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<blockquote data-quote="SoldierBlue" data-source="post: 5879340" data-attributes="member: 57440">Every point made here for keeping OAs/AoO is completely valid - I don't disagree. However, in the past decade, there are 1-2 players in each gaming group (so 25-50% of each group) who don't get them. And it angers them, and it makes for frustrating pauses in the game when we have to explain why they drew an AO.&nbsp; &nbsp;Then when we ask them to play again the next week, they decline.&nbsp;Everyone on ENWorld gets them; I get them, and think they're important. But I don't think they're core. &nbsp;D&amp;D is now like the &quot;bookcase&quot; games of the '70s - belonging to an elite cadre of hobbyists who pore over their deeply complex rules. But if 5e truly wants to unite the base, and to have any cultural impact beyond dedicated hobbyists it needs to lose hard-to-grasp aspects like OAs. &nbsp;It doesn't matter that everyone on these forums has no problems getting them. Empircally, there are too many occasional gamers who do NOT. &nbsp;I was a pretty smart 12-year old, but there was no way I would have bothered to understand OAs while learning D&amp;D - hard work like that was left for school, not for leisure.&nbsp;So, think about the kids! (Starts humming &quot;We Are the World&quot;, while swaying back and forth slowly....)&nbsp;Play what you like, Gamer Nation!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="SoldierBlue, post: 5879340, member: 57440"] Every point made here for keeping OAs/AoO is completely valid - I don't disagree. However, in the past decade, there are 1-2 players in each gaming group (so 25-50% of each group) who don't get them. And it angers them, and it makes for frustrating pauses in the game when we have to explain why they drew an AO. Then when we ask them to play again the next week, they decline. Everyone on ENWorld gets them; I get them, and think they're important. But I don't think they're core. D&D is now like the "bookcase" games of the '70s - belonging to an elite cadre of hobbyists who pore over their deeply complex rules. But if 5e truly wants to unite the base, and to have any cultural impact beyond dedicated hobbyists it needs to lose hard-to-grasp aspects like OAs. It doesn't matter that everyone on these forums has no problems getting them. Empircally, there are too many occasional gamers who do NOT. I was a pretty smart 12-year old, but there was no way I would have bothered to understand OAs while learning D&D - hard work like that was left for school, not for leisure. So, think about the kids! ([I]Starts humming "We Are the World", while swaying back and forth slowly....)[/I] Play what you like, Gamer Nation! [/QUOTE]

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