Level Up (A5E) Convince me of A5E

[Belisarion]

Original 5E, though easy to grasp, became quickly boring to me, because of several reasons:

• not many options to customize a class beyond the choice of one of 3 archetypes, each with not so many trait
• combat options are very limited
• many advantages get cancelled by only one disadvantage (and vice versa) instead of the amount simply being distracted
• skill checks are inflexible (static attribute/skill) with no true mechanics to ad hoc bonus/malus
• feats too limited, only one every 4 levels and for that you even have to forfeit the attribute raise
• proficiency raise very slow (at level 20 only +4 higher than on level 1)

Those are my major gripes that come to my mind at the moment. Coming from 14 years of 3.X I do not mind simplifications but to me, they dumbed down too much.
Pathfinder 2e, though being the D20 pinnacle when coming to customizations, can become bloated from mid level up.
Now I am curious, could Level Up be the remedy for my ailments?

 

[Pedantic]

Original 5E, though easy to grasp, became quickly boring to me, because of several reasons:

• not many options to customize a class beyond the choice of one of 3 archetypes, each with not so many trait
• combat options are very limited
• many advantages get cancelled by only one disadvantage (and vice versa) instead of the amount simply being distracted
• skill checks are inflexible (static attribute/skill) with no true mechanics to ad hoc bonus/malus
• feats too limited, only one every 4 levels and for that you even have to forfeit the attribute raise
• proficiency raise very slow (at level 20 only +4 higher than on level 1)

Those are my major gripes that come to my mind at the moment. Coming from 14 years of 3.X I do not mind simplifications but to me, they dumbed down too much.
Pathfinder 2e, though being the D20 pinnacle when coming to customizations, can become bloated from mid level up.
Now I am curious, could Level Up be the remedy for my ailments?

It's got solutions for the first 4 points, but doesn't touch the last two. The limited proficiency scaling is unfortunately pretty core to 5e's design and A5E isn't trying to drift outside of compatibility with 5e material, like adventures.

That being said, I tend to pair feats with a free +2 to a character's primary accuracy score until that score reaches 20 and that's hasn't really proven a problem.

 

[Corinnguard]

https://www.enworld.org/threads/explaining-a5e.698274/ I am not sure if this will convince you or not about giving A5e a try. It's not much of a remedy for what ails you about 5e as A5e is meant to be backwards compatible with it's predecessor. What I will say is that it has more crunch than 5e, and allows for more character customization. You'll see what I mean in the link.

 

[Belisarion]

It's got solutions for the first 4 points, but doesn't touch the last two. The limited proficiency scaling is unfortunately pretty core to 5e's design and A5E isn't trying to drift outside of compatibility with 5e material, like adventures.

I was curious and purchased the Adventurers Guide pdf but regarding advantage/disadvantage on page 11 both are still handled like in original 5E:

When you have both advantage and disadvantage
(regardless of from how many sources), they cancel
each other out and you roll normally.

Or do I miss something?

 

[Corinnguard]

I was curious and purchased the Adventurers Guide pdf but regarding advantage/disadvantage on page 11 both are still handled like in original 5E:

Or do I miss something?

I don't think you are missing anything here. There are going to be moments during game play where you have both an Advantage (ex. you and a fellow party member are flanking an opponent) and a Disadvantage at the same time. Advantage and Disadvantage are pretty situational, and you're more likely to get one or the other rather than both.

 

[Belisarion]

I don't think you are missing anything here. There are going to be moments during game play where you have both an Advantage (ex. you and a fellow party member are flanking an opponent) and a Disadvantage at the same time. Advantage and Disadvantage are pretty situational, and you're more likely to get one or the other rather than both.

Let's say, you have three Advantages and only one disadvantage. I'd argue that by canceling on a 1:1 basis, two Advantages should remain (so 2D20 overall). @Pedantic mentioned there was a solution to that point so I wondered if I overlooked something because as written it's exactly the same as in 5E.

 

[Corinnguard]

Let's say, you have three Advantages and only one disadvantage. I'd argue that by canceling on a 1:1 basis, two Advantages should remain (so 2D20 overall). @Pedantic mentioned there was a solution to that point so I wondered if I overlooked something because as written it's exactly the same as in 5E.

We really don't know if Advantages and Disadvantages cancel each other out on a 1:1 basis. There is no comprehensive list (that I am aware of) of which actions constitute an Advantage and which constitute a Disadvantage. Nor do I know of any instances where Advantages can be stacked together in a single turn for a single player or for the entire party.

It would help if you could mention an instance where a single Disadvantage completely cancelled out more than two Advantages.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

(ex. you and a fellow party member are flanking an opponent)

flanking gives an expertise die in a5e, not advantage.

 

[Belisarion]

We really don't know if Advantages and Disadvantages cancel each other out on a 1:1 basis. There is no comprehensive list (that I am aware of) of which actions constitute an Advantage and which constitute a Disadvantage. Nor do I know of any instances where Advantages can be stacked together in a single turn for a single player or for the entire party.

It would help if you could mention an instance where a single Disadvantage completely cancelled out more than two Advantages.

For instance, you attack a target which is blinded, paralyzed and prone, all three grant an advantage each to the attacker. Say the attacker has the poisoned condition on the other hand which grants a disadvantage. So you would have 3 advantages vs 1 disadvantage. I would argue, the advantages are so significantly overwhelming that one disadvantage cancelling them completely out makes no sense.

 

[Pedantic]

Let's say, you have three Advantages and only one disadvantage. I'd argue that by canceling on a 1:1 basis, two Advantages should remain (so 2D20 overall). @Pedantic mentioned there was a solution to that point so I wondered if I overlooked something because as written it's exactly the same as in 5E.

I was talking about expertise dice there. Advantage still exists, but is much less commonly used in A5E, many sources of advantage instead give expertise, which is a bonus die on the roll, starting at a d4 and scaling up if you receive additional sources of expertise to a d6 and then a d8.