D&D (2024) Command is the Perfect Encapsulation of Everything I Don't Like About 5.5e

[SableWyvern]

it never, ever ends. It just keeps going around and around, not because anyone is unreasonable, but because while you had that conversation with Players A through E, now your group consists of A, C , and G, H and I. And those three new players haven't had those conversations with you yet.

OK, that's a little easier to understand. It's still completely outside my experience, as I've had stable groups throughout my roleplaying career (current group has been around for over two decades, with only occasional personnel changes), but if you're regularly playing with different people, I can understand why you might prefer less room for personal interpretation.

It's still a complete non-issue for me, and I have no need or desire for tighter or more restrictive wording, but I can at least grasp where you're coming from.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Dozens

Almost every "Why I left 5e" blog, vlog, or video says it.

It's too late.

Those initial 5e DMs were burned by the lack of help and want restrictions now.

That's one reason why Command was claimed down.

Where are you getting all this? Show me one link that proves your point.

 

[Undrave]

Command is indeed a strong spell in 5e, but in terms of raw combat power it's gotten a buff not a nerf in that the restrictions on not being able to cast it on undead and critters that don't speak your language has been removed. In any case if you think that Command is OPed there are plenty of ways to nerf it without utterly gutting the versatility that makes it a joy to use.

And it's exactly the versatility and the requirement of DM adjudication that I like about it so much...

Maybe they felt the power of Command was too variable and dependant on the player's wit and wanted it to be more predictable by the DM?

 

[Micah Sweet]

The designers themselves.

They themselves said the DMG was crappy organized so new DMs couldn't use it and asked for stuff already in the book.

Your claim is that it is "well-known" that 5e is hard to GM. Where's the support for that statement?

 

[Minigiant]

Where are you getting all this? Show me one link that proves your point.

Type in "I'm leaving 5e" or "Why I left 5e" in YouTube.

Most of the videos repeat the same things on the DM side

 

[Oofta]

A product can have massive growth but have a portion of it be bad.

That's not something that's inconsistent.

You don't have a game if you don't have a DM.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

The Experienced DMs mostly flipped the bird at anything new, stuck to OSR, and refused to teach the new anything but what they like.

So here we are.

Any evidence of this statement?

 

[Hussar]

OK, that's a little easier to understand. It's still completely outside my experience, as I've had stable groups throughout my roleplaying career (current group has been around for over two decades, with only occasional personnel changes), but if you're regularly playing with different people, I can understand why you might prefer less room for personal interpretation.

It's still a complete non-issue for me, and I have no need or desire for tighter or more restrictive wording, but I can at least grasp where you're coming from.

Sure, if you have a stable group that's been gaming together for two decades? Of course this is a total non-issue for you.

But, I'm going to suggest that the majority of groups out there have a half-life of three years or less. Five years at the absolute outside. Granted, me and one other in my group have been gaming together for the better part of twenty years, but, in that time, we've seen well over a hundred players pass through our table. And that's not an exaggeration. We actually tallied it up some years ago, and, yup, over a hundred players have passed through our table in the past twenty years.

Our longest unchanged group was about five years. But, heck, in the past three years I've had over a dozen different players cross my table. My current group, barring myself and the one other player, have only been gaming together for less than a year. Our dreaded "fifth seat" strikes inevitably. Every time we get a fifth player, someone leaves the group. 99% of the time amicably I should add. Just life stepping in. But, yeah, again, if your perspective is that groups are long standing like that, sure, we're not going to be coming at this from the same direction.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It does again if the DM don't look online.

Especially since much of the online DM advice for fifth edition came well well after it was published.

The designers have more or less went on an apology tour about "yeah we screwed up the DMG So new DMs were left confused or unsupported". And it will rev back up with the new DMG.

This is what the starter sets are for: learning to DM when the mentor system isn't working.

And I disagree that WotC has done anything to get DMs excited about 5.5. Just saying the DMG will be better isn't nearly enough.

 

[MarkB]

Type in "I'm leaving 5e" or "Why I left 5e" in YouTube.

Most of the videos repeat the same things on the DM side

If it's that easy, do it and post the links.