ph0rk
Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy.
Not nearly as many yet.
But, archetypes do a good job of evoking 2e kits and 3e prestige classes at the same time, which is overall a pretty clever threading of the needle, design-wise.
D&D 5E How is 5E like 2E?
But, archetypes do a good job of evoking 2e kits and 3e prestige classes at the same time, which is overall a pretty clever threading of the needle, design-wise.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Not even close.
overgeeked
B/X Known World
Right. Each 2E setting had 12 books each. We hit 12 books for the entire 5E how long ago?
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
If you discount adventures (which I think you have to, otherwise AD&D 2e's supplement count would explode) and only count rule supplements and campaign guides, then we just hit 12 in May of this year (with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, specifically).
In 3e, by the time you got past mid levels, you had to keep (at least) 2 sets of numbers: the "regular" version of your character and the "buffed" version(s). Plus Dispel magic was a goto spell for that very reason, and at higher levels it could grind play to a halt.
Pathfinder clamped down on the bonuses by "only" allowing 3 buffs at any given time.
TheSword
Legend
Is that a rule for Pathfinder 2e? Three buff max? I played Pathfinder 1st Ed for several years but could never justify moving to 2e when 5e was working for us.
Pretty sure it was Pathfinder 1e. But I'm going from memory, haven't played since 5e came out (and really before that).
Edit: so I'm looking online and can't find the limit anywhere now. Maybe it was a campaign house rule and I just internalized it?
Regardless, the point was that 3e buffing got pretty ridiculous and I'm very glad it was clamped down (4e and 5e)
Others have said it already, but the two biggest similarities are:
- DMs are empowered as they last were in 2E. I never ran 4E, but 2E and 5E both feel much easier to me to DM than 3E did.
- The default style is assumed to be theater of the mind, as was 2E. Although I would argue that this has shifted somewhat; since 2017 or 2018 it seems like WotC feels more and more people are using grid-based play.
- DMs are empowered as they last were in 2E. I never ran 4E, but 2E and 5E both feel much easier to me to DM than 3E did.
- The default style is assumed to be theater of the mind, as was 2E. Although I would argue that this has shifted somewhat; since 2017 or 2018 it seems like WotC feels more and more people are using grid-based play.
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I think the primary thing for me is that like BECMI and 2E, 5E puts trust back in the DM to be able to "handle it." After over a decade of 3.x I actually balked a little. "Where are the task DC charts?!?" But I have realized over time that the broad proficiencies and guideline DCs are a real boon to DMs. It is easy to run on the fly.
I will say that one place it also lines up with 2E that I don't like is how imbalanced it is on the player side. As a player I don't care, but as a DM I cringe when I watch one player make all the optimized choices and another make (relatively speaking) suboptimal choices. I have to challenge them both without being unfair! Ugh.
I will say that one place it also lines up with 2E that I don't like is how imbalanced it is on the player side. As a player I don't care, but as a DM I cringe when I watch one player make all the optimized choices and another make (relatively speaking) suboptimal choices. I have to challenge them both without being unfair! Ugh.
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