As much as I just complained about the endlessness of 3.5, and as much as I don't miss books full of combat mods, it almost seems as if 5e has swung way, way, WAY in the opposite direction. So much so that there's very little room to tinker with your character and customize him. There's a feeling of it being almost TOO simple. Also there's just a hint of the generic about it; as if it's meant to appeal to everyone and be all things to all people. It feels a bit watered down. I do realize that we're just seeing the first books, and undoubtedly more will come with more options. I only hope that WOC will know when to say when.
The lack of building characters is a bit jarring for those coming from 3e, Pathfinder, and 4e. But it's intentional. They wanted the focus to be on playing the game at the table, not between games at your desk/computer. They didn't want levelling up to be a chore or obligation, which it was to many people.
I would have liked a little more flexibility and building in the DMG, for people who wanted that. But I can understand why they held back.
One specific example of this simplicity run amok is the fact that you can't lose your dex bonus to AC. Like, ever, apparently. That makes no sense to me, and it feels like the designers decided that we players just aren't smart enough to handle such a thing.
Things like flat-footed AC, touch AC (and the slightly less used flat-footed touch AC) made some sense but were complicated. There were a lot of factors to consider. Which ones did shields apply to? Did
mage armour count? If you had a negative Dex and were flat-footed, would you become harder to hit?
It's a lot of modifiers and changes to represent a really simple concept: being easier to hit. So, in play, it's just as effective to give the attacker advantage. It has the same results in combat and at the table, without having multiple different defences.
I play wizards, and while there are some really interesting things they've done for the class in 5e, they've also neutered it prety severely. The concentration mechanic is heart breaking! i understand why they did it, but did it have to be done for the sake of the game? I don't think so. I've played and DMed high level wizards in earlier editions, and somehow we made it work
Most of the time it "worked" because the PCs were self-regulating and not setting out to break the game. Just because they
could cast a dozen buffs on themselves and the party before the combat didn't mean they
did. But not every party is so... considerate.... to the DM and balance. So rules need to be made.
If your group isn't going to try and break the game, remove the limit on being able to concentrate on a single spell at a time (or increase the number of spells).
I am also bemoaning the lack of magic item creation. One of the jewels of 3.x was the ability of a PC to craft magic items. Nothing makes a wizard feel like a WIZARD quite like crafting a unique magical item that he has poured gold, time and xp into. Yes, the formula was cumbersome, but, in my experience, it never got out of hand. The restrictions of gold, time and xp were such that most wizards PC's at least at my table) could never make a career out of it, or unbalance the game. I realize that the 5e DMG does mention ways in which a PC can craft an item, but so far the rules are so skeletal as to discourage a PC from even trying, not to mention that the overall attitude of the game seems to do everything in it's power to discourage it.
As you mention, there are some barebones rules in the DMG. The 3e chart was cool, but... flawed. Making a magic item isn't something you can perfectly reduce to a simple formula, as not every skill is equal, not every feat is equal, and not every spell is equal. As everyone who argued a magic item that continually granted
true strike should only be 2000gp demonstrated.
Magic item creation is really left in the hands of the DM to encourage or ignore.
Which brings me to the generally low magic flavor of 5e thus far. Our party is now 4th level, and thus far we have not found a single magic item. Not one. I'm not asking for rings of protection and +1 swords, but how about a potion or scroll, just to let us know that they exist! My first order of business upon reaching Balder's Gate was to go hunting for scrolls to add to my spellbook, but nobody can seem to find any rules as to how much a freaking scroll costs! And all the while I am led to believe that I can buy a potion of healing for 50gp.
As has probably been mentioned, the sale price of magic items is in the DMG.
HotDQ has been noted as being sparse on magic items. The adventure was written when work on the core rulebooks (especially the DMG) was still incomplete, so the number of magic items awarded was uncertain. They erred on the side of very few, so DMs could choose to add more or not.
Healing. The idea that you can gain back all of your lost hitpoints with a single 8 hour rest is ridiculous. Why not just give clerics a 1hp cantrip and call it good? I understand they didn't because the party would never need to rest again, but for crying out loud, 8 hours heals EVERYTHING? I have a much easier time believing that a cleric could have a 1hp cantrip than that.
This came out of the playtest. WotC kept adding more and more healing to the game because people really wanted it. The amount of healing in the final game is a direct response to feedback and the consensus of the gaming community. It's ridiculous, but it's what the most people were happy with.
But, there are a couple ways to slow healing in the DMG.
I'd like to meet the group of low level PC's that Horde of the Dragon Queen is designed for. At least twice now we have come extremely close to a TPK. It's not as if we're just blundering in with no tactics at all, and granted, we have no cleric, but still!
Low level characters in 5e are on the squishy and fragile side. It's not just HotDQ. I think the writers of the adventure also really wanted to make things hard and challenging. Old school and such.
During our last session we found ourselves in rowboats trying to get to the shore of a river from a larger boat. We were attacked by underwater lizard man bad guys who tried to capsize us. During the fight one of the lizard dudes came up beside the boat to attack our fighter, who fights with a halbred. Now apparently, under normal conditions, he gets and attack of opportunity on an opponent that enters his range. But this bad guy just appeared from below the surface of the water and was already adjacent to Ulktar. Ulktar's player argued that he should still get the AoO (never mind that he's stnading up in a rowboat while in full armor swinging a halbred), while the DM wondered if he might not get it because the foe had passed from the 10' threat range to simply appear next to Ulktar. In another context, what if a foe were to teleport or dimension door to a spot adjacent to the halbred wielder. Does he still get the AoO?
You need to be able to see something to make an Opportunity Attack. If Ulktar didn't see the lizardman, no OA. If he saw, he could attack, but would be striking into water, which slows down attacks and distorts the location of objects, so it'd be fair for the DM to impose disadvantage on the attack. It'd also be possible for the lizardman to come from beneath the boat, in which case it would have cover, blocking line of sight and thus not being targetable by the OA.
Oh, and he'd arguably need the weapon drawn and ready. You can't attack with a weapon strapped to your back.
