D&D (2024) So IS it a new edition?

[Maxperson]

Dang so its just in D&D that people can't grasp the concept.

No. Pathfinder, Warhammer, Shadowrun, World of Darkness and more all have different edition numbers.

 

[Maxperson]

But that's true if I use monsters of the same CR from different books now, so I don't see how an issue. But this is off-topic and something we won't really know much about until next February.

Well, yeah. They can't do CR for jack.

 

[Maxperson]

Boy, that is a bad collage. Where is that red lightsaber coming from?

Vader is holding it across his chest in back of Anakin.

 

[Chaltab]

Unsure about that. There are parts of 4e that were rewritten over and over and the difference between the first and later monster manuals are striking. I also don't consider the execution of several powers well made at all for what I expect from a fantasy RPG.

I mean, like I said, it had a lot of missteps, but it was a very deliberate design where classes' niche protection was central to the rules. the new 5e is definitely taking some of those cues by making dips less impactful and avoiding dead levels.

 

[Maxperson]

It’s less of a change than 3.5e was from 3.0e, so no, it’s not a new edition in that sense.

I disagree that it's less. 3.5e didn't change classes and prestige classes so drastically as 5.5e is changing classes and subclasses. I also think that there are more spell changes in 5.5e. Feats are changed a bunch. There's more change in 5.5e in my opinion.

 

[SteveC]

Of course it's a new Edition! And there's nothing wrong with that. The only reason WotC made this distinction is that they announced the new books two years ago. They didn't want people to stop buying PHBs at that time. Once we have the new books out, it will be all about the new shiny. Six months from now, WotC won't be saying anything about the 2014 books and will be talking entirely about the new books—as they should be.

 

[Morrus]

It is not a new edition of the game. But it is a new edition of the books.

That’s an important distinction. There’s no question that it’s a new edition of the book—it’s quite literally a different book.

So the question is really is it a new edition of the game? And of course that encompasses more than just this one book.

 

[KYRON45]

They should use this opportunity to stop re-releasing all of the old adventures to match the current rules set (whatever we end up calling it). Come on Wotc you can do it....create some new stuff now.

 

[Charlaquin]

not just 5E and 5.24, but also you have Level Up, Tales of the Valiant, Nimble 5E, DC20, etc that all kind of exist in the same space and have elements that are mutually compatible and elements that aren't.

Yeah, but 3PP having some elements that are compatible and some that aren’t and different groups using different combinations of such elements isn’t really new. There’s more of it now due to the OGL fiasco scaring everyone into making their 3rd party content work independently of 5e, but I don’t think any of that is really relevant to the question of if the 2024 rules revisions are a new edition of D&D.

 

[pukunui]

I disagree that it's less. 3.5e didn't change classes and prestige classes so drastically as 5.5e is changing classes and subclasses. I also think that there are more spell changes in 5.5e. Feats are changed a bunch. There's more change in 5.5e in my opinion.

The way I see it, the 5e revision mostly just changes things on a surface level. The underlying mechanics are still more or less the same. The 3.5e revision, however, changed things on a more fundamental level, like the significant overhaul made to the skill list.

You can have 2014 and 2024 5e PCs in the same party with minimal issues. I think it would be harder to have 3.0e and 3.5e PCs in the same party.