D&D 5E Anything You Miss From Past Editions vs 5E?

[skotothalamos]

The confirmation roll on critical hits. I absolutely hate when I can only be hit on a natural 20, so every single attack that hits me deals double damage.

You could house-rule in the 4e version of the crit rule, where a natural 20 is only a crit if the total roll would be a hit; if the bonus+20 is still shy of the AC, all the 20 does is make it into a normal hit.

 

[sgtscott658]

Anything I really want can be put back in so nope, not missing much of anything.

Totally agree here.

Scott

 

[The Shadow]

1e/2e multiclass rules (I know it was mentioned above but I REALLY want this)

Can someone explain this to me? Because I really don't get it.

Oh, I guess I get part of it - levelling both classes feels more organic, like you're really both things at once.

But (using the 5e exp table), how is a 12 level single-classed character possibly equal to a 9/9? And using the old exp tables, it's generally worse. (Human characters were quite rare back in the day for that reason. And I don't think I EVER saw a single-classed demihuman.)

And if you're multiclassing two spellcasters, what happens when you hit 20 levels total? How many spell slots do you have? Or is this a case where level limits come back?

 

[TwoSix]

Now that's something I didn't expect to see.

Not that surprising; they did put the crit threat rules into 3e for a reason. The "I always crit againzt high ac monsters" was definitely a complaint during 2e.

Fortunately, 5e doesn't have "I only hit on a 20" situations except in the corneriest of corner caees.

 

[GameDoc]

4e's unified attack system where the attacker makes all the rolls against the defender's defenses.

I liked this to.

As a house rule you could calculate the passive check for each ability and use that as a static defense. Wherever the rules say "saving throw" convert the save DC of the attacker to a d20 roll (e.g., DC 13 becomes 1d20+3) against the relevant defense.

But if you do this you get into reformatting character sheets and all other kinds of fiddly things.

 

[HardcoreDandDGirl]

1e/2e hp (aka max 8-10 hit dice then just +1/+2/+3)
1e/2e multi classing
3e prestige classes
3e crit ranges (19+ cirt on swords axes crit x3)
4e proficiency bonuses (+3 on swords)
4e higher starting hp



I would love to see everyone start 1st level with con score hp, then you get at levels 2-10 hit dice, then starteing at level 11 just a handful of hp.

a 20 con fighter and a 8 con wizard would be at 1st level 20 hp and 8 hp, then at 20th level 70+10d10 and 8+10d6

 

[Lanefan]

Can someone explain this to me? Because I really don't get it.

Oh, I guess I get part of it - levelling both classes feels more organic, like you're really both things at once.

It also gives you - or could give you, depending on the DM - the ability to vary the xp-gain rate between classes; you could go 75/25, for example, or even 90/10 depending how you saw the character - you didn't always have to be 50-50.

But (using the 5e exp table), how is a 12 level single-classed character possibly equal to a 9/9? And using the old exp tables, it's generally worse. (Human characters were quite rare back in the day for that reason. And I don't think I EVER saw a single-classed demihuman.)

And if you're multiclassing two spellcasters, what happens when you hit 20 levels total? How many spell slots do you have? Or is this a case where level limits come back?

The problem with 3e-4e-5e is that they made the level abilities (BAB in 3e, for example) additive instead of take-the-best. Thus, a F-5/MU-5 in 3e has BAB of 7 or 8 (better than a straight 5th-level fighter, anyway) while a F5-MU5 in 1e fights like a F5 and that's it.

In the case of a caster, it gets independent slots - thus a MU5-C5 would have the slots of an MU5 and the slots of a C5. (and would take all day to recover spells if both sides were used up the day prior!)

I *think* that, with quite a bit of work, one could make 5e work like 1e; where you look at each class' ability independently and take the best rather than just add it all together.

Lan-"and the knock-on effects would go on for ages"-efan

 

[Warunsun]

1e/2e multi-class rules is the main thing. I would like to see something more akin to how it works in Castles & Crusades where a fighter (d10) / wizard (d6) would use a d8 hit dice and advance both classes at the same time but a classic multi-class option would be great even if I had to divide hit points among two sets of hit dice. I hope this is well represented in the DMG. I can houserule this pretty easily but core support in the DMG would be better.

 

[Lanefan]

What is missing? At first glance:

- death being more than an inconvenience: resurrection survival rolls, permanent loss of con on revival, and great expense
- system shock rolls
- risk in magic use: interruptable casting, rebounding lightning bolts, expanding fireballs, etc. (at least they brought back wild magic surges!)
- illusions that can actually hurt you
- system mystery (3e replaced it with system mastery)
- slow natural healing and-or a lingering wounds system
- treasure!

Lan-"but it's still better than the last two full versions"-efan

 

[The Shadow]

It also gives you - or could give you, depending on the DM - the ability to vary the xp-gain rate between classes; you could go 75/25, for example, or even 90/10 depending how you saw the character - you didn't always have to be 50-50.

Huh, never saw that done. How is that functionally different from taking one level of a class at a time?

The problem with 3e-4e-5e is that they made the level abilities (BAB in 3e, for example) additive instead of take-the-best. Thus, a F-5/MU-5 in 3e has BAB of 7 or 8 (better than a straight 5th-level fighter, anyway) while a F5-MU5 in 1e fights like a F5 and that's it.

5e is much the same way, since BAB is simply the proficiency bonus.

In the case of a caster, it gets independent slots - thus a MU5-C5 would have the slots of an MU5 and the slots of a C5. (and would take all day to recover spells if both sides were used up the day prior!)

Yes, I know how it was done - I was there. I'm just saying that 5e tries to use a unified chart for slots.

We (as many other groups, I think) pretty much handwaved spell recovery.

Lan-"and the knock-on effects would go on for ages"-efan

Brother, you just said a mouthful.