D&D General Stuff 5E Did Right

[Voadam]

I’d add the focus on rulings not rules should be included.

I consider this big. People have played D&D with different approaches and styles since the very beginning in 0e. 5e says explicitly to the DM you can handle things different ways with ad hoc judgment calls or die rolls or a mix, your call RAW. This allows 5e to be played in whatever style people have been playing D&D before or that they want to and they are explicitly doing so within RAW and not doing it wrong. This emphasis on style adjudication options is a lot stronger than say just a reference to a rule zero and then hard coded defaults.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I know I'm 140 replies deep here, but I'm curious what sorts of subsystems you like, and what value you derive from them.

Mostly anything that deepens the verisimilitude/realism of the world. So a lot of DM-side stuff for worldbuilding and exploration, but also things like Level Up's Combat Maneuver system.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I consider this big. People have played D&D with different approaches and styles since the very beginning in 0e. 5e says explicitly to the DM you can handle things different ways with ad hoc judgment calls or die rolls or a mix, your call RAW. This allows 5e to be played in whatever style people have been playing D&D before or that they want to and they are explicitly doing so within RAW and not doing it wrong. This emphasis on style adjudication options is a lot stronger than say just a reference to a rule zero and then hard coded defaults.

They did, and that's great, but style adjudication works much better with mechanical support, and 5e as written by WotC doesn't even do that for all the stuff D&D used to support, let alone anything new.

 

[RangerWickett]

Mostly anything that deepens the verisimilitude/realism of the world. So a lot of DM-side stuff for worldbuilding and exploration, but also things like Level Up's Combat Maneuver system.

I worked on A5E, and I dug parts of its complexity. But the combat maneuver system didn't click with me. It was too similar to Vancian magic, with a bunch of options differentiated by name and fiddly specifics, rather than a more mechanics-first system that I prefer.

I favor, I suppose, emergent complexity: when there is a moderate number of options that are easy to understand and engage in, but which you can combine in a variety of ways that end up being complex.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I worked on A5E, and I dug parts of its complexity. But the combat maneuver system didn't click with me. It was too similar to Vancian magic, with a bunch of options differentiated by name and fiddly specifics, rather than a more mechanics-first system that I prefer.

I favor, I suppose, emergent complexity: when there is a moderate number of options that are easy to understand and engage in, but which you can combine in a variety of ways that end up being complex.

I pretty much never want a mechanics-first system. That's the opposite of how I want TTRPGs to work.

 

[hoffrg86]

What I Think 5th did right, the phb released at gencon(I dm'd 8 - 4hr sessions) in 2014, it was a fun system - many were clapping and happy it was a return to more dm centric rulings vs procedural rules for everything like 3.x. I recall a standing ovation from 'The Baldman' DMs for some of the devs there. (my signed phb shows devst Crawford and Mearls.. with authors Greenwood and Salvatore). This was a step back to a classic era of d&d that many felt 4e lost and found a decent blend, with modern enhancements. Reigning in the skill system was an improvement over 3rd, I enjoyed the bounded accuracy aspect, and in some cases advantage/disadvantage.

Adventure league for 5th was also enjoyable, character portability was amazing; played the same character with others all around the world, did some online conventions. The trading got a little out of hand.. but eh.. I DM'd offen, until the changes in and around season 7/8 (~2018/19) I believe. (started capping gold, magic items, then item level restrictions, moved from xp to milestone, fast leveling.)

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Is there a point to anything you've posted on this thread? You don't like 5E. We get it. You've told us over and over again. Meanwhile the person you just responded stated they like playing 5E and gave reasons. They said nothing about "better". It's better for them, just like it's better for me and the people I play with because we value aspects of the game that you do not.

Its every. Single. Thread.

He's the vegetarian wandering around the restaurant moaning about how other people's steaks are cooked.

 

[overgeeked]

Tossed all the tiny modifiers and replacing them with dis/advantage.

Simplified things compared to 3X and 4E so it was easily hackable.

Brought back the OGL and SRD.

 

[RangerWickett]

I pretty much never want a mechanics-first system. That's the opposite of how I want TTRPGs to work.

The way I did it in Elements of Magic back in, oof, 2003 was that each level you got a number of magical effects you knew how to create, each of which had a Magic Point cost. And you could build spells on the fly, but doing so took two whole turns to cast the spell.

However, you could design a number of signature spells - premade combinations of effects, ideally with an evocative name - which could be cast with a single action.

So if you knew evoke force and evoke fire and abjure outsider, you could make a bunch of different variations on 'shoot fire at someone, knock them down, and if they're a demon, and hold them in place.' But you'd probably have some specific spell you'd call, "Demonbind."

And on top of that, each magic user was encouraged to take a Magical Tradition, which made a thematic suite of certain spell effects cheaper, or gave you new ways to gain MP to cast your spells. So like a Blood Mage could discount a spell if they had done slashing or piercing damage to someone in the past round, and if you were an Animist you were able to summon spirits and communicate with them more easily.

I admit it was somewhat clunky, but I'm 21 years more experienced now. I think I could take that premise and make a more polished version today that would encourage players to have evocative themes for their characters, while ensuring that the actual game mechanics were easier to keep track of.

 

[Zaukrie]

Tossed all the tiny modifiers and replacing them with dis/advantage.

Simplified things compared to 3X and 4E so it was easily hackable.

Brought back the OGL and SRD.

that first one is huge, truly.