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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5025198" data-attributes="member: 22424">OD&DNever played it, so can't comment.BECMIMy first edition of D&D, so I have a lot of love for this game (though I only ever got as far as the 'C' tier).Good: The tier system is fantastic. Bring new players in easily, then gradually ramp up the complexity as they go. The system is also relatively simple.Bad: As with all pre-3e editions, the lack of a core mechanic makes for a game with several fiddly subsystems - AC goes down, thief skills are percentiles, etc. Also, races-as-classes is a bit wierd (though it might be good for a "young adult" game...)AD&D 1edNever played it, so can't comment.AD&D 2edGood: The addition of a lot of options (more races, more classes, multiclassing) improves the game over BECMI D&D. Bad: Has pretty much all of the same weaknesses as BECMI. Also, many of the advancements either add lots of pointless complexity (weapon vs armour mods) or are just wierd quirks (exceptional strength). Also, eliminates the tiers almost entirely (although the game still changes somewhat around 'name' level).D&D 3.xedMy current "D&D of choice", despite some significant weaknesses.Good: Adds a unified mechanic. Massively cleans up the rules.Bad: Even in the 3.0e core rulebooks, there is some shocking complexity, particularly at high levels. Spells like polymorph never worked right, despite several attempted revisions. By building in rule mastery to the games, they made it hard for 'casual' and 'hardcore' gamers to co-exist in the same group.Oh, and this really isn't a great game to be introducing new players to. And DM prep takes way too long.About 3.5e: On balance, I find 3.5e a better game than 3e, as it goes some way further towards cleaning up the rules, and corrects some imbalances. However, many of the 'improvements' were nothing of the sort: weapon sizes added more complexity than they were worth, weapon familiarity was awful, and the enhanced focus on the combat grid was absolutely toxic IMO.D&D 4edI haven't played 4e extensively - just enough to determine it wasn't for me. Even so, I'd be happy to play 4e again; I just won't be running it again.Good: The concept of Skill Challenges is brilliant. The encounter design methodology (monster roles, plus the minion/'normal'/elite/solo split) is also really good.Bad: I detest the at-will/encounter/daily power split. I don't like class roles being so explicit or so rigid. Even playing it very briefly, the 'grind' was quite noticably and quite bad.So much has changed that there are inevitably significant problems with the ruleset. I don't blame WotC for that (in some ways, a change had become essential), but it does mean there's a strong arguement for doing a '4.5e' revision. Shame they've painted themselves into a corner on that one.And, at 832 pages in the core rules, this is not a good edition to introduce new players.PathfinderPathfinder pretty much has all the same strengths and weaknesses as 3.5e. Additional comments below.Good: Combat Maneuver Bonus and Defence. Some rebalancing of the game.Bad: Yet another round of power-creep. Yet more complexity added to the game (sorcerer bloodlines, wizard specialities, rage powers...)On balance, Pathfinder is an improvement over 3.5e. Unfortunately, it's not "better enough" to persuade me to switch.Plus, at 880 pages in the core rulebooks (and very dense text), it's not a game to introduce new players.SWSENot really an edition of D&D, but very notable because I feel it quite closely resembles what a new edition should be...Good: Uses the same 'core' as 3e, but with a vastly simplified set of rules. Is at once the first Star Wars game to adequately capture that setting and also the first iteration of the d20 mechanic (at least from WotC) to really show off the power of the core of the system.At 250 pages, the core rulebook is pretty much the ideal size for introducing new players to the game.Bad: Some options (notably Jedi) seem to be just too powerful. Also, with only 250 pages to play with, the range of options is necessarily limited.</blockquote>

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