Hi, can anyone point me to a decent sum-up of 5e? I couldn't fine anything on google, here or on youtube that made any sense.
there was a playtest? and its down? can you get a copy of the basic rules somewhere?
Sorry if this thread topic has been done to death but it has been a few years and I'm lost.
I'm starting a once a month session that ought to hit 3rd level when the PHB is actually released. I was going to go 3.5 and then switch, but could I use the playtest rules instead? Not that I know anything about them...
We have some new players too.
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Unan
Here's a quick cut/paste from Reddit where a couple of posters (redkat85 and wayoverpaid) were summarizing 5E:
*Defenses don't increase with level. Plate armor means AC 18 forever (unless it's magic), whether that's on a Level 20 demon or a Level 4 Fighter. This is actually a good thing, because...
*Attack bonuses go up slooooooowly. Attacks, skills, and Spell DCs are all linked to one central statistic - the Proficiency Bonus, which goes from +2 to +6 across 20 levels. That's it. Proficient in a weapon? Good, add your Proficiency bonus to the roll along with the relevant ability modifier (Dex, Strength, whatever). Same with Skills, same with Spell DCs.
*Although it still uses the Vancian Spell Levels and Spells per Day system, the biggest change to magic is that you never have to prepare the same spell twice.
*Casters choose a certain number of spells available each day, and have a bank of power-level slots to cast them with, but you can mix, match, and double up on the fly within that day. This is an enormous pile of awesome.
*Multiclassing is exactly like 3rd edition - take a level of whatever you want every time you gain enough XP. The XP you need to go up is based on your total class levels, as is your Proficiency bonus. Mages can even cast in armor without penalty, as long as they take the proficiency from somewhere. Plate Armored Spellcasters for the win!
*Advantage / Disadvantge replaces all the fiddly +1/-1/+2/-2 conditional bonuses that made rolls so annoying in past editions. They both mean roll your d20 twice, and take the best / worst. That's it. And if you have both conditions, they cancel out, no matter how many things give you either one. Advantage from 3 sources, Disadvantage from one? Doesn't matter, they cancel out, roll normal. SO easy to run at the table.
*Feats are sparser and chunkier. Instead of taking power attack / cleave / etc you'll get one feat dedicated to heavy weapons which gives you all of that. Precise shot and rapid shot are also rolled into one feat. Feats come at the expenses of your ability score increases, but ability score increases caps at 20.
*Spells don't power up with the X per caster level mechanic. Fireball is always 6d6. To make a more powerful fireball, you need to cast it as a higher level spell. And rather than Cure Light / Moderate / Serious / Critical wounds, Clerics have Cure Wounds, which is castable at higher levels for more HP. Helps keep the spell list smaller.
*No more reflex, fort, and will saves. You just make a dexterity, constitution, or wisdom save. The saving throw DC doesn't go up as the spell level goes up.
*Lots of spells kick in at a given HP level. Sleep, for example, has no saving throw. It affects creatures below a certain HP level. Lots of "and then you die" spells trigger below a certain HP value, so wizards are likely to hang onto a spell until they're ready to drop the final blow.
*Opportunity actions have been generalized into a more general reaction framework, and a number of spells and abilities are reactive. A defensive fighter, for example, can take his reaction to impose disadvantage on an incoming attack to him or an ally adjacent to him. Makes for a great tank.
*Grid-based rules are not by default. There are rules to engage and disengage in melee, but you don't have to play with five foot squares.
*All spellcasters use a common spell slot track. You know how if you had a fighter / paladin you just added the BAB together? Well Wizard / Cleric levels add together, so a Wizard 10 Cleric 10 has the same number of spell slots as Wizard 20. However they'll be limited to lower level spells. Since lower level spells can be heightened into a higher level slot, this isn't quite as bad, but a 9th level Fireball isn't as good as a Meteor Swarm.
*Rituals! This is a bit of 4e that made it into the game. For spells which have utility, but maybe not enough utility to justify wasting a spell slot, a ritual comes in handy. A ritual can be cast without a spell slot, presuming you have the spell in your spellbook (for a wizard) or you prepped the spell for the day (everyone else.) It takes 10 extra minutes to cast a spell as a ritual, but you get it for free. This helps ensure that Wizards will actually use stuff like "Alarm" instead of letting it languish.
*Fewer skills, and more interesting bonuses to skills. Bardic knowledge lets a bard turn any d20 result of 10 or less into a 10 when rolling a knowledge type skill (arcana, nature, religion, etc). This way your bard always knows a little bit about something. Diminishing the lowest possible result is a pretty neat bonus. The Bard can't beat most other classes if they get a Nat 20 (the Wizard has higher int, the Cleric has higher wis) but he regularly beats them on average.
