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How is 5E like 4E?
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8363413" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>I don't agree with your core analysis of the math, lol. All editions are 'treadmills'. Lets just dispense any myth which tries to say different, or even any attempt to make it not so, as all are either myths, or doomed to fail. There's a sweet spot in terms of rate of success, and every edition of D&D aimed to stay within it, from OD&D through to 5e. As you level up, you encounter proportionately more difficult challenges which require higher base numbers to hit, and you get more bonuses which MUST logically produce an approximately counteracting improvement in success rate, such that the end result is you always 'hit' at between 25% and 75% of the time, with most rates clustering around the 55% to 65% range.</p><p></p><p>This is simply the logic of d20 level-based D&D. In both 4e and 5e ability bonus is significant (it is calculated the same in both games, and the distribution of bonuses is pretty similar, though PCs in 4e could increase a bit more). So, if anything ability score is just slightly less important in 5e, but not by much. OTOH since level bonus and level increase are less in 5e, and DCs are thus compressed into a somewhat smaller range, the random range of the actual results of the d20 is likely to be a larger proportion of the difference between hitting and missing. Aside from the huge bonuses that thieves get from their double proficiency bonuses, skills work out about the same in both games, but again 4e bonuses accumulate more in 30 levels, and apply much more of the time, so skill is more a factor in 4e vs 5e.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8363413, member: 82106"] I don't agree with your core analysis of the math, lol. All editions are 'treadmills'. Lets just dispense any myth which tries to say different, or even any attempt to make it not so, as all are either myths, or doomed to fail. There's a sweet spot in terms of rate of success, and every edition of D&D aimed to stay within it, from OD&D through to 5e. As you level up, you encounter proportionately more difficult challenges which require higher base numbers to hit, and you get more bonuses which MUST logically produce an approximately counteracting improvement in success rate, such that the end result is you always 'hit' at between 25% and 75% of the time, with most rates clustering around the 55% to 65% range. This is simply the logic of d20 level-based D&D. In both 4e and 5e ability bonus is significant (it is calculated the same in both games, and the distribution of bonuses is pretty similar, though PCs in 4e could increase a bit more). So, if anything ability score is just slightly less important in 5e, but not by much. OTOH since level bonus and level increase are less in 5e, and DCs are thus compressed into a somewhat smaller range, the random range of the actual results of the d20 is likely to be a larger proportion of the difference between hitting and missing. Aside from the huge bonuses that thieves get from their double proficiency bonuses, skills work out about the same in both games, but again 4e bonuses accumulate more in 30 levels, and apply much more of the time, so skill is more a factor in 4e vs 5e. [/QUOTE]
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