D&D 5E What (if anything) do you find "wrong" with 5E?

[Snarf Zagyg]

My father was the type of guy who believed in learning by doing. That's why when I was 5 he tossed me into the deep end of the pool; so he could learn CPR.

My father always told me that laughter was the best form of medicine. Which, now that I think of it, is probably why all of my siblings died of tuberculosis.

 

[Medic]

Those D&D tropes are based on those fantasy works popular around the time of D&D's creation and initial popularity.

It's why Paladin is a base class and Elf is a playable race out the PHB and not Ninja and Asgardian.

Merlin, Prospero, Soumaoro, Circe, Mimir, all predate Gandalf, and every character I just mentioned, in D&D terms, vaguely inhabits the "wizard" archetype.

Despite this, no iteration of Dungeons & Dragons™ could successfully approximate them in play. They are inspirations that the game draws from, yes, but the actual Wizard class as it exists is unique and does not functionally resemble any of them. The D&D Wizard's "trope" is "D&D Wizard." Repeat ad nauseum for every class.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Merlin, Prospero, Soumaoro, Circe, Mimir, all predate Gandalf, and every character I just mentioned, in D&D terms, vaguely inhabits the "wizard" archetype.

Despite this, no iteration of Dungeons & Dragons™ could successfully approximate them in play. They are inspirations that the game draws from, yes, but the actual Wizard class as it exists is unique and does not functionally resemble any of them. The D&D Wizard's "trope" is "D&D Wizard." Repeat ad nauseum for every class.

Exactly.

D&D General - D&D History 101: Origins of Classes

So I wanted to do a short series on some of the history of D&D, and I thought I'd start with a fun and relatively easy one- the original class system, as codified in the AD&D (1e) Player's Handbook of 1978. For those of you unfamiliar with that 1e PHB, it was a...

www.enworld.org

The point is ... of the original AD&D classes, only three* were based on any specific antecedent (as opposed to general tropes)-

The Ranger (Strider)
The Paladin (Three Hearts, Three Lions)
The Monk (Remo Williams)

....and none of them were actually very good at capturing the specific antecedent.


*The Cleric was generally based on a Van Helsing idea from Hammer Horror films, but was transmogrified prior to publication with Gygax additions, so it's hard to really determine.

 

[Maxperson]

Yes, you are clearly right. ENworld needs an :embarrassed: smiley.

That one is close.

 

[Aurel Guthrie]

The thousand different types of telepathy. I wish it were standardized, like darkvision.

 

[Garthanos]

Absolutely true--but if anything, that tends to work a bit against the D&D trope of separating of spellcasters from others.

This is true of legends and myths as well.. For instance the ancient greeks and celts I would say skill was allowed to accomplish what we would call impossible things

 

[Minigiant]

Merlin, Prospero, Soumaoro, Circe, Mimir, all predate Gandalf, and every character I just mentioned, in D&D terms, vaguely inhabits the "wizard" archetype.

Despite this, no iteration of Dungeons & Dragons™ could successfully approximate them in play. They are inspirations that the game draws from, yes, but the actual Wizard class as it exists is unique and does not functionally resemble any of them. The D&D Wizard's "trope" is "D&D Wizard." Repeat ad nauseum for every class.

Again the point is not to recreate perfectly or nearly archetypes.

It's to earnestly take inspiration from the media that the new players of 5e generation would know and be popular with and to analyze the trends of popular fantasy of the various demographics of D&D players.

Not to half-ass the attempt to understand popular things or to make poor attempts to fit in like Buscemi's character in 30 Rock.

Because some new players once they learn the game chaff with the D&D tropes and desire to change them.

If the goal of 5e is to get everyone to buy the PHB, DMG, MM,. Xanatars and Tasha's then a huge chunk of them bounce to another system, buy only unofficial product, or leave the hobby, 5e is great.

Because of all the under 30 D&D players l've played 5e with, only one still has any official setting or adventure books past the starter set.

 

[TwoSix]

My father always told me that laughter was the best form of medicine. Which, now that I think of it, is probably why all of my siblings died of tuberculosis.

My father was an amazing man. He raised 5 boys all on his own, without the rest of us even knowing.

 

[James Gasik]

I wasn't expecting a Mage reference...

Which in itself is an Orwell reference.

 

[James Gasik]

Is there any reason, at all, to suppose that what "newbies like" is in any way consistent. Rather than varying dramatically, just like what veterans want is all over the map.


What's the Paladin, chopped liver?


No, it is not confusing the issue; it is the issue. An untrained character in 4e adds half their level. Dividing that by two would imply that a non-proficient character would add level over four, but they add nothing. Level/4 != 0, and therefore it is not true that 5e maths is 4e maths divided by two. QED.


Wait, what? There may not be elves or orcs, but there are ogier and shadowspawn. Magic is not (universally) ritualistic; weaves can be cast in seconds and can be extremely powerful, allowing the caster to obliterate enemies, physically enter dreams, and even have effects backwards through time. And most importantly, it culminates with a battle outside of reality (kinda) between the chief protagonist and the actual god of evil.. WoT is plenty high fantasy. EDIT: Wheel of Time is plenty high fantasy. World of Tiers may well not be (never heard of it). Sorry for the misunderstanding!

World of Tiers and Chronicles of Amber are multiverse spanning stories that switch between fighting aliens with rayguns, monsters out of myth with swords, and everything in between, with protagonists who are larger than life (and in the case of Amber, are basically demigods).