D&D 5E Alternative 5e Player's Guides

[Over the Hill Gamer]

I love the 5e rules set but have become increasingly frustrated with the endless stream of feats, powers, skills, abilities, spells, etc that can dominate play. I hunger for a grittier, less powered version of 5e.

I recently purchased Adventures in Middle-earth Player's Guide and adored its simpler take on core character classes.

I wonder if others might be aware of player's guides with a similar philosophy.

Thanks!

 

[LordEntrails]

Compared to previous editions, I don't see an endless stream of anything in the official 5E rules. It seems that people are usually complaining about the exact opposite, that they want more options.

Primeval Thule might have a similar take to Middle-Earth, but I don't know.

 

[TwoSix]

I love the 5e rules set but have become increasingly frustrated with the endless stream of feats, powers, skills, abilities, spells, etc that can dominate play. I hunger for a grittier, less powered version of 5e.

I recently purchased Adventures in Middle-earth Player's Guide and adored its simpler take on core character classes.

I wonder if others might be aware of player's guides with a similar philosophy.

Thanks!

I feel like this post came from some weird parallel dimension where 5e has the same publishing strategy as 3e and 4e. Maybe we can open a portal for some posters who shall remain nameless.

 

[Quickleaf]

I love the 5e rules set but have become increasingly frustrated with the endless stream of feats, powers, skills, abilities, spells, etc that can dominate play. I hunger for a grittier, less powered version of 5e.

I recently purchased Adventures in Middle-earth Player's Guide and adored its simpler take on core character classes.

I wonder if others might be aware of player's guides with a similar philosophy.

Thanks!

What about Dungeonesque? I think it's billed exactly for that.

 

[Rynic]

Get rid of sub-classes and sub-races? That would certainly reduce the amount of powers.

 

[Over the Hill Gamer]

Primeval Thule might have a similar take to Middle-Earth, but I don't know.

Thanks for turning me on to Thule. I checked it out and it is excellent. However, it is largely an expansion to the existing PHB. That being said I really like how they customized some of the classes.

 

[Over the Hill Gamer]

What about Dungeonesque? I think it's billed exactly for that.

Bingo. That seems to be the ticket. Great call. Thanks

 

[Over the Hill Gamer]

I feel like this post came from some weird parallel dimension where 5e has the same publishing strategy as 3e and 4e. Maybe we can open a portal for some posters who shall remain nameless.

I don't think I understand your comment. Maybe you can expand on it.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't think I understand your comment. Maybe you can expand on it.

Sure. Complaints about the game becoming too unwieldy due to class, spell, feat, etc. bloat were very prevalent during the 3e and 4e eras, because both of those games were heavily supported with official material devoted primarily to "crunch" (new rules pieces such as classes, feats, etc.). In contrast, much of the online discussion around 5e has been about how there's been a relative paucity of "official" material to expand on the mechanical options available.

Your view that there's too much material available is almost certainly a minority one, (obviously "too much" or "too little" are judgment calls, ultimately) so it was weird to see a complaint that was prevalent a decade ago about D&D being echoed in the present when the prevailing view is the opposite.

 

[Jester David]

I don't think I understand your comment. Maybe you can expand on it.

There's been a lot of complaints on this forum over how 5e hasn't received the same number of accessories as the past couple versions of the game, with feats only in the PHB and few other subclasses/races.

It is odd seeing someone come in with the opposite perspective.