D&D 5E (2024) New Campaign: Should I make the switch to 5.5?

[Bagpuss]

Play something different and rules-lite to fill in between while people discuss ideas and build excitement. See if your players are interested in switching and how many have the new PHB to reference.

 

[Burnside]

I think the main questions are:

• Does your group want more crunch/mechanical complexity?
• Are you okay with combat being a little slower because, again, more options/complexity?

There are legit reasons for your answers to be yes or no. If both are "yes", 5.5 is probably good for your group.

Overall, my feeling is:

• 5.5 fixes/patches some longstanding bugs 5E has. Some of of those are fairly major improvements (berzerker, four elements monk). But it also introduces a few new bugs - especially, imo, the new subclasses in the Forgotten Realms book have issues.
• 5.5 adds a level of crunch and complexity that neither I nor MOST (but not all) of my players were looking for. It's not a HUGE increase in complexity, but it is an increase.

If given the choice between playing something like Shadowdark or Dungeon Crawl Classics or playing D&D 3.5E or Pathfinder, I would definitely prefer Shadowdark/DCC.

5E is like right in the middle between these points, and 5.5 is a bit closer to 3.5E/Pathfinder on the crunch spectrum. Pretty much the opposite direction I wanted to see the game move in. BUT it's still fundamentally good game.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Sure you should give it a try! The global experience won't be that far off but some stuff will feel a bit different.

 

[Clint_L]

Aside from weapons mastery, or if they play a monk or druid, your players will barely notice the difference (and half of my players don't bother with weapons mastery). As DM: it's bascially the same. PCs are a bit tougher, but so are the revamped monsters.

In general, I prefer the updated rules, but if you're going to drop one thing, I would drop weapons mastery. They're both OP (especially in low-level games) and really slow down encounters.

If you have a monk in the party, I kinda feel like you owe them the opportunity to play with the class as it always should have been built.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I am going to launch a new campaign later this year and will be going with 5.5E. It seems like the biggest changes are quality of life improvements in the weaker classes and subclasses. Which is a good thing.

 

[Charlaquin]

The difference is pretty subtle overall, but I feel like most of the player-facing rules are improved in 5.5e and most of the DM-facing rules are… side-grades.

 

[Morrus]

But… but it’s not a new edition! Therefore there is nothing to switch to!

 

[Seramus]

I would give it a try. You can all see for yourselves if you like the changes, and you'll learn the new rules for any future 5.5 games you all might join in the next 8 years.

 

[TerraDave]

Its a meh. Maybe worth it, maybe not. Unless some of your players are really needing to play a berserker, sorcerer, or monk, then it would be nice of you to switch.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

5.5 is a series of marginal or obvious improvements alongside numerous arbitrary changes for change's sake with no clear guiding design principles. If you want to introduce elements of it that makes sense to me, but I think a group that already knows the rules for and owns the materials for 2014 5e won't get much from switching completely to 2024 5e other than a headache and added expenses.

But I am bitter because I crammed the 2024 PHB over the course of two or three nights after my group of newer players I was DMing for voted for those rules. It's like 90%+ the same, but that just means the differences (usually buried under the same spell, ability name, etc.) are hard to spot. I think I chucked the book at the wall when I was skimming through the Spells and found that Sleep was a completely different spell in almost every way but still had the exact same name. The commitment to preserving the same names to hide the changes extends to the names of Hunter Ranger abilities being the same even where the actual abilities no longer correspond to those names. For my brain this sort of crap makes it harder to get real system mastery of the 'not an editio"n edition than just learning a new system, but clearly other people's mileage varies.

The group I learned it for has basically ended up playing a loose mix of 2014 and 2024 rules, partly because when you google a rule, statblock, etc. for "5e" or "D&D" you still get hits for 2014 rules first, and actually I'm probably the only one who cares about the rules edition for anything outside of character options anyway, and I can't keep them straight.

But learning 2024 rules did do a great job of muddling my 2014 rules knowledge. So if you're worried you aren't confused enough I highly recommend it.