D&D General Favorite things about your favorite edition: MECHANICS/RULES ONLY

Immortal Sun said:

4e: AEDU, because I love it.

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I like it for being a way to make sure everyone gets to contribute in combat mechanically as often and climatically as others and in a way that syncs up with narrative with roles differentiating broadly how you contribute. Yup good design tool.

Garthanos said:

I like it for being a way to make sure everyone gets to contribute in combat mechanically as often and climatically as others and in a way that syncs up with narrative with roles differentiating broadly how you contribute. Yup good design tool.

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That, among other things I like that it reigns in casters, I like that it promotes heroic fantasy (my preferred play style) I like that it recognizes that this is a game system and removes the "fluff" text from the "crunch" text. I like that there is very little learning curve between classes, if you can play a 4E fighter, AEDU means you can play a 4E wizard.

There is very little in 4E I don't​ like.

One thing to add about B/X and similar... the parity between monster / character hit dice and weapon damage dice. A typical low level monster has 1-8 hit points, and the typical weapon damage done by a first level character is 1-8 hit points and vice versa.

I love the simplicity and brutality of this very simple mechanic.

I love how it emulates the danger of combat. A first level character should think twice about matching up with even a lone orc or gobbo.

Also since monster hit points are so low, they go down relatively quickly.. I think the hit point balance is better implemented in B/X than in any other game. It really keeps combat fast paced and quick to resolve. Especially in B/X where the game is primarily focused on exploration, more so than combat. It lets combat be resolved quickly so you can get back to the exploration.

I find exploration more interesting and exciting that combat, so it works really well for me.

Oh I was just defining why roles were useful... not saying that was my personal favorite.

4e: power sources and roles, monster design, encounter design, healing surges, the formatting of Powers. Also the Berserker Barbarian, the Executioner Assassin, and the Hunter Ranger were my absolute favorite expressions of those three classes (even if the Executioner was admittedly a little underpowered.) Just thinking about them makes me nostalgic for 4e Essentials.

5e: The core action resolution mechanic, advantage/disadvantage, bounded accuracy.

So many things about OD&D. If I had to pick just one mechanic, though, no contest: it's the ten-minute dungeon exploration turn.

1E: The Highlander style/Pokemon gym battle version of Druids where the advancement depends on defeating other Druids. Bard is a total mind trip this version and is pretty much the proto-prestige class.

2E: World and Lore info plus kits. Bladesinger.

3.5: The Warblade, Eberron, and Psionics

"3.75" aka Pathfinder: Skill System/skill points don't sting as hard if you put points in Cross Class skills. Unlike how utterly useless it was in 3.0/3.5 to do that.

4E: Introduction of the "proper" version of the Warlock and its Patron gimmick. Raven Queen is introduced. As mentioned before, the clear identification of Power Sources. Cantrips: No more FLIPPING CROSSBOW ONLY for a magic user who becomes absolutely useless in battle once they exhaust all their spells.

5E: The Advantage/Disadvantage system. Subclasses seems/feels like a modern update of the 2E Kit system. THANKFULLY not an unholy reliance upon Multi-Classing system mastery to have a competent character.(if you liked it, great, more power to ya.) Actually introduces Capstones for classes. Also introduces, in more recent UAs/book, feats that mimic/feel like multi-class lite feats. A better idea really. Revised Ranger. Reskin/Refluff encouragement for 5E allows creative uses of prior edition races/ideas/class titles to be reused for 5E. Cantrips still exist. Proficiency is a great way to allow scaling of various abilities and aspects of your character: which reflects pcs ACTUALLY getting better at doing their stuff. Easy to learn. Got rid of D4 Hit Die for classes.

I have to go with Jonny up there:
1e - defined roles and uneven class progression
2e - the crazy splat books, that for players, became our first foray into gaming the system
3e - did not play much. was playing MERP, Dangerous Journeys, etc.
4e - daily, encounter and at-will powers. I liked that setup. It worked for that style of game.
5e - advantage/disadvantage

3.5

• Tome of Battle
• Innovative Alternate Magic systems (Psionics, Incarnum, Binding)

4e

• Healing Surges
• Power Sources
• PC and Monster Roles
• Self-contained Monster statblocks

5e

• Bounded Accuracy
• Advantage/Disadvantage
• Concentration (there's a few proud nails, like how the smite spells work, but overall, this was a great innovation for balancing casters)