D&D 5E The Greatest Thing about 5e

[Stalker0]

So I've been running 5e for a long while now, but recently got a chance to play in some 3.5 and pathfinder campaigns.

I really cut my teeth on 3.0/3.5, having started my gaming career at the very end of the 2e era. And there were certain things I missed. However, there is one thing that 5e does that is so simple....and yet it is AMAZING how much difference and improvement it brings to the game. It is so incredibly powerful that I honestly found it hard to play without.

And that is..... the fluidity of movement.

The fact that 5e lets you move, do an action, and move again. The fact that you can move, attack, move, attack. The fact that you can manipulate an object for free, such as open a door while moving....it is literally game changing.

Playing 3.5/Pathfinder again, there are some things I miss. But man combat feels like your standing still, it is soooo rigid. The fact that you have to drop a weapon instead of putting it away because it would take a move action, you can't just pick up a weapon, you can't move ten feet and get two attacks. Its also funny how often players seem to forget that rule too. I watched in two different games players routinely forget how a 5 foot step works, and seemed shocked that they couldn't move 10 feet and fire a bow twice (and these were veteran players!).


Though I don't agree with every direction 5e has taken, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that the changes to movement are HUGE improvements. So much so that if I ever do go back and run a 3.5 again, I will houserule some version of it back in, because now having tasted the superior method, going back to the old way is almost unbearable.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

ngl, when i started playing ttrpgs with 4e and learned about move actions, i was utterly bewildered when my dm asked me if i had an ability that let me move both before and after taking an action - i'd simply assumed that so long as i had movement i could still move. it's not just rigid, it's horrifically unintuitive. i think the group at least somewhat agreed, because we ended that campaign early to play 5e.

 

[John R Davis]

Yup.
PF1/3.5 are a static naval slug fests.
DND5 dynamic wars of movement.

That and it's bounded accuracy are the two greatest assets of 5th ed for me.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

DND5 dynamic wars of movement.

well, not quite - things are still fairly stop and start due to opportunity attacks if you don't have a way to disengage as a bonus action (or just not an action). a lot more fluid and intuitive then other systems though.
i'm currently in a pf2 campaign though we haven't gotten far enough to have combat - i'm wondering how opportunity attacks being limited to certain classes will end up changing combat.

 

[John R Davis]

well, not quite - things are still fairly stop and start due to opportunity attacks if you don't have a way to disengage as a bonus action (or just not an action). a lot more fluid and intuitive then other systems though.
i'm currently in a pf2 campaign though we haven't gotten far enough to have combat - i'm wondering how opportunity attacks being limited to certain classes will end up changing combat.

I don't find in all the 5e I played that OAs slow up things. Often tactical to provoke one so a fellow team member won't do so.

Which makes me think of a third great point. It is much more of a team game then ever before, IME. Player A setting up for player B and player C.

 

[NaturalZero]

Which makes me think of a third great point. It is much more of a team game then ever before, IME. Player A setting up for player B and player C.

I absolutely agree that the movement is better than ever but I have to say that 4e takes the cake when it comes to team mechanics. Your defenders actually did unique things to protect other PCs each round and leaders could boost other people as a minor action for short term buffs each turn. The warlord could just make other PCs do stuff without limited dice. I'll take 5e's simplicity of movement and 4e's tactics, if I'm picking and choosing.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I agree in general. But imho the lack of interesting and varied abilities of monsters/opponents still leads to way too much stand-still-and-punch-sack-of-hp moments at all levels.

 

[tetrasodium]

ngl, when i started playing ttrpgs with 4e and learned about move actions, i was utterly bewildered when my dm asked me if i had an ability that let me move both before and after taking an action - i'd simply assumed that so long as i had movement i could still move. it's not just rigid, it's horrifically unintuitive. i think the group at least somewhat agreed, because we ended that campaign early to play 5e.

I find that chsnge slows down combat a lot though & results in player turns constantly going like this typing on my phone simplified recap of an example:
I attack. Dies xx hit?
Yea roll damage
Yy for. You first attack
Ok you hit the ork & [$description]... . Is that your turn?
No I have more... How's he looking is he still alive, doing ok?
Do you want to spend the rest of your turn determining that?
No but how's its life? ....
Do you have any wsy of innately knowing that or is that your turn?
No does xx hit?
Yep gimme damage
Yy
You hut the bad guy and [$description]
sigh would you like to spend the rest of your turn determining that?
No I have a third attack but how's he doing?
Do you have any way of knowing that automatically without using an insight check as an action or something?
No but....
Tgen you stilldon't know this instant in the heat of battle finish your turn or ik moving on
Dies xx hit?
Yep gimme some damage.
Then repeat this cycle with that player every. single. round. whenever there are two monsters in reach or within reach of the remaining movement speed.

 

[dave2008]

well, not quite - things are still fairly stop and start due to opportunity attacks if you don't have a way to disengage as a bonus action (or just not an action). a lot more fluid and intuitive then other systems though.

OA don't stop people from moving IME. Monsters and PCs have so many HP that an OA or two is rarely a threat and healing is abundant enough that it isn't an issue at all for the next combat. But I am sure everyone plays differently.

i'm currently in a pf2 campaign though we haven't gotten far enough to have combat - i'm wondering how opportunity attacks being limited to certain classes will end up changing combat.

I have heard it, combined with the 3 action system, helps compared to 3e/PF, but not as much as the free movement in 5e.

Also, the lack of OAs available to PCs isn't the issue, it is the lack of OAs that monsters have that is the issue. Very few monsters have OA so player feel more free to run around I guess.

 

[dave2008]

I agree in general. But imho the lack of interesting and varied abilities of monsters/opponents still leads to way too much stand-still-and-punch-sack-of-hp moments at all levels.

Then you should use interesting monsters/opponents. There is really not a lack of them, you just have to know where to look.