D&D 5E So, this is it.

[Evenglare]

So it just hit me that the journey is finally over, the PHB is off being printed at this point. I'm sort of reflecting on the whole playtest. How about you ? How do you feel the rules are going to turn out? Did the design team meet their goals? Is the system going to be modular/hackable as much as they claim? So yes, what are your thoughts.

 

[delericho]

I don't know why, but I've found this whole edition change brutal. I'm really glad it's just about over, and am looking forward to seeing the final game.

As for how well it's met its goals... ask me in six months.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I'm quite happy with the developments/news of the last few weeks.

- The DMG could deliver the modularity, which was a big point ealry on
- The possibility to play the game even without the PHB makes my group more likely to give it a shot
- The focus on story - with hopefully good adventures - suits my current style, too

On the Codename: Morningstar project I'm rather neutral. If something sounds too goog to be trues, it probably isn't true. Being somewhat miffed by the DDI canyon between what was announced and what has been delivered, I don't want to hang my hopes too hig.

On the negative side, I expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth as the nerdrage winds up. The very nature of an open playtest is that people claim that broken stuff hasn't been fixed and good stuff has been broken in the final game.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Given the nature of the Proficiency bonus table (+2 to +6 over 20 levels, double for expertise) I can see a number of straight-forward hacks to generate different advancement rates to emulate earlier editions.

Forex, Superior table (matching Expertise), normal table, poor table (half proficiency). no advancement.
Fighter classes advance combat on normal
Cleric, Rogue classes on poor.
Wizards no advancement for combat

Or all classes get poor advancement minimum on saves.
Subbing in Fort/Ref/Will as saves, or using Fort/Ref/Will as defenses.


Or making skills a point system and just use the Superior table as a cap by level.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm expecting that my reactions to the 5E PH will be quite different than my reactions to the 3E PH when that was released... in that I'm thinking I'm going to feel more pangs of small annoyance by little things that either changed or were not changed enough than I did with 3E. Reason being that unless MAJOR changes occurred following the closing of the playtest... I already know what the main differences and big changes to the game are. Thus the "HOLY CRAP, THAT'S BRILLIANT!" reaction that I had to many parts of the 3E book that got changed (of which I knew very little of before reading it) will not be present because I've already experienced it over the course of the playtest.

Case in point... I thought the 3E changes to saving throws (to the Fort/Ref/Will model) was one of the greatest things I had ever seen for a D&D mechanics change that made absolute sense and in my opinion made the game so much better. While at the same time... I think the 5E change of Advantage/Disadvantage rather than small numeric bonuses is almost as great and just as brilliant. However, the downside is that I've already been living with that change for over a year now... so when I read the 5E book, what would've been a "MY GOD, I LOVE THIS!" moment just won't be there. So ironically... with so many major parts of rules that I would've ordinarily been fawning over now already known to me and I'm no longer emotionally gobsmacked by... much of what will be left will be lots of just small niggling complaints of minor rules differences that would ordinarily have been drowned out by my bigger reactions to the bigger changes. So it's weird to think that I might end up feeling worse about the 5E PH than I otherwise might have, despite the fact I really love a lot of what they've seemingly done with it. I almost hope that some things I haven't yet seen (the new warlock and sorcerer, many sub-classes, etc.) do have some huge changes and implications so that they drown out whatever my ultimate feelings of what was finally decided on for crit rules (for example) have become.

Here's hoping! Because I'd love to still have an "OH CRAP!" moment once or twice when I read the book. Those are fun and very satisfying.

 

[Halivar]

/snip

The curse of the beta-tester. It's the #1 reason why I avoid participating in beta's if I can. I want to savor every release in all it's glorious newness.

 

[Snapdragyn]

I think I'm rather excited about this edition.

It's funny, my experience through the development has been the exact opposite of 4e. There I went from 'OMGZ0RZ, NEW EDITION!' to 'hmm, I'm not sure about this rules preview...' to 'um, no. Just... no. In fact, HELL no!'. I'm glad that many groups found that 4e suited them well, but it was just not a good fit for me.

This time around, I started out very skeptical. Once it became clear I wasn't going to be able to find a playtest group, I just dropped out of reading the news feeds & didn't even worry about it until the release date was announced. Then I started catching up on things, reading over what playtest rules I could find, watching for preview info... & my reaction has been quite positive. I've got the Starter kit on order, & expect be picking up the PHB & DMG when they come out. I still have some concerns, (mainly that it reads as allowing lower character customization than I'm used to from 3.x) but I also have the sense that things may not play quite the way they read (with 1st feat at level 4, & given the greater depth of feats, it's almost liking moving PrC access up a bit - so customization may actually feel faster in play).

Looking forward to getting my hands on the new edition!

 

[VengerSatanis]

I don't know why, but I've found this whole edition change brutal. I'm really glad it's just about over, and am looking forward to seeing the final game.

As for how well it's met its goals... ask me in six months.

Brutal? In what way?

VS

 

[Agamon]

Brutal? In what way?

Long and agonizing, I'm guessing. Personally, I download the playtest and tried it, then just decided to wait and play other games until the rules got more firm before following up and going back to paying attention again.

I don't know what really happened between the 1st and last playtest (though I have them all), but I like where it ended up for the most part. And it's been a lot less brutal.

 

[Chaltab]

I'm definitely still in the 'wait and see' phase. The playtest has been up and down since the start, with good ideas being introduced, canned, reintroduced, etc. I'm frustrated that many rules from this new edition seem to be a step backwards from 4th Edition, particularly how level progression is all over the place. I also think the price looks like a barrier to entry unless you want to play with just four classes with one build each. It definitely cleans up a lot of the bloat from 3rd and 4th editions, but there's enough rules changes that I'm not enthusiastic about. I'd like to see the full product, especially the non-Basic classes and builds, before I pass judgement.