D&D 5E (2024) D&D 2024 Is Now OFFICIALLY Called "5.5e"

Settling a debate that has lasted for over two years, the current edition of Dungeons & Dragons, which has been known by various names up until now, has finally received an official designation: D&D 5.5e.

Previously, the current ruleset was referred to as 'One D&D', before becoming 'D&D 2024'. Other variations exist, but the most common version used by fans was D&D 5.5.

The 5.5 terminology echoes the edition names used in the early 2000s for D&D 3E and D&D 3.5.

D&D Beyond has an FAQ related to the name change. In it, they say that "Earlier on, [the 2024 rules] were referred to differently. As D&D Beyond evolved and more players used both versions side by side, it became clear that “5.5e” matched how the community already talks about the game and made things easier to understand."

The terminology will be used going forward on D&D Beyond, although unlike the 3E/3.5 hardcovers, the physical book titles will not include any edition designations.

The 2014 edition of D&D is to continue to be called "5e", with the 2024 version being "5.5e". WotC says that "5.5e refers to content that uses the 2024 updated core rules, which are fully compatible with Fifth Edition."

Despite including the "e" (for "edition") WotC continues to maintain that 5.5e is not a new edition, and merely a 'rules update', or 'version'. Whether 'edition' and 'version' are synonyms or not we'll leave people to debate.

The logo at the top of the page is our own mockup to represent the news, and is not an offical rebranding.

 

[Artamo]

If you want to say something is a new version instead of a new edition I feel the word revised is the best way to represent the change. The abbreviation 5er just fits well in my opinion. That's actually what happened. Bounded accuracy is still core to the system so the math didn't change in total, but the individual pieces had their math change based on new features and weapon mastery. I understand the use of 5.5 since this does mirror the 3e to 3.5e changes, but it creates some confusion when it comes to third-party products. There will be inevitable questions about whether a 3pp that says it is 5e compatible is also 5.5e compatible.

I actually like 5e Revised or because we tend to abbreviate everything, 5eR. That would’ve clicked for me.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm a pragmatic person. I just worry about what works for my purposes. I, like apparently the large the majority of folks these days, run games through DDB. Did the new rules interfere with that? Nope, though I remind the players to toggle off the 2014 legacy rules if they are playing a spellcaster unless they want to wade through double descriptions of every spell when they go to prep spells for the day.

Does it feel like a different game? Not at all. It feels more like when a new book like Tasha's comes out and suddenly there are some new options. Except I really, wish mastery was introduced as an option because it is the one new rule that I both hate but don't want to reject because it has been made so core to a bunch of classes.

To be fair, though, I don't see much difference between Pathfinder, ToV, Level Up, various editions of D&D, etc. All of the rules are just tinkering at the edges; the gameplay (how the rules interact the roleplay, the part I really care about) is the basically the same. So to me they're all flavours of D&D and I just go with whatever version is easiest for me to run. Which, since the introduction of 5e and then the crucial addition of DDB, has been whatever is WotC's current version, plus whatever I wat to add.

 

[AlViking]

I don't have an issue with the idea of editions vs versions. If I talk about 3e, I know I'm really talking about 3.0 and 3.5 while 4e was a very different game, as was 5e. Outside of lore there was really no backwards compatibility from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5. Admittedly my versioning would mean that OD&D was 1e, 1e was really 2 and 2 was really 2.5 (with a few side variants thrown in) but we end up at the same number.

With 5.5 we have 80%* of the same game and compatibility with everything from before 2024 that was labeled 5e so I think it works. Also makes me wonder if there will ever be a 6e using my logic - or what they will call the next revamping of the rules. But that's a problem for someday maybe me.

*Like 36.4% of all percentages, this one is just made up and doesn't necessarily reflect reality.