D&D 5E 5E Survivor - 5th Edition Survives! [+]

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 33 - 2 = 31
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 7
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 46
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 51 + 1 = 52

AcererakTriple6 said:

How there's the 4 roles; Striker, Leader, Controller, and Defender, and that they get a lot of the same powers across classes of the same roles. I watched the Puffin Forest video about 4e, which described how a Cleric would get a Healing Word power that was completely identical in mechanics to a Bard's Inspiring Word power and other Leader classes' healing powers. Basically how some of the classes had basically identical powers to each other, with just different names, so a lot of the classes in the same roles played very similarly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, because I assume you're quite familiar with the system, much more than I am from just hearing people on Youtube describe the system. Maybe Puffin Forest was exaggerating a bit for how common stuff like this was in 4e, but I really don't like the game design of "here are a bunch of powers that do the exact same thing, but are just different names".

Click to expand...

Puffin Forest hasn't had much experience with the system. It is painfully obvious if you watched his actual play where no one in the group seemed to know what they were doing. It appears they were just playing for a lark and not seriously interested in finding any positives about the game. I would suggest take his opinions with a few grains of salt, and then look for different videos from people who can offer a different perspective based on actual experience. Matt Collville, for example, has a lot of good insights for both positives and negatives (if you can keep up with his warp-speed speak!).

Jacob Lewis said:

Puffin Forest hasn't had much experience with the system. It is painfully obvious if you watched his actual play where no one in the group seemed to know what they were doing. It appears they were just playing for a lark and not seriously interested in finding any positives about the game. I would suggest take his opinions with a few grains of salt, and then look for different videos from people who can offer a different perspective based on actual experience. Matt Collville, for example, has a lot of good insights for both positives and negatives (if you can keep up with his warp-speed speak!).

Click to expand...

It was his first edition of dnd and he played for over a year? The actual play was all new players. How much experience do you need?

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 31
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 7 -2= 5 One die to rule them all and in the splatbooks bined them
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 46
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 52 +1 = 53

Like Quote Reply
Report

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 31 - 2 = 29 - I'm going to go with this as the version of Basic (I assume) that I'm least familiar with
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 5
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 46 + 1 = 47
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 53

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 29
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 3
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 47
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 54

AcererakTriple6 said:

How there's the 4 roles; Striker, Leader, Controller, and Defender, and that they get a lot of the same powers across classes of the same roles. I watched the Puffin Forest video about 4e, which described how a Cleric would get a Healing Word power that was completely identical in mechanics to a Bard's Inspiring Word power and other Leader classes' healing powers. Basically how some of the classes had basically identical powers to each other, with just different names, so a lot of the classes in the same roles played very similarly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, because I assume you're quite familiar with the system, much more than I am from just hearing people on Youtube describe the system. Maybe Puffin Forest was exaggerating a bit for how common stuff like this was in 4e, but I really don't like the game design of "here are a bunch of powers that do the exact same thing, but are just different names".

Click to expand...

I think the criticism that there are many similar powers is fair, and I hope you don't mind that I take a bit of time to unpack them. I think this was caused by a number of factors.

First, within a class, there were sometimes powers that were just higher-level versions of the same power that simply dealt more damage, but had different names. If WotC was in a rush to publish 4E, it might have been done as a way to pad out a class's list of higher-level powers. I know the idea of keeping the same power name but having a better effect at higher levels was floating around in 4E - At-will attack powers had this from the very beginning, and the Essentials fighters' Power Strike encounter power had it too. The same concept got implemented in 5E as the "At Higher Levels" section in some spells.

Second, between classes, some powers are quite similar. So three different classes might have three different ways to frighten an opponent, push an opponent away, grant an ally a saving throw, heal an ally, etc. I think this is largely due to the fact that there are only a limited number of special effects in the game, and if there is a reasonable way to add it to a class's list of powers, it will eventually get done. I think this also happens in 5e, but it's disguised a bit better by having packets of shared effects called spells and splitting out the rest into class and subclass abilities.

Third, between roles, some powers are very similar, and that's intentional. Every Leader was designed to have some way to heal/restore hit points in a fight, every Striker was designed to have some ability to deal extra damage, every Defender was designed to have some ability to mark opponents. To me, this is simply transparently giving you the tools to perform the role you signed up for. However, I do agree that this is only a positive if you like the idea of signing up for a role in the first place.

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 29
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 3
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 47-2=45
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 54+1=55

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 29-2 = 27
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 3
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 45+1 = 46
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 55

Original Dungeons and Dragons 38
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition 59+1=60
Basic Dungeons and Dragons 52
B/X Dungeons and Dragons 50
BECMI Dungeons and Dragons 55
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition 56
Dungeons & Dragons, Rules Cyclopedia Edition 56
Classic Dungeons & Dragons 27
Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd Edition 3
Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5 Edition 35
Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition 46
Dungeons & Dragons, Essentials 25
Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition 55-2=53