D&D 5E Convince me to Spend the Money

[Warmaster Horus]

Aahh!

Who to believe!?!

I think you've gotten a lot of feedback thus far. My impression from your posts is that you really just want to get another Pathfinder book.

 

[Wicht]

I think you've gotten a lot of feedback thus far. My impression from your posts is that you really just want to get another Pathfinder book.

Yes, I have got a lot of feedback and I appreciated most of it, including yours. I'm not sure where I gave the impression I simply want to buy another pathfinder book from. I mean, yes, I am planning on buying more Pathfinder books as I am a fan of the game. But my library is hardly a monolithic collection of Pathfinder books. I thought I had mentioned interests in at least two other systems in this very thread and said I was predisposed to want to buy Dungeons and Dragons books for reasons of sentimentality if nothing else.

And for what its worth (since my humor apparently does not translate consistently over the ether) your testimonial to liking the books was far more persuasive to me than Blackwarden's blanket assurance I wouldn't like them (why he thinks I would not like them, I am not sure, unless he found them boring). I just thought it funny that I would get two such completely disparate answers.

 

[Wicht]

Try to read an entry or two in the Monster Manual. Not the stat block, but the information about the monster. That gives a good indication how they are approaching the game, where story is at least as important as the mechanics.

Actually that's not a bad idea. Thanks. Mechanics are nice, but monsters go straight for the heart.

 

[SirAntoine]

You should buy 5th Edition if you know you have some players who want to play it.

 

[Umbran]

Actually that's not a bad idea. Thanks. Mechanics are nice, but monsters go straight for the heart.

Except for the Mind Flayers and Intellect devourers, who go for the brain.

 

[DaveDash]

Some of the things I really like about 5e vs pf:

• Combat speed. I like tactics and crunch, but I love how fluid 5e combat is even more.
• The new spell slot system - less but more powerful spells. Concentration mechanics. Scaling cantrips and scaling spells.
• The game is still balanced at higher levels.
• Class balance and flavour. This is the first edition ever where I could happily play most of the classes.
• Backgrounds.

Some of the things I miss from 3e/pf vs 5e:

• DM crunch. There is very little crunch in the 5e DMG. It's more of a "DIY" edition. Hardly any traps, no random encounter tables, things like that. I find as a DM, 5e is more work than 3e actually preparing stuff, but less work running stuff.
• The way the combat system works makes for good player vs monster combat, but it gets fiddly trying to create enemy combat NPCs, especially spellcaster NPCs.
• Slower release schedule. I like buying books, even if I never use them.
• A lot of the rules are abstract and can be confusing. Many require the DM to step in and make a call. I'm getting used to it now, but coming from 3e where we did everything by the book, it took quite a bit of adjusting. You can't run the game RAW so for me, and for me personally, that's a negative.

Pathfinder is definitely more of a "Game" in terms of Role Playing Game. Lots of mechanics, and the "Game" of building your characters, monsters, NPCs etc is a huge game in itself. 5e does away with that and it learns more towards the "Role Playing" part of "Role Playing Game". More DM adjudication, more story focus, etc.

All in all though, I find 5e more fun than 3e. I don't think I could ever go back.

 

[SilverSnake]

I love the new books. I find the PHB especially well laid out. The organization of the information in it actually makes sense to me, and it's easy to find what I want. I haven't seen that in a rule book in.... I can't recall ever! For use from a DM perspective, being able to get what I need quickly is so helpful at the table! I haven't even had to tab it up yet.

On the box: It was better production quality than I expected, although I guess I wasn't expecting much. The basic rules are perfect for passing around the table to my players who don't have the books, so I can keep my PHB all for my greedy self. I prefer to run my homebrew campaigns, I'm a lazy DM who hates prep, including reading a module ahead of time. The campaign that came in the box seems to be made just for me. The sandbox nature made it easy for the players to drive the story. There was a fair bit of page flipping between the sections that I normally find, but it wasn't as bad as a lot of modules. It was mostly between "where we are" and "the monsters section." I thought it was well worth the money, although I did buy it before the MM and DMG were available, and before I bought the PHB. I liked the rules well enough from the starter that I could justify buying the books.

 

[RotGrub]

I own all three books and I have yet to use them. 5e is still a mixed bag to me and I'm kind of disappointed. I figure I'll wait another year or so and take a second look at the system. It's a system in its infancy so there's really no need to jump in at this point or cast any major judgments.

 

[Wicht]

I own all three books and I have yet to use them. 5e is still a mixed bag to me and I'm kind of disappointed. I figure I'll wait another year or so and take a second look at the system. It's a system in its infancy so there's really no need to jump in at this point or cast any major judgments.

So what are you playing in the meantime?

 

[dd.stevenson]

How does it keep kobolds comparable to dragons though, and why is that a good thing that both would be always just as threatening?

Steep progression curves force the game into a relatively linear format, because at any given level there are a more limited number of monsters that you can reasonably expect to fight against and win. (4E addressed this problem by decoupling monster race from CR; Paizo by embracing the model's inherent pathiness.)

Shallow progression curves allow more flexibility, because you can go fight kobolds or dragons and still have a manageable challenge, but in return you lose some of the sense of progression.

Whether that's a good thing depends on what you want out of D&D--personally I love it.