D&D General D&D Editions: Anybody Else Feel Like They Don't Fit In?

[Lanefan]

I've soft-capped my D&D games to 9th-10th level since late 3E. Looking back nowadays, I see now why AD&D only listed to 10th level in the main progression charts and B/X stopped with 15th level. Past 9th level was really just there to flesh out what the NPCs could do and wasn't really ever meant for the PCs to get their hands on.

Not without a lot of system-tweaking, in any case. I think even the very early designers recognized that the underlying system - while fine for lower-level play - started to wobble rather badly at a certain point; and so they didn't design much beyond that.

This high-level wobble has been an issue in every edition since, except the designers of later editions designed for levels beyond that point-of-too-much-wobble in hopes people could make something of it; and to be fair, some did.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Thankfully we do have a wealth of options nowadays, both in the plethora of D&D variants and in our ability to house rule them.

Just not enough people to play them.

 

[overgeeked]

Just not enough people to play them.

Yep. There are more players for 5E than all other games combined. There are more players for older D&D editions than all other games combined, except 5E. Your choice is fish. Be thankful you get to choose the sauce.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Just not enough people to play them.

Hard to find but not impossible.

 

[haakon1]

Hard to find but not impossible.

Trying to talk someone else into DMing is harder than finding players if you want to DM, in my experience.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Trying to talk someone else into DMing is harder than finding players if you want to DM, in my experience.

There's plenty of DM's on Play Tabletop Games and Find Game Masters | StartPlaying

 

[Zardnaar]

Sort of. Kinda sick of 5E after 10 years.

I like 2E but the mechanics suck. B/X not a fan of class design relative to 2E.

And I like some complexity but not to much. Currently playing 5E and C&C.

 

[EthanSental]

I’ve mentioned in another thread…I have fun playing all the editions since it means I have my friends around a table laughing and playing, I started in 1986ish and my style of play was what the game was then but I do not want to go back to that play style with a fighter being asked for 7 levels…what do you do this turn….i swing my sword one time per round. I don’t enjoy those rules for a campaign anymore. A one shot or 3 sessions, sure. But over the long haul, not for me.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Unlimited cantrips is annoying and breaks the feel for me. Seems like the trend is to make PC’s more powerful as a marketing tactic.

It's a matter of taste. Unlimited recasting of certain cantrips are something I came up with independently in 3.5e, before learning that Pathfinder 1e and later D&D editions did something similar. For me it solved an annoyance by letting spell-casters feel more magical with only a very small increase to their power.

It breaks the feel of "Mages are useless if they're out of spells or feel compelled to save their spells for a later encounter" - which is a feel that I'm happy to break. It's a push away (a tiny push, but still a push away) from the 5 minute day and mages feeling tempted to go nova in every encounter.

 

[Aldarc]

Yep. There are more players for 5E than all other games combined. There are more players for older D&D editions than all other games combined, except 5E. Your choice is fish. Be thankful you get to choose the sauce.

I wish I could find a lovely meme that I saw, where the image says (to the effect of), "We play all sorts of TTRPGs here: we have D&D 5e and we have PF2."

That's pretty much the state of the market in actual play.