Why do people still play older editions of D&D? Are they superior to the current one?

Kidbooo · Feb 23, 2019

Hello everyone,,
This is kind of a general question, and I know that, but I see lots of people playing 3rd edition and even more 3.5, but why do they play those instead (Mod Edit: spam link removed ~Umbran) of 5e? I'm fairly new to 5e as a whole, and I'm just wondering, in what ways are 3.5 and 3rd better than 5th? Is it simply for the feeling of playing something original? Or does 5e do something terrible that can only be done correctly in past editions? Just genuinely curious, and would it be worth it for me to learn the older versions?

cmad1977 · Feb 23, 2019

Why do people still play older editions of D&D? Are they superior to the current one?

It’s nostalgia mostly I think. I grew up with the red box and played 3.0/3.5 for... a looong time.now I play 5e. Also people have invested financially in earlier editions and don’t want to just dump that investment or buy another 150 dollars worth of books.

IMO: there is no part of the earlier editions that is ‘better’ than what they’ve done with 5e.

Also: I don’t think it’s about ‘superior’, it’s just different style preferences.

Legatus Legionis · Feb 23, 2019

DeathbyDoughnut · Feb 23, 2019

Mike Mearls on the What Would the Smart Party Do podcast recently talked about how people don't like learning new rules. Outside of communities like this, I wonder how true that is? I can say of my couple gaming groups, all but one or two of my fellow group members have ever read a rpg rulebook, much less multiple.

Tonguez · Feb 23, 2019

I went from the Basic Red box to Gurps and then back to DnD for 3e

3.5 (and Pathfinder) does what I need it to do, 4e was terrible so I stayed with 3.5 and 5e while good isnt different enough to warrant the change

I'm tending more towards FateAccelerated now though

billd91 · Feb 23, 2019

Kidbooo said:
Hello everyone,,
This is kind of a general question, and I know that, but I see lots of people playing 3rd edition and even more 3.5, but why do they play those instead of 5e? I'm fairly new to 5e as a whole, and I'm just wondering, in what ways are 3.5 and 3rd better than 5th? Is it simply for the feeling of playing something original? Or does 5e do something terrible that can only be done correctly in past editions? Just genuinely curious, and would it be worth it for me to learn the older versions?

I’ll take your questions one at a time.

Why play older editions instead of 5e? Lots of reasons, generally based on preferences. For example, The 3e family (including Pathfinder) allows for lots of nitty gritty customization of characters. Some people prefer that to 5e’s character development.

Are there ways 3e is better than 5e? If your preferences and styles are satisfied by 3e more than by 5e, then yes. But this is obviously pretty personal. I think there are some things 3e does better such as alternate forms of damage not based on hit points - like stat damage. But there are other things I think 5e does better like offering character-building backgrounds.

On the topic of originality - both are later editions of an existing game and while both include some new mechanics, neither game is “more original” than the other.

5e doesn’t do anything “terrible” any more than other editions.

And it’s worth looking into playing if you have other players near you who like the older editions. In fact, learning about other games people play is usually good advice - gives you more things to do together.

reelo · Feb 23, 2019

cmad1977 said:
IMO: there is no part of the earlier editions that is ‘better’ than what they’ve done with 5e.

I wholeheartedly beg to differ, but I don't want to get into "edition-warring".

For example, prior to 3E, most (if not all) classes were "front-loaded". The class abilities your class would get were all available from the get-go. At level-up, you just got *better*, but didn't get any *NEW* abilities, other than possibly spells or multiple attacks.
Also, skills and feats: their mere existence in the rules enables "builds" and optimization. In editions where they don't exist, everybody can do (or at least attempt to do) everything. It's much more liberating, even to a point where a DM might even NOT ask for resolution with a dice-throw, if the player describes his actions thoroughly.

Instead of the player saying "I want to search the room, I have a ...(rolls die) 19" he could say "I probe the underside of the drawers with my hand to see if anything is glued underneath, and I peek behind every painting on the wall" , in which case success would be automatic.

So, in short, the reason why *I* prefer older editions (and everybody's opinion might be different) is because 5E enables too much build-optimization (i.e. class abilities spread out, skills, feats) and because I find the current race and class selection way too bloated. Sometimes restrictions boost creativity...

YMMV.

MwaO · Feb 23, 2019

I think 5e can be expressed as 'Greatest Hits Edition' in many ways. OSR martial options+3e Sorcerer casting+4e/2 math+3e feat chain/4e style Expertise feats that do multiple things in the form of single feats.

But...if you really like the mechanics from one specific edition, 5e can fall short very quickly. And both 3e/4e tend to have a lot of crunchy mechanics to play around with, allowing a very wide range of PCs. 5e's 3e Sorcerer casting is insanely complicated, which most people respond to by spamming instead using the complexity. As opposed to more traditional Vancian, where you, the player, start the day with lots of options and as you, the player, get a little more tired, you get less options.

Dioltach · Feb 23, 2019

For me and my groups, it's a question of "we're comfortable with what we're playing, we've invested large amounts of money in the books, we see no reason to change."

Lanefan · Feb 23, 2019

Does the new system or edition give me more bang for less buck than what I already have? How much kitbashing am I going to have to do to make it what I want, vs. how much kitbashing to my current system will it take to incorporate the new edition's good ideas? How much of a headache will it be to convert the ongoing campaign to the new system - or do I have to start a new one? How much is it gonna cost, both in raw dollars and in time to learn?

Every new edition starting with 2e I ask myself these questions and every time the answer ends up the same: it's simpler and easier to stand pat and tweak what I've already got. (though 5e did get the closest yet to making me think about a full conversion)

Why do people still play older editions of D&D? Are they superior to the current one?

Kidbooo

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cmad1977

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Legatus Legionis

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DeathbyDoughnut

Explorer

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow

billd91

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reelo

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MwaO

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Dioltach

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Lanefan

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