D&D 5E How to emulate older editions of D&D using 5e.

[Sadrik]

To make it feel 0e to 3e
Remove infinite cantrips give them spell slots
Go full vancian, memorize every slot and then cast that slot
Perhaps give a few more slots to account for these two restrictions

To make it feel 0e to 2e
Give proficiency to all saves, and give casters save DC as 10+stat, in this way it makes higher level characters more resistant to effects and magic like in early editions.
Remove 90% of all class features, only core features are used
Do not use the feats
Use the stats as skills bonus option from DMG.
Remove bonus actions, make them some combination or amalgamation of a regular action or a reaction. Example: make bonus action casting time spells (searing strike) more worded like a touch spell (shocking grasp).

To make it feel 3e and 4e
Develop a PC wealth by level table

 

[Syntallah]

I have to ask: why?

If you want to play old school D&D, play it. Why expend the energy to convert 5E to 'previous'?

I personally (and most of my Group) have played D&D since 1979, from the Blue Box of my youth all the way through 5E. My group and I absolutely love it. It does a great job of capturing a great deal of nostalgia with a excellent set of new and improved rules... It's got a 3E chasis, with 4E tweeks, and that 1/2E feeling...

NOTE: This is NOT an edition war flame. I just don't understand the need to convert 5E to something else.

 

[Grimstaff]

I have to ask: why?

If you want to play old school D&D, play it. Why expend the energy to convert 5E to 'previous'?.

Why not? Part of of 5e's strength is it's customizability. If you had good play experiences with tougher healing rules or spell point systems or whatever, 5E keeps it easy to add in without having to ditch it for a whole different game.

 

[Remathilis]

I have to ask: why?

If you want to play old school D&D, play it. Why expend the energy to convert 5E to 'previous'?

I personally (and most of my Group) have played D&D since 1979, from the Blue Box of my youth all the way through 5E. My group and I absolutely love it. It does a great job of capturing a great deal of nostalgia with a excellent set of new and improved rules... It's got a 3E chasis, with 4E tweeks, and that 1/2E feeling...

NOTE: This is NOT an edition war flame. I just don't understand the need to convert 5E to something else.

Because they gave us these extra rules for a reason.

Seriously, they put speed factor into the DMG for reason. Likewise, they spent valuable space on things like eladrin and morale for a reason; to help those who liked elements of previous D&D use them in 5e.

I'm not advocating wild changes to make the game totally new; but the fact the DMG + PHB gives you the tools to make a 5e game feel more like AD&D (while maintaining the updated chasis) or flavor it with 4e elements (like healing surges and eladrin) is a strength. This tread is about how to USE that strength to bend 5e a bit towards those older editions if you wish.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I think we should be getting rules for emulating previous editions in the web articles. They were slated for the DMG, and I get the impression they were even in the alpha.

 

[AmerginLiath]

I can't speak too much for other editions, but we've been able to get the 1e feel simply by using the "low healing setting", use minis only for large complex battles, and limiting multiclassing. Really don't need MC to get the same effect. For example, rather than do a fighter/thief in 1e, I just do a fighter with the urchin background and maybe skulker feat, or something like that. For me, a lot of "capturing the feel" isn't so much tied to a specific rule or mechanic, but the style in which you play and the aesthetic of adventure you're playing (art style, etc)

One of the things I love about Backgrounds, Tools, and "Big Feats" in 5e is that a player can effectively multiclass without multiclassing – what used to require dips into other discrete classes (or wholesale splits in the initial editions) can now be taken up with more minor opportunity costs. It's funny how many multiclassed previous-edition characters that I've converted (at least in part) as a mental exercise who I've realized along the way only need to be single-classed in 5e due to the new* resources available in character creation!

(*which themselves also accommodate many old resources like kits when rebuilding previous-style characters)

 

[Pickles JG]

I can't speak too much for other editions, but we've been able to get the 1e feel simply by using the "low healing setting", use minis only for large complex battles, and limiting multiclassing. Really don't need MC to get the same effect. For example, rather than do a fighter/thief in 1e, I just do a fighter with the urchin background and maybe skulker feat, or something like that. For me, a lot of "capturing the feel" isn't so much tied to a specific rule or mechanic, but the style in which you play and the aesthetic of adventure you're playing (art style, etc)

This. I feel the other changes are pretty superficial.
ODD would be about collecting treasure. 4e would be about big set piece battles with PCs at full power most of the time & big set piece social/other encounters. 3e would be about tracking lots of modifiers that then get dispelled & need recalculating. ().

I am not sure about the other editions, I feel they were played with far more different styles of game. ADD morphing from loot grabbing to more story based games & the breadth of modern RPGs.

edit: on reflection it's just "emulate" that is an issue. Capturing some of the things we thought were cool avbout other editions is what we seem to be doing

 

[Eric V]

I have to ask: why?

If you want to play old school D&D, play it. Why expend the energy to convert 5E to 'previous'?

Well, sometimes one might really like a previous edition except for that one thing that drove the group mad.

For my own group, we really liked 4e but the combats took way too long for us, despite tricks and tips we gleaned online. We were 18th level when we stopped.

We considered Essentials only, but that wasn't going to cut it; it would have meant cutting out something we like (more varied classes).

We really like 5e. It has addressed (more or less) the bugaboo of long combats, but some things we like are missing. It seems more friendly to house rules than the tight math of 4e, however, so any advice on how to bring some of those aspects we liked back in would be welcome.

I imagine fans of OD&D, 1e, 2e, 3e and 3.5e feel similarly.

 

[TheFindus]

For up to 3rd edition, I agree with the OP. I think that this edition was designed to be able to do exactly this as this was the target group. That is where WotC thinks the money is.

I don't think you can emulate 4E very well with it, though. At least not without some serious (too much) work. While Skill Challenges are no big obstacle in the new edition, the very tactical feel of 4E-combat really seems to be. Also, a lot of the world- and campaign-changing elements that 4E had reigned in (teleport without specific circles only in high levels, issues with flight, invisibility etc.) are back in the new edition and would have to be heavily houseruled.

And then, of course: martial healing via a "Warlord"-class equivalent is non-existent in this edition. Healing options through shorter rest periods, this new edition's "healing surges" etc. do not compensate to any meaningful degree in my opinion.

DMing opponents that can cast spells has become harder, too, because you need to look up all the spells in the monster stat block in the PHB after going through an alphabetical list first. Or am I mistaken here (it has been some time since I looked into the Monster Manual)? Because that does not feel like DMing 4E at all. Also: the rules often convey the thought that players have to ask their DM for permission, whereas 4E enabled all players through their classes, their powers and the clear separation of mechanics and fluff to influence narratives more heavily and in an easier way. 5e has returned to the prescription of hand-gestures, where the cold-sphere erupts from etc. That also runs contrary to the feel of 4E, and must be remedied by the DM (which is one of the main design goals of this edition it seems to me - more power to the DM for a better game experience).

That said, I don't see a reason why they would have to present a version of a game that is able to emulate all editions. Even if the game experience of the new edition does not suit my needs and preferences, anybody can and should continue to play older versions just fine.

 

[DMZ2112]

One thing I am really surprised that the DMG does not include is a variant rule for gestalt multiclassing that mirrors AD&D1 and 2. IMO, modern multiclassing strongly resembles old school dual classing with the rough edges filed down, but I am /really surprised/ that the DMG does not support leveling in two or three classes simultaneously.

Of course, I totally missed that it includes speed factor (yay!) so maybe I just need to read it more closely.