D&D 4E 4e players who converted to 5th edition

[Unwise]

I DM a level 18 Scales of War 4e game. We have been playing for a fair while. As a DM I am really keen to move to 5e simply due to speed issues. I love how comparatively quick 5e fights can be and I really look forward to not having to do as much prep for combat encounters. Map making and having to balance encounters properly, as well as making each fight a centerpiece to keep it interesting is getting old.

I have DMed a few solo games with players and most of them are keen to try out 5e. We all feel that we can get through about 33% more plot in the roughly the same amount of time. The major concern that players have is that 5e might not be overly replayable. There is very little variation between characters within a class compared to most games we have played. What we all appreciate though, is that if you pick any class, they are very good at the core aspects of that class. You might not get much opportunity to vary from it, but if you want to be a Knight In Shining Armor Paladin, then 5e makes a damn good one. Same with most classes.

I was a player in a level 1-30 campaign in 4e. When I moved to 5e I loved the bounded rolls. At high level in 4e, if you did not have both a good stat and training in a skill, you need not bother rolling at high levels. In 5e, I like the fact that my character does not become progressively worse at non-core skills as I level up (save throws aside).

 

[Daern]

I used to DM 4e and moved on to OSR stuff for the same reason as everyone else has said. It was GREAT for elaborate diorama style combats, but not so good for loose improv adventuring.

Re: Spellslot tracking, the best thing I did for my noob players of wizards and clerics was give them a handful of change. Pennies are 1st level slots, nickels 2nd, etc. I remember I had all kinds of little tokens and manipulatives in 4e, but spell slots has been the only time I've needed them in V.

 

[Raith5]

I have played BE of BECMI, AD&D 2e, 3e, 3.5 4e and 4e essentials, so I wouldn't say I have started with 4e by any means. I have run several good 4e campaigns though, and am in the middle of running one now. I must say the response to my 5e game has been really good. I think they only thing they missed a bit was healing up after combat. Mostly, they really liked the pacing of the game.

4e went a bit like this: |----combat-----|-rpg-|----combat-----|-rpg-|----combat-----|-rpg-|----combat-----|
5e goes a bit more like this: |-combat-|-rpg-|-combat-|-rpg-|-combat-|-rpg-|-combat-|-rpg-|-combat-|-rpg-|-combat-|

In other words, in the same amount of time you have more time for roleplaying, and you get to have more combat encounters.

I found that 4e had the same amount of RP elements and opportunities that previous editions or 5E, but I agree the pacing of 5e is really different from 4E. I love and still play 4E (though for full disclaimer I started playing D&D with basic), but I really like the move away from from the focus on encounters so far. I have been surprised how liberated I feel and if anything it has opened more of exploration side of things than the social or RP side of things IME.

Like the vast majority, I also like the shorter combats, though at times I think the melee classes could be a touch more interesting. I think they effective but I still think that was one aspect where 4E really shined.

 

[fjw70]

I started with BX and AD&D in the 80s and then restarted with 4e when it came out. I love 5e but miss certain things about 4e. They are different enough to both remain in my rotation.

From 4e I miss healing surges, easy monster and encounter creation, and a more robust power system.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I found that 4e had the same amount of RP elements and opportunities that previous editions or 5E, but I agree the pacing of 5e is really different from 4E. I love and still play 4E (though for full disclaimer I started playing D&D with basic), but I really like the move away from from the focus on encounters so far. I have been surprised how liberated I feel and if anything it has opened more of exploration side of things than the social or RP side of things IME.

Like the vast majority, I also like the shorter combats, though at times I think the melee classes could be a touch more interesting. I think they effective but I still think that was one aspect where 4E really shined.

I don't think I came across very clear here, so let me try again. In a typical four hour session in 4e, I could probably run 3 combats (1 hour each) and 3 role playing intermissions (20 minutes each). In 5e I could run 5 combats (28 minutes each) and 5 role playing intermissions (20 minutes each) in the same time. The ratio of combat to role playing ends up being something like 3:1 in 4e and 3:2 in 5e.

In both systems, we role play between combats, but because they take such a long time and the sessions are finite, we ended up role playing less in 4e, and stayed more in combat. Also, in 5e, how you initiate an encounter is really important (since they usually last much fewer rounds), so you often spend more time (relatively) trying to start it off in your favour. This is usually done in character, while pure combat often ends up just being dice rolling, especially when it drags on.

My conclusion is that since we spend less time in combat in 5e, we end up role playing more than in 4e.

 

[fuindordm]

I'm another AD&D veteran, not the kind of guy the OP was looking for. But it's an interesting topic so I'll chime in.

4E had some really interesting ideas that didn't make it into 5E. I vastly prefer 5E, but if you had to twist my arm I would cite the following regrets:
* 4E does more than any other edition to encourage player teamwork and dynamic combats.
* 4E has better support for mundane (martial) PCs -- I loved the 4E versions of the warlord and ranger, and it was the first edition where I felt like an all-mundane party could still give every player a distinct role.

But these are minor regrets, and I'm not looking back. 4E also contained a lot of crunch that barely mattered (e.g. feats and magic items) and as others have said the proportion of time spent on combats vs RP was a deal-killer for me.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm another AD&D veteran, not the kind of guy the OP was looking for. But it's an interesting topic so I'll chime in.

4E had some really interesting ideas that didn't make it into 5E. I vastly prefer 5E, but if you had to twist my arm I would cite the following regrets:
* 4E does more than any other edition to encourage player teamwork and dynamic combats.
* 4E has better support for mundane (martial) PCs -- I loved the 4E versions of the warlord and ranger, and it was the first edition where I felt like an all-mundane party could still give every player a distinct role.

But these are minor regrets, and I'm not looking back. 4E also contained a lot of crunch that barely mattered (e.g. feats and magic items) and as others have said the proportion of time spent on combats vs RP was a deal-killer for me.

No, that's fine, i guess there are probably relatively few people on these boards who actually started with 4e and no prior D&D experience. And I agree with your post. I ran 4th edition up until 12th level. And i really liked it for a while. But the higher level we got the more and more people stuck their noses in their power cards and didn't look up.

 

[Piratecat]

My nieces and nephew loved 4th. They love 5th too. I'd judge they find it less confusing.

 

[SavageCole]

The OP specifically asked for people who started in 4e. That's his expressed qualification for a response here. You have to love how enthusiastic people are about 5e (I am too), but let's honor the OP's question. I too am interested in hearing what people who came to D&D through 4e think of 5e. We already know that earlier adopters tend to love 5e.

 

[Nebulous]

I have a new player, he's 25, and he's never played D&D at all. He's an avid MMORPGer, and he's said several times now, "This is what online gamers want their roleplaying game to be, but it can't, because it's all coded." He still loves his raids, but he also loves the imaginative freedom to literally do whatever the hell he wants, and he's playing a cleric tank just like in his online game, so he's quite happy.