D&D 5E Can somebody sum up 5E for me so far?

[NewJeffCT]

right when the first batch of playtest material came out, my wife got a great job offer that required us to relocate across CT (NW part to the SE part). So, we spent a few weeks cleaning up our house and making it look nice to sell (and it sold the day before it went on the market!! )

However, with the move, finding a new house, packing, unpacking, reorganizing, etc, I've barely had time to look at Playtest v1 or v2. (of course, I'm moving to a less populated area of CT, so need to find some new gamers first...)

If somebody could be so kind as to sum up the changes for 5E, or point me to a website that summarizes them for me, I'd really be grateful.

Thanks!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I recommend:

D&D 5E Info

Short version: still under construction.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I recommend:

D&D 5E Info

Short version: still under construction.

Thanks - some ideas look pretty good. My favorite, by far, is

Magic items no longer part of essential progression mathematics.

"We're running with the idea that magic items are special and not bound to character progression."

 

[JeffB]

Short version: still under construction.

And 75k zub-contractors who cannot figure out what to build.

 

[NewJeffCT]

And 75k zub-contractors who cannot figure out what to build.

I'm sure people will eventually figure out how to build & optimize their PCs...

but, I think once it gets closer to launch (GenCon 2014?), things will get more focused.

 

[Shadeydm]

D&D the linux edition or D&DLE.

 

[Yora]

I recommend:

D&D 5E Info

Those are collected quotes. There's also a lot to say based on the playtest material:

So far we have 4 races (human, elf, dwarf, halfling) and 6 classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard, sorcerer, warlock).
So far, it's limited to level 1-5,

Base attack bonus increases much much slower and maybe not even at all for some classes. There are no saving throw bonuses and all you get is your ability modifier. In theory, you can also make Strenght, Intelligence, and Charisma saves, but they are very rare so far.
Spellcasters also have a magic base attack bonus for spells that is separate from the base attack bonus for weapons.

Skills are a +3 bonus, but at 2nd, 4th, and so on level, you can increase that number for one of your skills by +1.

Backgrounds give your character three skills and a background trait, which usually takes the form of certain favors you can get, like getting a room and healing for free when you visit a temple of a religion you are a priest of.
Rogues get a second background that gives them the skills of a thief or a thug, but everyone can take these two backgrounds as their normal background as well.

Traits have been renamed Specializations. Specializations are basically a group of feats that has been preselected for you. Almost everyone seems to agree that it is intended that you can also not pick a Specialization and select your feats just like in older editions.

Spells no longer become more powerful as you get more caster levels. There had been mentions of being able to use higher level spell slots to get stronger effects, but this is not implemented in the current playtest rules (yet).
"Utility" spells also often have a "ritual version". The ritual version takes much longer to cast and requires extra material components, but you don't have to have the spell prepared and can cast it right out of the spellbook. This is great for spells that you rarely need and when you need them, you don't have to have them right now but it can wait 15 minutes or so.

 

[JeffB]

I'm sure people will eventually figure out how to build & optimize their PCs...

but, I think once it gets closer to launch (GenCon 2014?), things will get more focused.

That is not what I meant. I meant that no-one can agree on how to build the game. Its a bunch of arguing for or against things from their pet edition of D&D.

 

[Umbran]

That is not what I meant. I meant that no-one can agree on how to build the game. Its a bunch of arguing for or against things from their pet edition of D&D.

Well, here on messageboards, the vocal people cannot seem to agree. That doesn't mean that, more broadly, in those 75,000, there's not strong signals being sent to the designers.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Well, here on messageboards, the vocal people cannot seem to agree. That doesn't mean that, more broadly, in those 75,000, there's not strong signals being sent to the designers.

good point. How many regular posters are there on enworld? 200? 300? 500? Even 1,000 regular posters is a small percentage of 75,000.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

If somebody could be so kind as to sum up the changes for 5E, or point me to a website that summarizes them for me, I'd really be grateful.

No problem! In two years when it's actually finished and anyone (including anyone at WotC) has actually read the final product just post this question again and I'll be happy to summarize the changes.

 

[Spinachcat]

Its a bunch of arguing for or against things from their pet edition of D&D.

It's the same thing at the playtest tables. If you like 3e, then 5e is too much 4e. If you like 4e, then 5e is too much 3e. At most tables, I get 5e = 1e + 4e or 5e = 2e + 3e as the player response of why they feel 5e either is "meh" or "suxxors"

Of course, if WotC really isn't going to put out the game until GenCon 2014, then we are very early into the playtest process and the final game may not look like anything we are currently playing.

 

[Yora]

2nd Ed + 3rd Ed is why it is FTW!

 

[NewJeffCT]

thanks - good discussion so far

 

[Yazman]

My favourite e is 3.5e, although I must say that 5e doesn't really exactly resemble any of the e's while at the same time reminds me of all 4. It has the best bits of all 4 so far and I'm loving what I'm seeing.