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I think the most dramatic difference is that with point buy or array the highest stat you will get is a 15, while 4d6 drop lowest sees 16-18 somewhat frequently. The second source of drama would be 4d6 drop lowest producing moderately to dramatically different results for chararacters at the...

For home games I'll play something else. My situation, as I described it in the OP, is that I was attending AL whether I was playing or not, and after a couple weeks concluded that there wasn't consistently enough other things to do at the FLGS to justify not joining the game.

I've never had to change how I play, and am not inclined to start. I also think the the game is designed against me or in conflict with me. It's more of a letdown situation. D&D is still a fighting game, especially organized play, 5E is just a somewhat less interesting fighting game.

Not really. I've built test characters of just about every class and that pretty much described all of them, though some tended to focus more on control than damage for offense like the Wizard. I'm not really impressed with the mechanics for tank-style characters or healer/support in 5E, and I...

In isolation, Duelist Style is a much bigger boost than Great Weapon Fighting. Duelist style mathematically puts a d8 on par with a d12 while keeping the shield bonus to AC. Great Weapon Fighting adds .75 to a d10 roll, .83 to a d12 roll, and 1.33 to 2d6. All are less than the +2 from Duelist...

Warlocks can't have it all, but you do get more invocations as you level. One invocation(and waiting a little longer for one of the ones you currently have) is a very small price to pay to be effective at both scouting and combat.

On an anecdotal basis, in my experience those kids you describe tend to start caring about high DPR after seeing it in play.

I started this thread to talk about my preparing to play a system that doesn't on the surface fit me very well, as well as my observations of and solutions to that.

I wasn't referring to myself with the "real roleplayer" comment. I have stated that I don't feel that kicking ass in combat doesn't make me any less of a roleplayer in my opinion, but I said so in posts other than the one you quoted. I'm not sure what helping other people optimize characters...

This begs the question if 5E wasn't an overreaction like some earlier editions were, or whether 5E couldn't have been more flexible or customizable in this regard.

The question I would have is why you feel it neccessary to sacrifice offense for that? A Warlock can have good offense from just Agonizing Blast and Hex, and you could focus everything else on scouting and still hit fairly hard.

That's a hard thing to accomplish with monsters who are nothing more than bags of hp.

I'm not sure what argument is going on here. I'm not sure if what I'm hearing here is a variant of the old "real roleplayer" trope, which I would argue is a really elitist way of looking at things, or if people are talking about D&D as a puzzle solving non-combat game, which outside of possibly...

Also, a character who sucks at fighting puts the other characters lives at risk, begging the question of why they don't replace him/her with somebody competent. Bringing along amateurs can get everyone killed. I'm just pointing out that there are in-world arguments against sucking at combat.

Two things here. First, I already focus on story and character, but at the same time as combat. I just don't sacrifice combat for story and character. Second, I play D&D to kill monsters. If killing monsters becomes boring, one of the main reasons I play D&D becomes invalid and no amount of...

It's far less realistic for somebody who doesn't excel at fighting monsters to survive a long term campaign, particularly if they continue to suck as they level up. This is a life threatening activity here.

I don't see how a game is big tent when half of the responses to my OP about the conflict between how I've been playing D&D for the past 20 years and the 5E system I'm interacting with in preparation for joining an upcoming organized long term campaign have been "you should instead not play and...

The facetious answer to that would be "Are you saying or implying that 'my playstyle' equals 'most popular playstyle'?" On a more serious note, I imagine playstyles are unevenly represented, but I don't believe either you or I or anyone for that matter really is in any position to specify how...

Are people saying or implying that "includes me" equals "bigger tent"?

Some nitpicks: 1. Pathfinder was nothing more than a series of adventure paths during 3E. It didn't become its own system until well after 4E's launch. 2. The D&D community overwhelmingly switched to 3.5 after it launched, and 3E became the least played D&D in short order. It was never really a...