5e is closer to OSR principles than any version since 2e, maybe 1e. For me, 2e was the beginning of “we need a rule for everything, just in case” and 5e is a step back from that.

 

[Parmandur]

@danny

I'm glad of it. Large sized characters are a pain in the butt to accommodate when it comes to building terrain for miniatures-based play, which is my jam. You try building an inn that easily accommodates a full-sized minotaur plus base.

Actually, that and the challenges of making ghe rules for Timy and Large play equally nice for TotM and grid combat (as Small and Medium do) is why Mearls said they didn't put Large PCs in.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm probably not the best to convince you to play 5e since I've grown bored of it and am now having fun with OSE, but I think the main draw would be because that's what your friends are playing and you'd like to play dnd with them.

Some of the good things with 5e I found was how easy it could be translating (simple) characters from earlier editions. A fighter/thief could easily just be a straight fighter with the criminal background to get the right skills (you can also change the skills/tools/languages as you wish with backgrounds). A fighter/mage/thief could be the exact same character with the eldritch knight subclass. In that way, I've found creating characters in 5e easy. I have had a few character ideas fall flat due to everything needing a bonus action, but that was maybe only 1 or 2 ideas out of who knows how many.

I'm kinda bored as well. In 5Es defense it's been 9 years.

Looking at 2E again.

 

[SteveC]

I'd say it uses recognizable D&D mechanics from the 3x and on era, is more playable than 3X at higher levels, and is in print. You can get a ton of third party supplemental material for it. I like how the game is more survivable and gives you time to deal with characters who get knocked down.

It has an attempt (via concentration) to balance the number of spells a caster can have in play at once. There is an attempt to keep the numbers within a narrow range via balanced accuracy. It uses advantage for most bonuses and penalties.

That's about what I've got.

 

[payn]

I'm kinda bored as well. In 5Es defense it's been 9 years.

Looking at 2E again.

You've been looking at 2E since at least '09.

 

[Zardnaar]

You've been looking at 2E since at least '09.

2012 not 9. Played it again in lead up to 5E. Dusting it off again for Darksun.