D&D 5E As the sun dies…

[ECMO3]

Playing Druid in Curse of Strahd was great fun. Burning down werewolves and vampires with Moonbeam while simultaneously tanking as a bear surprisingly doesn't get old.

Strahd is one of few WOTC adventures I have not played (although I played TSR 1E version around 1986 or so).

I had a character concept drawn up for Strahd, a Mountain Dwarf Undying Warlock/War Magic Wizard but never got to play it.

 

[ECMO3]

For me, I never really enjoy 2014 classes as much as I thought I would. At times, the design felt a little too conservative for my tastes, and the aesthetics didn't line up with some of the mechanics. Despite 5R's likewise conservative changes, there ARE changes, and I personally feel the 5R classes are far better than the 5E classes. Monk, Sorcerer, and even Ranger (albeit not as much as we'd like) are all far more satisfying. Barbarians have more things to do now, and melee attacks offer a lot more design space to build on with weapon masteries. Overall, 5R feels like a smoother, more enjoyable heroic fantasy game to me then 5E, which makes me even MORE bored with 5E.

I like the 2024 Sorcerer. I am not as excited about the new Monk or Ranger. I played both of those in 5E a lot (post Tashas) and I loved the 5E versions.

To me the new 2024 Ranger seems way too weapon focused. What is odd, is they included Fey Wanderer subclass which strongly encourages you to lean into spell casting and maxing Wisdom, and then they redesigned the class to be a more potent weapon user and strongly encourage using weapons over casting spells.

The Monk seems to have been buffed across the board, but had one of their two great things nerfed. I will say the Monks I played in 5E all went to 20th level and that is a big difference than if you only play tier 1 and tier 2. At high level a 5E Monk is hands down the best non-caster and arguably the best martial and the Monks I played in 5E were a blast.

I never liked Barbarian, and don't like the new one either, but it just isn't for me as a class/playstyle.

 

[Stormonu]

I feel like I've barely been able to scratch the surface on 5E, only playing once every 2-3 weeks or so. Feel like there is a lot left for me to explore in the 2014 version - especially with all the 3rd party content available - before I even look at 2024.