D&D 5E [+] What are your favorite things about 5e?

Imaro

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #1

As a sort of positive counter to the "Why does 5e SUCK" thread (a thread which I have admittedly spent way too much time in)... I thought I'd ask people what are some of their favorite things about 5e. Maybe list your top 3 or top 5... or just list as many as you want. I'll be back shortly to list some of my own but I figured I'd get the ball rolling ahead of time...

 

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Manbearcat

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #2

Imaro said:

As a sort of positive counter to the "Why does 5e SUCK" thread (a thread which I have admittedly spent way too much time in)... I thought I'd ask people what are some of their favorite things about 5e. Maybe list your top 3 or top 5... or just list as many as you want. I'll be back shortly to list some of my own but I figured I'd get the ball rolling ahead of time...

Click to expand...

* Lair Actions

* Backgrounds generally and their decoupling from class specifically

* Inspiration with Bonds properly resolved or Flaws that drive legitimate, interesting complications (though I wish this was a table-driven thing rather than GM fiat)

 

CapnZapp

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #3

That creating high level NPCs isn't mind bogglingly soul crushingly time consuming

 

Bihlbo

Explorer

• Jun 26, 2015

• #4

Spell slots are a resource you spend to cast the spells that are ready to be cast. Very simple, easy to manage, and doesn't require professional-level Plot Sense to prepare for an adventure. Being able to up-cast a spell means you have a lot more spells available to you (e.g. instead of a 2nd level fire damage spell and a 3rd level fire damage spell that you have to have prepared, you just prepare the lower one, which can be cast as 3rd level).

The only thing missing is a conversion rate between spell levels. For instance, if I want to sacrifice a 5th level spell slot, how many lower level spell slots would I get? If it had that, the spell system would be functionally identical to a spell point system.

 

MonkeezOnFire

Adventurer

• Jun 26, 2015

• #5

I love the 5e Monster Manual. When I first attempted to dm it was in 4e where the monster manual was dominated by stat blocks and tactical information about how to run the monsters in combat. I was a noobie so I didn't know what an aboleth was or who the githyanki were. The 4e MM left me confused and I just stuck to the concepts of fantasy I was familiar with (orcs, goblins, werewolves).

But the 5e MM is quite the opposite. Much of the books is colourful descriptions and histories (and wonderful art). The 5e Monster Manual helped me become familiar with aspects that are unique to D&D. I now feel that this game isn't just about modeling generic fantasy worlds. It has its own unique flavour, history and villains which I now love. The 5e Monster Manual doesn't just help me run combats, it helps me create stories.

 

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Greg K

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #6

My three favorites are the following:

Variant Human
Backgrounds
Inspiration

 

SkidAce

Legend

Supporter

• Jun 26, 2015

• #7

Backgrounds
Official Ease of Building Monsters
Advantage/Disadvantage

 

Imaro

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #8

I've got a few...

1. Speed of combat... I'm really finding 5e combat past 3rd level is a nice sweet spot for my group... long enough that tactics and strategy come into play, but not so long that we find ourselves bored or that it's eating too much of our limited role playing time. We're about to hit level 8 and the combat time has only increased slightly upward.

2. Backgrounds... I think these are a great way to customize characters, either in a general way with generic backgrounds or for specific campaigns through customizing them... The proficiency bonuses are nice and allow characters to either diversify or shore up with skills/tools that they want... and I think the individual "story powers" each background gives are great for encouraging role playing, characterization and actions outside of combat.

3. Multiclassing... I like 5e's multi-classing system, it doesn't allow you to pick a trap option (ability score requirements)... it's not generally overpowered and it requires trade-offs to utilize../ I'm tempted to say it's avoiding almost every bad thing about multi-classing.

 

Imaro

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #9

Manbearcat said:

* Inspiration with Bonds properly resolved or Flaws that drive legitimate, interesting complications (though I wish this was a table-driven thing rather than GM fiat)

Click to expand...

I think there are some options for this in the DMG... don't have my book with me at the moment to confirm but I think I remember seeing these...

 

CapnZapp

Legend

• Jun 26, 2015

• #10

Bihlbo said:

Spell slots are a resource you spend to cast the spells that are ready to be cast. Very simple, easy to manage, and doesn't require professional-level Plot Sense to prepare for an adventure. Being able to up-cast a spell means you have a lot more spells available to you (e.g. instead of a 2nd level fire damage spell and a 3rd level fire damage spell that you have to have prepared, you just prepare the lower one, which can be cast as 3rd level).

The only thing missing is a conversion rate between spell levels. For instance, if I want to sacrifice a 5th level spell slot, how many lower level spell slots would I get? If it had that, the spell system would be functionally identical to a spell point system.

Click to expand...

You have all this.

First, you have the Sorcerer's sorcery points for when you want slot exchange to be expensive and seldom used.

Then you have a full blown spell point subsystem in the DMG.

What else do you need? Nothing!