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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Starmaster" data-source="post: 9604026" data-attributes="member: 7042521">When the new books first came out, I was annoyed at the more widely-known controversial changes (dropping orcs from MM, dropping half-races from PHB, no ability bonuses for races, etc.), but I figured I could live with that so I'd go ahead and use 5.5 so I can stay up-to-date with things.  As I learn more about the new rules, though, I keep finding more and more annoying little things that I didn't know about before.  None of these are earthshaking changes, but there are just so many bothersome little things that keep cropping up.  Here is just a sample of the new changes I keep discovering that I dislike:1)  Claw/claw/bite now just 3 generic rend attacks that all do the same damage (Is this bit of added realism really too hard to deal with?).2)  Dragon tail swipes, while a classic form of dragon attack, apparently also need to be eliminated in order to make combat even more generic and therefore more boring.3)  Strange reclassification of monster types just to help balance out how many monsters there are in each category.  As one example, lizardfolk are now earth elementals.  I know the designers gave the reasons for this and I've listened to that video when it was released, but to me the explanation seems nothing more than rationalization for re-balancing.  Lizardfolk have a torso, 2 legs, 2 arms, a head with a brain, they're alive and pump blood.  Pretty much seems humanoid to me.  Then again, reptiles like to lie on top of rocks to warm themselves in the sun during the day so . . . maybe that means that all reptiles really are earth elementals?4)  Classic human appearance removed from Marilith and other monsters.5)  Silvered weapons no longer needed to harm lycanthropes and other monsters, so silvered weapons removed from PHB.  This was a biggie for me, since it removes one of the classic (and fun) aspects of lycanthropes.6)  I'm not a fan of spreading out groups of monsters so that everything is in alphabetical order.  It may be useful to help new DMs find critters for their first month, but after that I think it just becomes a headache to have all the demons, dragons, elementals, devils, and such scattered all through the book rather than gathered together to help in assessing which ones to use when constructing an adventure.  As I see things, it would have been better if new DMs had to look up the monsters in an alphabetical index for the first few weeks, after which they would have pretty much figured out where everything was located.  I can understand making some design concessions to new players, but this has to be balanced against the long-term utility of the books.  In my experience, it really doesn't take all that long for players/DMs to get the hang of things.It seems like almost every new change I see is for the worse, with a few exceptions (such as buffing the deadliness of dracoliches).  I suppose there are a lot of other annoying changes that I've yet to find given enough time.So, I was originally planning on using 5.5 and just keeping the bits I like from 5.0, but it looks like now I'll probably keep using 5.0 while just adding in the bits of 5.5 that I like.  I've discovered enough of the insidious new changes that the balance has switched hard in the other direction.  I guess I'd better take good care of my old books.  Copies of the 5.0 books are still available at big retailers, but I doubt any more will be printed.I do realize that others may like these changes, considering them to be improvements. I'm happy for those gamers and hopefully they won't mind my jocularity.  These are merely my views on the matter.</blockquote>

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