D&D 5E 2024 D&D is 2014 D&D with 4E sprinkled on top

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah

Instead of 4e Keywords, 2024 uses what I call "Assertive Capitalization"

Probably because it was originally formatted with hyperlinks.

 

[mamba]

To be fair 4e was the most gamist version of d&d, so anything shifting that way could be reminiscent of 4e for some.

which is why I called it a slight nudge towards it. Saying 2024 is 2014 with 4e sprinkled on is going too far however imo

 

[Scribe]

I mean...Bloodied is fine. Its a mechanic as old as time, and certainly not a '4e-ism'. Masteries...no.

I dont know that I see much more of 4e in 5.5, and its not what continued to push me away.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean...Bloodied is fine. Its a mechanic as old as time, and certainly not a '4e-ism'. Masteries...no.

I dont know that I see much more of 4e in 5.5, and its not what continued to push me away.

I feel the more abstract, numbers first design philosophy in the texts reminds me of 4e.

 

[pukunui]

Instead of 4e Keywords, 2024 uses what I call "Assertive Capitalization"

Probably because it was originally formatted with hyperlinks.

Hyperlinks don't require words to be capitalized. I think that's more of an inclusivity thing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hyperlinks don't require words to be capitalized. I think that's more of an inclusivity thing.

No, but since words that end up hyperlinked tend to be game terms, it makes sense to capitalize them, and it would be a hard thing to correct when transferring the data from D&DB to print.

 

[pukunui]

I don't remember any problems with the stealth rules in 4E and I played a Rogue all the way into Epic Tier.

The 4e stealth rules were completely rewritten (“replace all text after the first paragraph”) at least once:

I feel like they revised them again later on or at least fiddled with them some more, but I think I’d mostly stopped paying attention by then.

Remember that 4e had monthly “rules updates” for a good long while, with even the original 4e core books getting errata well into the lifespan of the edition.

This is one of the reasons why 4e gets compared to a video game.

 

[overgeeked]

What do you think?

I think all the best parts of 4E are still missing from Revised 5E.

 

[SteveC]

I feel like they revised them again later on or at least fiddled with them some more, but I think I’d mostly stopped paying attention by then.

Remember that 4e had monthly “rules updates” for a good long while, with even the original 4e core books getting errata well into the lifespan of the edition.

It's funny that you mention this. It has been a long time since those days, and I guess I do remember rules updates. The thing is, I was regularly playing Living Forgotten Realms in those days, and they used the latest rules all the time. I do remember some rules updates about Stealth, but it didn't affect play at the table very much. I was playing a Rogue so I was always interacting with them.

As you say, the rules patches reminded people of a video game and I know for powers and spells that made a lot of sense. Frankly, I think that's one of the reasons people stopped buying books. I was using the offline character builder and that was regularly updated with rule updates so I didn't really see the need to keep buying the books.

5E has gone the other way. I think the 5.5 rules are the first major rules revision that I can recall for it. I'm sure there were others (and feel free to correct me) but I didn't really care about them outside of running a game for a couple of years.

I think there is the notion that with the rules back to being presented electronically, there will be more ability to update rules over time. And I combine that with the move away from physical books and I get some 4E similarities. So perhaps the game doesn't play like 4E but some of the intentions for seeing the new edition expand and grow do have some similarities with it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's funny that you mention this. It has been a long time since those days, and I guess I do remember rules updates. The thing is, I was regularly playing Living Forgotten Realms in those days, and they used the latest rules all the time. I do remember some rules updates about Stealth, but it didn't affect play at the table very much. I was playing a Rogue so I was always interacting with them.

As you say, the rules patches reminded people of a video game and I know for powers and spells that made a lot of sense. Frankly, I think that's one of the reasons people stopped buying books. I was using the offline character builder and that was regularly updated with rule updates so I didn't really see the need to keep buying the books.

5E has gone the other way. I think the 5.5 rules are the first major rules revision that I can recall for it. I'm sure there were others (and feel free to correct me) but I didn't really care about them outside of running a game for a couple of years.

I think there is the notion that with the rules back to being presented electronically, there will be more ability to update rules over time. And I combine that with the move away from physical books and I get some 4E similarities. So perhaps the game doesn't play like 4E but some of the intentions for seeing the new edition expand and grow do have some similarities with it.

There are some significant lore changes in 5.5 as well, judging by the new MM, so that part reminds me of 4e as well.