D&D 5E (2024) Rate D&D 2024

[Reynard]

I voted 8.

The highlights for me are the better organisation overall, most of the changes in the classes, the monster manual (almost all of it; these monsters are simply better for me, less complicated to run, less complicated to choose, better as threats, more diverse; simply better) , the new encounter guidelines, the simpler framing of it all, with warts and all (like the blanket DC15 difficulty for everything, I quite like that).

The downsides are some small details like innate sorcery or aura of authority, the feats becoming core (though it's less grating than previously envisioned, you can just have an origin feat which are less annoying than the others, flavorful even, and you can't optimize both attributes and feats, you have to choose; choice is good).

I still like 2014 though (it's the same game, really, and it's my favorite edition), and I will gladly play in a 2014 campaign. But for me, the transition was seamless and quite positive. No turning back in sight.

The last thing I wanted was simpler monsters, so you understand my disappointment...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I've been thinking about 5.5 some more and I've realised that a large part of what killed my enthusiasm for 5e in general was the play tests. The changes made me so disillusioned with the upcoming new release that it even killed my desire to play or run 5e. It's made me look to earlier editions or other game systems. That's pretty impressive for an edition update.

This!

I was a pretty happy 5e camper. Then the dark shadow of playtest nonsense began to cloud the horizon. I think the basic issue is that just running these games requires so much thought about game design principles that most people who really get into it become armchair game designers, and I remember really not liking the game design principles that seemed to guide the playtests (couldn't articulate why now, I put most of it out of my memory) and eventually just disengaging from the process entirely. But yeah, WotC managed to convert me from someone buying most the books they put out and evangelizing D&D to everyone I could get to play it into a (mostly) ex-customer shopping for a new system. Quite the update process.

 

[Reynard]

This!

I was a pretty happy 5e camper. Then the dark shadow of playtest nonsense began to cloud the horizon. I think the basic issue is that just running these games requires so much thought about game design principles that most people who really get into it become armchair game designers, and I remember really not liking the game design principles that seemed to guide the playtests (couldn't articulate why now, I put most of it out of my memory) and eventually just disengaging from the process entirely. But yeah, WotC managed to convert me from someone buying most the books they put out and evangelizing D&D to everyone I could get to play it into a (mostly) ex-customer shopping for a new system. Quite the update process.

I think they could have issued new printings with new art a la the black border 2E stuff and it would have been fine. The half edition nonsense created more problems than it solved.

 

[Azzy]

I haven't had a chance to run or play 5.24 yet, so my opinion of it is based on just reading the rules. I give 5.14 an 8, and that's what I've settled on for 5.24—it's much the same game with some improvements here and there and some backward steps here and there, too, so it seems to equal out. I'll have a better understanding once I have a chance to DM or play it.

 

[FrogReaver]

I don't relate it to all the other things I enjoy, just whether or not I enjoy it at that time. I'm not thinking of other movies I'm thinking of that single movie and whether or not I enjoyed it.

Then at most you could say I enjoy it or not. You couldn’t determine the difference in a 6 and a 10 without making other comparisons.

 

[cbwjm]

Then at most you could say I enjoy it or not. You couldn’t determine the difference in a 6 and a 10 without making other comparisons.

I still give it a rating, my typical rating is a 5 point scale, no comparison with others needed.

 

[Amphytrion]

I should preface this by saying that I am a DM 99% of the time. As a DM, I'm not a fan of many of the changes in the 2024 edition: I think it's a less thematic, blander game in many ways, with more bits to keep track of.

I think this overall design philosophy started around 2020. I'm not sure if there was a backstage shift in head designers, and guessing is probably unfair to them. But there was a palpable change in design principles, which was first seen in Tasha's, then in substituting Volo's Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes with the more bare bones Monsters of the Multiverse, and in a lot of published material since.

This is not only the case with rules but also with official adventures. There is a palpable difference between the adventures of 5e's first five or so years (Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Anhilation, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Rime of the Frostmaiden, etc.), mostly written by Chris Perkins, and the adventures we have seen since (Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, Phandelver and Below, Vecna: Eve of Ruin, etc.). The latter half is much more "empty" when compared to the first, and those older adventures often served as a sourcebook, a sandbox, and an adventure all in one.

Are there certain mechanical improvements here or there in D&D 2024? Certainly. I'm happy to steal those bits and pieces. I also really like some books published since 2020 (Fizban's, Bigby's, the Book of Many Things). But overall, comparing the three core rulebooks side-by-side, I prefer 2014's version. It was more evocative.

 

[Stormonu]

I made the mistake of getting the 2024 DMG and MM, hoping I could salvage something from them to my liking (the PHB was an utter loss, so I did not purchase it, though my wife has a copy I have perused). I give it a 2 out of 10, a rehash that changes everything I liked about the game and didn't want changed in the first place.

Both books just sit in a corner of my bookshelf, don't think I'll get anything of use out of them, and I had real high hopes for the Greyhawk and Bastion rules, and the supposedly "85 new monsters" of the MM.

 

[BenjaminPey]

The last thing I wanted was simpler monsters, so you understand my disappointment...

Well, I did. I am a simple guy with many kids and many things to do, I play a lot of different games with a lot of different people of all ages, I just want something that works out of the box. I'm not particularly interested in the delicate intricacies of system mastery and DnD monsters are already on the very high end of the complexity spectrum I'm willing to deal with. Having to peruse a 20+ list of spells to decide what this guy'll do, picking levels even, tracking effing slots, devising a complex tactic is too much, and I'm very glad the devs took this on them. I'd rather allocating all this time and energy to all the other stuff that's going on at the table.