D&D 5E So, I kind of want to stay with 2014 rules. What are my longterm options?

[Baumi]

When the new Books are out, the old ones will be cheap to get, so buy a spare or two and you are set. Contentwise with all the amount of stuff that exist for the 2014 Edition, you should be set for live and new stuff should be relatively easy to convert.

Also books don't just vanish after a few years. I have my 30 year old 2E books at home, and while the covers looks a bit worn, the books are usable as they were on their first day, so there shouldn't even be a reason to need a spare. Loose pages, broken binding etc. can be fixed if nessesary (I never had the need).

There will also come a 6E sooner or later, so just hold out a bit and lets see if the next Edition is more to your liking and you don't need 5E anymore

I think your main problem might be that over time it will be harder to find new players for the "old" edition, which might or might not be a concern for you, depending on the stability of your group.

 

[aco175]

A problem I would have if I was not updating would be going to conventions. I can see the new rules more taking over, especially the Adventure League games. Not that an AL game would need the new characters to play and I think the DMs I played with never check to see if I have enough feats of weapon mastery, so I would likely be fine for a convention. Eventually though.

Home games, I could take and leave whatever I and my players are fine with. Right now we are playing with the flanking rules and are fine with them, but now I'm seeing all these new rules and such with a little more power so I'm thinking if we need flanking.

 

[R_J_K75]

A bit contradictory they are.

Yeah, I'm a little leery myself that's why I'm 99% certain I won't buy these. Even if I do, and decide to run it, then do my players need to all buy a PHB or we'll have to D&DB so they can make characters? Then what if the revision is just trash?

When the new Books are out, the old ones will be cheap to get

I'd say initially yes but if they wait too long prices could go up, or they become hard to get, but that's probably unlikely.

Also books don't just vanish after a few years. I have my 30 year old 2E books at home, and while the covers looks a bit worn, the books are usable as they were on their first day, so there shouldn't even be a reason to need a spare. Loose pages, broken binding etc. can be fixed if nessesary (I never had the need).

I gave a 5E14 PHB to someone a few years back and within a few months whole sections of pages fell out. He left it in my house about 2 years ago and I just threw it out. I'm suspecting he was pretty rough with it. Though it may have been a 1st printing, which IIRC weren't there issues with the binding on some of those early print runs? But yeah, I agree some Gorilla Glue and Duct Tape can do wonders to repairs battered copies, you should see the surgery I did on some of my 2E books with duct tape, still holding up to this day and that was close to 30 years ago.

 

[KYRON45]

You would think no one had ever gone through an edition transition before!

If they have only ever played one edition, why would they have? Were not all grizzled veterans.

 

[DEFCON 1]

You can currently buy a used 2nd edition Player's Handbook on Amazon for about $60, a 3rd edition PHB for about $75, and a 4E PHB for $30. And that's just Amazon. Haven't even bothered to look at Ebay, Craigslist, or any online retailers (let alone an individual's home game stores).

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get a 2014 PHB in the coming years without issue.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If they have only ever played one edition, why would they have? Were not all grizzled veterans.

We're not?!

 

[DEFCON 1]

If they have only ever played one edition, why would they have? Were not all grizzled veterans.

Yeah, but we know Moonsong has, as they've always been complaining about how the 5E sorcerer never matched what they could do with the 3E sorcerer.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

Having a reliable long-term source for rules,

There's always [REDACTED]

This is part of the reason why its so heinous that wotc has dndbeyond as the only option for digital 5e. Anything on d&d beyond can be taken away from you at any moment.

Even if they let you keep legacy content you've purchased previously, you won't be able to buy any legacy content you don't already own, and any new players won't be able to buy it either.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

You would think no one had ever gone through an edition transition before!

Anyone who's been playing D&D for less than 10 years has never gone through an edition transition. I imagine that applies to the vast majority of players.

 

[R_J_K75]

Anything on d&d beyond can be taken away from you at any moment.

You have to buy the books correct and then pay for a subscription to share them with your players, right?