D&D 5E The Official Poll! What THREE things do you like most about D&D 5th Edition?

[Morrus]

Over the last couple of days, I collected nominations for the best thing about D&D 5th Edition. I compiled the popular ones into a list, and created a poll. Here it is!

What do you like most about D&D 5th Edition? This poll is about celebrating the game, not bashing other games or editions. And yep, we all know that other games have and currently do share many of these traits.

Pick, from the above, the things you like most about D&D 5E. This is a multi-choice poll; you can choose more than one item.

Please limit yourself to 3 or fewer items. I'm able to (and will) remove any votes for more than three items.

And finally - don't stress over it; this is just a bit of fun.

(Note that the total # of voters updates periodically, while the actual votes update in real-time, so the total # can fall behind occasionally).

 

[Barantor]

I like that it is fairly simple with the rules and easy to get into. I have brought more folks into the game or at least looking at it with this edition than any other.

 

[timbannock]

Advantage/disadvantage

Because it puts the old "circumstantial / situational modifiers" firmly in the hands of the players, giving them an extra roll on ANY check (not just combat, for example) that could turn the tide of the roll, and thus the larger narrative. It's simple, elegant, and empowers players.

Bounded accuracy

Because converting adventures is so much easier in this paradigm, and everything in the game -- monsters, treasure, spells, etc. -- feels like it could "last" longer. 3e cleaved to far into the realm of disposable magic items ("i'm just looking for that +3 sword so I can toss the +2 sword I got now!"), Christmas Tree Effects, and both 3e and 4e had the problem of monsters that just didn't last. In 3e they didn't last very long in any individual encounter, and in 4e, they just didn't last outside of their level (maybe 1-3 levels in either direction, too, but rarely). It made for an awful lot of "padding" because you needed tons of monsters and treasures at every level/CR.

Simplicity/light rules

I struggled to choose this over Rate of Release (lost because they could be doing more adventures and/or a real Dragon/Dungeon Magazine), Rulings Not Rules (lost because I think it's predicated on the simplicity/elegance of the rules), and Speed of Play (also lost because it's predicated on the simplicity of the rules).

Mainly, I like a system I can just jump right into. It's familiar enough, but with some nice robust pieces, and yet it remains straightforward and fast in play. They could do with a little bit of editing to remove the wordiness and a LOT of re-formatting to get better spell and magic item statblocks (and perhaps a LOT better organization of their adventures), but I can live with it as it is.

 

[thalmin]

Difficult to limit to just 3. It was nearly "all of the above" except "I like nothing about D&D 5th edition" and the release schedule. I wish there were more published adventures and a campaign setting.

 

[redrick]

I really love Bounded Accuracy. For me, it facilitates a much more open, try anything attitude towards the game. Player tasks aren't split between, "easy for her, impossible for him." As a DM, I can populate my area with creatures that will work across a wide range of levels. It makes monster creation and conversion much easier, because I don't have to get it perfect. When I run published adventures, almost all of them are written for B/X D&D or retroclones, and I can often run monsters straight off the page of those adventures. Perfect? No. But workable in a pinch.

I picked "Old School 'Feel'" because I just think they really nailed, "this is what D&D feels like." When I picked up 5e, I felt like, "this is the game I remember playing." Of course, when I actually went back to my old AD&D and B/X rulebooks, I realized that, on paper, this is a very different game, but the sensibilities were right. By contrast, when teaching 4e to people (which I find to be a great system!), I felt like I was an old man showing the town I grew up in to my grandkids. Still a good game, but not the one I remembered. 5e has succeeded at being a very modern RPG that evokes everything I loved about the D&D I grew up with.

And hell yeah, simplicity. I have showed this game to so many different people. We have them up and running in no time. The game feels like it is designed to ease people into the complexity of the system, so players can learn as they go. The simplicity of mechanics (and I put Advantage/Disadvantage here as a huge contributor) allows me as a DM to handle whatever my players throw at me without having to flip through rulebooks all the time.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

I went with advantage/disadvantage, backgrounds, and simplicity. If class options/archetypes had been on the list, I would have chosen that over advantage/disadvantage (which for me is really a function of simplicity). With the class archetypes and backgrounds, I'm still debating with myself whether there's really any justification for the return of prestige classes in Unearthed Arcana this month.

 

[phantomK9]

Difficult to limit to just 3. It was nearly "all of the above" except "I like nothing about D&D 5th edition" and the release schedule. I wish there were more published adventures and a campaign setting.

Same here.
Honestly 5e reversed so many troublesome trends from 3.x and 4e.
It brought me and the two gaming groups that I'm involved with back to D&D after nearly all of us had sworn off D&D because of issue with either 3.5 or 4e.

And frankly, I'm not at all concerned with the slow pace of material. Hell, we are still trying to digest everything from the three core books. So even that is not a negative for me.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Blue]

I must have missed the cut with my suggestion: Sane Multiclassing. How it handles casters (which also reflects on class design to be more then just spell slots), not getting all skills and proficiencies so you can't just grab fighter for heavy armor, etc.

Of these, I picked Advantage/Disadvantage as the concept, though they have too many +/- modifiers for it to be as clean as it should, Backgrounds are wonderful divorcing skills and concept from class to allow rules support for many more concepts, and Inspiration as finally supporting RP mechanically, though I still haven't played with a DM who actually awards it.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Advantage
Speed of play
Old school feel

If I could choose 4, the next would be backgrounds, because I can play my favorite halfling f/t from AD&D as just a fighter with a criminal background--no multi classing!

But yeah, there were many more I like about 5e too.


*edit* Aw crap. I totally missed rulings not rules. That would be #1