My interest in 5E is pretty good. AD&D is still my favorite edition, but 5E comes close. I was looking through the PHB last night and getting excited about some character ideas, which hasn't happened in ages. My only real gripe is with the initiative rules - I've never like 3e/4e style initiative. And I thought the backgrounds were a good idea, but uninspired in execution.
This is a bit of a tangent, but:
I've experimented a lot with different initiative rules in 5E, starting with Speed Factor initiative in the 5E DMG and going on from there. The single biggest problem I have with 5E initiative is that it alters the flow of the game, putting it in a special mode as soon as "roll initiative!" starts and ending only when the conflict is "over." (As a side effect, that discourages taking non-combat actions like palming valuables or having a conversation during combat, because the cognitive focus is on (combat) actions, reactions, and bonus actions. Even moreso if you're doing something that requires more than six seconds to complete.)
My holy grail is to find an initiative system which is functionally equivalent to AD&D-style initiative but
plays about as quickly and smoothly as any non-combat action declaration/resolution. Something equivalent somehow to this:
Wizard: "I'll keep my distance while pelting the Slaad with Chill Touch."
Monk: "Azuma drop on the drakon leader."
Sorcerer: "I Magic Missile them all equally."
[action resolution somehow magically occurs in less than a real-time second]
DM: "Monk: the drakon leader fends off your puny attempts to grapple him, but you do at least manage to punch him in the head for 8 points of damage. Unfortunately he also cuts your gut open with two strikes of his longsword for 8 and 11 points of damage, respectively. Wizard: an arrow thunks into you for 6 points of damage [Wizard interjects: "I Shield!"]--okay, an arrow thwangs! off your shield an instant before it would have skewered you, but that distraction doesn't prevent you from attaching a ghostly hand to the Slaad and siphoning away 12 points of damage. Sorcerer, you were right in the middle of choosing targets for your Magic Missile when a Mind Flayer stunned you, and then the Intellect Devourer ate your brain. You're now a zombie. Next round!"
In practice it is never this smooth, but there is no reason in principle that it couldn't be. I'm still looking for ways to smooth the flow
without abnegating player agency or disallowing them from rolling their own dice or making my life more complex. Currently I'm experimenting with "combat cards" where they write down their actions (and/or combos) on index cards beforehand, such as "Azuma Drop (grapple + Shadow Jump 60 feet upward, then land on top of grappled enemy)" and can then declare actions simply by pulling a card out of their hand--and I can do the same for the monsters. That serves the dual purpose of making sure that everyone declares an action before any actions are resolved (make sure everyone has a card ready before playing any cards) and also making sure that we don't forget to resolve anybody's declared actions (just see if anyone still has an unplayed card in their hand). Unfortunately(?), last session hardly had any combat in it so this new technique didn't get much play.
So anyway, I agree with you Mishihari, the initiative rules in the PHB leave something to be desired and I'm actively looking for alternatives.
