D&D 5E So 5E is the Successor to AD&D 2nd Edition? How and How Not?

[Paul Farquhar]

If 4 of 5 players seek attention, then the DM or adventure designer need to shift the game so each of the 4 share the spotlight.

I don't know about you, but the vast majority of my game isn't combat, and even when it is, players whose turn it isn't are busy shouting advice, encouragement or witticisms. Being "in the spotlight" isn't about who does the most damage.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Mechanically, I believe that 5E is 3E stripped to the bone. It has all/most of the mechanical innovations of 3E, but with fewer options that are better balanced.

I do wish 5E was built in a way that allowed greater variety, but every time the designers attempt to open that door, the community shuts it. For example, having all characters gain subclass features at the same level (tested early in the development cycle for 5.5E) would have opened up a lot of design space. There's been a lot of great ideas left on the cutting room floor...

Outside of mechanics, 5E is its own thing. It's definitely shaped by the product plan, which offers up campaigns that are meant to be distinctly different from each other 1-2 times per year.

Despite a plethora of quibbles, it's a great game, my favorite edition of D&D by a wide margin.

 

[Minigiant]

I don't know about you, but the vast majority of my game isn't combat, and even when it is, players whose turn it isn't are busy shouting advice, encouragement or witticisms. Being "in the spotlight" isn't about who does the most damage.

It isn't just combat.

A spellcasting system where a caster cast see that there will be few to no combat then dump all their spell slots into exploration and social magic skews to casters is just like 3e casters who will memorize 75% non-combat spells when in towns and cities.

Lord help you if you allow unofficial sourcebooks with niche non-combat spells.

It's straight outta 3e.

And DMs tend to use gotchas or magic items to mitigate this if they stray outside of 5e's base assumptions.

 

[Desdichado]

People keep saying this.

And will continue to do so, because people who have played lots of systems recognize the 5e is most like a slightly streamlined 3e than it is just about anything else you could care to compare it to.

Your characterization of 3e is also flawed from the start. 3e had two mottos. And while "back to the dungeon" had little impact on how the game is perceived, "tools not rules" is pretty much the opposite of what your describe.

Granted, playstyles are in many ways less mutable over time than the system, so that any given group will tend to play every system with more or less the same approach that's already their group culture. But that just makes how similar 3e and 5e are even more obvious.

 

[Azzy]

To me, 5e is what 3e should have been. So, I guess I can see 5e as 2e's successor.