D&D 5E Point Buy vs Rolling for Stats

[Caliban]

It leaves a lot between the lines, too, and 5e's natural language is not exact to begin with.

You can fill in the blanks with knowledge of any or all past editions, or sticking to emulating one past edition that you prefered, when making your rulings.

Or none of them. Knowledge of past editions is not required or assumed.

If you choose to more closely emulate a previous edition using your personal knowledge, that is indeed your prerogative. It's just not an assumption of the 5e rules.

 

[Yardiff]

Technically, they are mentioned. The races section talks about the entirety of each race, not just PCs of that race. Unless you think that every member of the race is a PC, the PHB must be talking about NPCs as well. Then it goes on to give the stat bonuses for the race, not special members of the race. Then when it comes to abilities it talks about how YOU(the PC) are a member of the race(which includes NPCs) and so have certain special abilities(which means NPCs get them as well).

Yes, when you create an NPC as a PC you use the race stats. Take it farther....the races in the PHB are for PCs or Special NPCs thus they are the upper % of the race. You only need to use the racial stat bonuses when you build an NPC as a PC.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Or none of them. Knowledge of past editions is not required or assumed.

It's definitely assumed. 5e is clearly written for and aimed at the fan base as it existed when it was being developed.

That doesn't make it impossible for new players to figure it out, not ideal, but not impossible - but, at the same time, it means that a new player learning 5e, even somehow, in a vacuum without any reference to past editions, will emerge with quite a lot of the same general impressions, feelings, & assumptions about the game as someone who started with 3e or earlier.

 

[Oofta]

The point being that D&D 'evolution' has not been a smooth forward process, 5e is consciously atavistic. It does not leave 1e behind, it fervently emulates it.

It emulates some things and ignores others. The things it emulated and included in the current version apply to the current version. Anything else is just background which has nothing to do with 5E.

 

[Caliban]

It's definitely assumed.

Nope. You may believe it's assumed because you already have the knowledge base of previous editions that 5e was built on. That knowledge base is certainly helpful, but it is by no means assumed in the rules.

I play Adventure League, with many people who have never played any previous edition and they generally have no problem with the new rules despite their lack of previous edition knowledge.

The rules don't assume you have any knowledge of previous editions. (Note: I'm not saying years of knowledge from previous editions isn't useful or helpful - it absolutely is.)

 

[Satyrn]

They are not going to waste valuable book space to tell you that 'nothing changed'!

Oh sweet! That means when something isn't addressed by 5e, the first step is to check out 4e, and if nothing's there we check out 3e, which is almost certain to have a rule for it.

It'd be rare indeed to ever step back to 2nd edition, let alone 1st.

 

[Oofta]

Oh sweet! That means when something isn't addressed by 5e, the first step is to check out 4e, and if nothing's there we check out 3e, which is almost certain to have a rule for it.

It'd be rare indeed to ever step back to 2nd edition, let alone 1st.

Yep, apparently we're supposed to bring the following to every game session:

 

[Tony Vargas]

Nope. You may believe it's assumed because you already have the knowledge base of previous editions that 5e was built on. That knowledge base is certainly helpful, but it is by no means assumed in the rules.

That knowledge base was also possessed by the folks writing it, and the playtesters, and they constantly went back and tested against a fan base with that same shared base of knowledge & preconceptions through the playtest.

It's assumed, and it's deeply ingrained, and that's a big part of 5e's success (and the relative lack of edition warring against it).

I play Adventure League, with many people who have never played any previous edition and they generally have no problem with the new rules despite their lack of previous edition knowledge.

There's almost certainly people with that knowledge, right at the table, spouting it freely the whole time. (Indeed, try getting us to shut up, it ain't easy!)

Oh sweet! That means when something isn't addressed by 5e, the first step is to check out 4e, and if nothing's there we check out 3e, which is almost certain to have a rule for it.

It'd be rare indeed to ever step back to 2nd edition, let alone 1st.

No, the first (last, & only) step is for the DM to make a ruling. he may or may not work his way through each past edition he's familiar with to help him pick the best ruling, but it's likely, that any such past knowledge informs his ruling.

 

[Caliban]

That knowledge base was also possessed by the folks writing it, and the playtesters, and they constantly went back and tested against a fan base with that same shared base of knowledge & preconceptions through the playtest.

Sure. Not relevant to my point, but sure. My point is that is is not assumed that the new players know it, and it's not required that they know it. Everything needed to run and play the game is included in the 5e books. Nothing is left out with the assumption that you'll just use knowledge of a previous editions rules to make up the difference.

It's assumed, and it's deeply ingrained, and that's a big part of 5e's success (and the relative lack of edition warring against it).

Well, all of that is an assumption on your part. And you know what they say about assuming.

There's almost certainly people with that knowledge, right at the table, spouting it freely the whole time. (Indeed, try getting us to shut up, it ain't easy!)

So, you are claiming to be psychic now?

That is your assumption. It certainly isn't my reality.

Your assumptions about other peoples assumptions simply don't match my experiences. We'll just have to agree to disagree. *shrug*

 

[Satyrn]

No, the first step is for the DM to make a ruling. he may or may not work his way through each past edition he's familiar with to help him pick the best ruling, but it's likely, that any such past knowledge informs his ruling.

Sigh. I swear you're reading through posts just looking for the opportunity to make trivial little nitpicks.

Not that I'm judging, since I'm just reading through this trainwreck looking to farm laugh ratings. It's not working very well.