Oh My Goodness! That looks like D&D!

[Dice4Hire]

Yes, I hope they can keep the number of base classes really down and use specialties and such to make the plethora of base classes I liked from 3E.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Doesn't look like any sort of D&D I would ever play. Basic=boring.

 

[Teataine]

Very few of the mechanics resemble 3e.

Skills: Pre 3e you have percentile (Thief) skills, NWP slots or no skills at all. After 3e you have only trained/untrained. In 5e you have skills with granular proficiency, just like in 3e, except the math is flatter.
(Base) Attack bonuses: None in 4E, now they're back. Yes they're flatter but they ascend with level and vary by class (The fighter goes from +3 to +4 for example, while the cleric stays at +2).
Feats/Specialties: Non existent in early D&D, brought about in 3E their new incarnation vaguely recalls both 2E kits and Weapon Proficiencies from that same period and 3E feats more than their 4E counterparts.
Saves: vs Effect pre 3E, Defenses after 4E, rolling your stat vs a DC to save, relating to how you save against an effect is very 3E, except it has expanded to six saves. As such, the class bonus to a stat and the stat increases with level can be seen as advancing your saves as well.
Monsters: Monsters weren't really build "like PCs" in 3E either. You didn't go about building a dragon the way you would build a character. And the designers have already said this option will be available. Nothing is stopping you from building a NPC villain from PC bits.

Saying that the 5E Cleave is not like the 3.5 Cleave doesn't really constitute and argument about similarity. It's not the same game. Even the 3.5 Cleave is not the same as the 3E cleave is not the same as the Pathfinder Cleave. These are mechanical retoolings, nerfings, balancing issues.

But looking at the mechanical framework I would say 5E looks the most like 3E/2E, but with 4E's attention to balance, clean math and streamlining and some of 1E/Basic's aspirations to simplicity and basics.

Of course 5E is its own game. But I would say it's more like 2E/3E than both 1E or 4E in most of its systems by far.

Doesn't look like any sort of D&D I would ever play. Basic=boring.

What would make it more Advanced in your opinion?

 

[thecasualoblivion]

What would make it more Advanced in your opinion?

Making characters less mundane.

 

[Melkor]

I agree with OP.

After my initial read through, this "feels" like the D&D my group and I want to play.

 

[pauljathome]

I overall have to agree. It looks like a fairly elegant system I would not mind playing.

It looks like a playable system.

Well, it certainly reminds me of AD&D in a lot of ways.

And it is probably playable.

But it is a system that I absolutely will NOT be playing as long as I have any choice in the matter whatsoever.

In every single respect it is (for my tastes, obviously) worse than Pathfinder.

Note : I'm NOT saying its objectively bad or anything like that. Just saying that it is very much NOT to my tastes. And I find it hard to believe that it will be a unifying edition. It will play VERY differently from 3.x, PF, or 4th edition.

1) They've reduced the power curve far, far too much. You've got almost the same skills at Level 1 as Level 5. Your to hit is almost identical. Etc.
2) Class dominates your character to a far greater extent than I want it to. If you want a skill monkey (even a knowledge skill monkey, or an acrobatic skill monkey) you pretty much have to be a rogue. Fighters are going to be insanely better at fighting than anybody else. Etc.
3) Lets totally go back to glass cannons. D4 hit points for wizards? With all that damage? No. I kind of like characters to live.

The current system is very obviously unbalanced in lots of ways. While I'd hope for better that will largely be handled by playtest comments. But it will take a long time to get this mess reasonably balanced.

At this point, I suspect that I was optimistic thinking it would be released for GenCon next year.

Oh, and WOTC has done an even worse job than usual of making its suggestions reasonable. Lots of them are laughably wrong.

 

[Remathilis]

Making characters less mundane.

Would it help to replace them with dragonborn, warforged, tieflings and goliath warblades, runepriests, ninjas and wild mages?

 

[Lwaxy]

Not a fan of the low HP. But then I never liked them and most of my groups do HP based on who they play not what their class is.

Class focus - not good for me, but i can house rule that´out.

I generally like the way to customize PCs. I can always add in options.

All in all, it does feel like D&D to me, and it might even get less house ruled than any of the other editions

 

[Jupp]

I generally like the way to customize PCs. I can always add in options.

I think this is going to be one of the big strengths of 5e. It seems to allow very flexible, though still logical, ways of extending the different aspects of a character. You have

race
subrace
class
specialities
equipment

to play with when it comes to add your own flavor to the game. I get the feeling this is one of the more "moddable" D&D versions we've seen so far without running into too many conflicts with the core rules.

 

[Remathilis]

1) They've reduced the power curve far, far too much. You've got almost the same skills at Level 1 as Level 5. Your to hit is almost identical. Etc.
2) Class dominates your character to a far greater extent than I want it to. If you want a skill monkey (even a knowledge skill monkey, or an acrobatic skill monkey) you pretty much have to be a rogue. Fighters are going to be insanely better at fighting than anybody else. Etc.
3) Lets totally go back to glass cannons. D4 hit points for wizards? With all that damage? No. I kind of like characters to live.

You call these bugs. I call them features.

I want rogues to be skill monkeys. There is nothing worse than being a rogue and being outshined in the skill department by a high-int wizard. Likewise, I want the fighter to dominate combat; if the cleric is doing that something is wrong.
I want wizards hiding behind rocks and rogues thinking twice about entering toe-to-toe with monsters. I don't want either of them "tanking".
I like the slower curve. Basic didn't increase attack or saves every level, and neither should this.

This preserves unique class feel for me. If you don't like it, don't play a classes based game.