D&D 5E Those of you who have actually PLAYED 5e...

[Snapdragyn]

A lot has already been mentioned, but here are things I thought of to add (or missed seeing):

- Moving through friendlies counts as difficult terrain. No more just walking right past your allies in combat without it slowing you down.

- Firing a ranged weapon or spell into combat does not have a de facto penalty, but it DOES have to deal with half cover (+2 to target's AC) if firing past anyone - even allies!

- Rogues can sneak attack only once (& now I can't recall if it's per round or per turn as someone upthread mentioned), but can do it even if an ally is w/in 5' of their target and not incapacitated - so even a caster, or non-combat NPC. Technically, it doesn't even have to be an ally, just an opponent of their target. Although the rule specifies 5', I think allowing 10' for an ally wielding a weapon with reach would be a reasonable house rule. Note also that the rogue can be anywhere, so Haley from OotS can finally sneak attack with her bow all day long, shooting away at whomever Elan is poking.

- Casters add their proficiency bonus & spellcasting mod to ranged attacks - NOT Dex! Had to rethink some builds once that sank in.

- The hand that holds an arcane focus (which substitutes for non-expensive material components) can also be the hand that is used for somatic components, allowing the other hand to hold a shield (if the caster has proficiency).

- Small races and dwarves move 25', not 20'.

- Acrobatics per RAW does not allow tumbling out of a threat range w/o provoking AoO, nor reducing damage on a fall, nor much of anything fun really. Much sad. So depress.

- There is no more Charge, unless you take the feat.

- Making a ranged attack while in melee does not provoke an AoO - it just means making that attack at disadvantage.

 

[mirilis]

We call 5e dungeons and death saving throws.

 

[TarionzCousin]

- Casters add their proficiency bonus & spellcasting mod to ranged attacks - NOT Dex! Had to rethink some builds once that sank in.

Is this for ranged spells only?

If a wizard shoots a crossbow bolt at an orc, he still uses his Dex to modify the weapon attack, correct?

 

[dd.stevenson]

--Set expectations early by letting the players experience the 5E threat level of lower level monsters.
--Make sure your spellcaster players have a good system for quickly referencing the (badly laid out) spell section of the phb. Post-its or searchable pdfs work nicely.
--If you're playing on a grid (as opposed to an ungridded map) make sure your players are on board with the way 5E's threatened zones work. Show them how threats can move anywhere in their opponents zones without provoking, and show them how a spellcaster sitting adjacent to the zone is not safe. Show how it takes two PCs to lock down a threat to one square.

 

[WitchyD]

Make sure you guys have a grasp of the death and dying rules before play, they're a bit different than Pathfinder's:

• Hit points no longer go below zero.
• When a character hits zero HP, the character becomes unconscious and dying.
• On a dying character's turn, they make a death saving throw. This is a flat d20 roll. On a result below a 11, this is a failure. 11 or above, a success. Mark down the number of successes and failures; if a character accrues three successes, he/she stabilizes, three failures means the character dies. Also note: a natural 20 returns one hit point to the character (which, I believe, lets them stand back up and take actions), and a natural 1 counts as two failures.
• Damage taken while unconscious adds a failed save. If the attacker is within 5 feet of the dying character, it counts as two failures.
• If a character takes damage that, after subtracting current hit points, exceeds the character's maximum hit point total, he/she dies instantly.

 

[drjones]

--Make sure your spellcaster players have a good system for quickly referencing the (badly laid out) spell section of the phb. Post-its or searchable pdfs work nicely.
.

I got this off the front page:
http://5espellbook.azurewebsites.net/SpellIndexFilter

It looks like a great way to make a spell book and then print out just the spells you need, can even print them as 4e style spell cards.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I got this off the front page:
http://5espellbook.azurewebsites.net/SpellIndexFilter

It looks like a great way to make a spell book and then print out just the spells you need, can even print them as 4e style spell cards.

I'm a little surprised Morrus FP'd that: there's no way that thing is fair use, since it copies out the text of every 5E spell verbatim.

(Mouse's own spell sorting spreadsheet is also on the FP, so I'm sure he's got it covered either way!)

 

[Mouseferatu]

D'oh! Forgot all about allies as difficult terrain. Ah, well, it only would've mattered once.

Beyond that, I managed to keep all the old edition stuff straight and out of my head... All but one.

In 3e and 4e, I used to regularly give monsters max HP rather than average, to make things a little more challenging. Turn out, in a system where HP are the primary difference between some CRs, it's actually kind of a big deal to do that. The extra couple of rounds that bought the monsters made the PCs burn through a lot more resources than they otherwise would have for an "easy" and a "moderate" fight.

I shall remember this for next game.

Of course, the fact that the (heavily re-flavored) chimera made its breath recharge roll every round in one fight, and half the party blew their save against the flameskull's fireball in the other, didn't help matters.

 

[Chriscdoa]

cover. you'd think it would be disadvantage but its not.

what does and doesnt work with the rogue sneak attack.

surprise. gives v little (we add in advanateg)

what being in melee affects - firing from, firing into, spells etc.

 

[Juriel]

I got this off the front page:
http://5espellbook.azurewebsites.net/SpellIndexFilter

It looks like a great way to make a spell book and then print out just the spells you need, can even print them as 4e style spell cards.

Oh my god, that page is wonderful. Thanks for the link, the PHB spell list is unusable.