Helldritch
Hero
Strange, for me it was evident from the begining that it would be a modernized retro fit of 1ed and 2ed with a bit of the best idea of 3e and 4ed.
From 1ed and 2ed we got:
1) The classes. All 1ed classes are in the PHB. Not those in the unearthed arcana but we finally got them with the XGtE.
2) A strong low to mid level game. At higher level, the game's break a bit but not to the point of being unplayable.
3) The classic spells.
4) The base races.
5) Multiclassing in a better incarnation. But still a wee bit too easy for my tastes...
From 3e we got:
1) Additionnal classes such as warlock and sorcerers.
2) A logic progression system where, finally, a high score is always a good thing.
3) Stat related save.
4) We also go rid of strange stats such as 18.75 strength and uneven stat progression.
5) Feats.
6) Prestige classes. Yep, the subclasses can be viewed as a system of prestige classes (more or less I agree, but the basics are there. You start a rogue and you get to choose which path you will take, assassin, thief, arcane trickster, swashbuckler etc...) Some do it from the start others are at level 2 and others are at level 3... I would have prefer something more unified but I am fine with it anyway so...
From 4ed we got:
1) Effective cantrips. Before that, cantrips were largely useless and almost always forgotten. Now a caster is never out of magic to contribute, but there was a big cost in the number of high level spells they can cast.
2) More balanced martial classes in comparison to magic weilders. Previously, at high level, almost all damage was from the casters. Especially in 3ed where the Codzilla was a real thing. Now, martial classes can contribute a lot.
3) Monster stat blocks. It can be argued that this date back from 1ed but it is not really so. IF you check 1ed humanoids, you can see that if you encounter such and such number you will add such and such types of additionnal humanoid with equivalent fighter level (or any other class). Third edition also had something like this with but it was even more tedious. You could add subtype, enhanced the monster and you would add monsters feat to complete. In 4ed, all monsters have their stat block. It was way faster to make a high level encounter in 4ed than it was in previous editions. The same can be applied to 5ed.
4) Tiefling and Dragonborn. Though it can be argued that they come from earlier edition product, they were not in the corebooks before that. If your DM did not have the particuliar book in which they were, you could not do one of them.
So for me, 5ed did almost everything that was promised. The only thing missing, Psionics. I am not a lover of psionics and I'd rather not see them. But to be fair with all those that loved Darksun, we should get psionic one day (I hope for them). Psionics, were part of every edition of D&D so far. 5ed should not be an exception on this.
From 1ed and 2ed we got:
1) The classes. All 1ed classes are in the PHB. Not those in the unearthed arcana but we finally got them with the XGtE.
2) A strong low to mid level game. At higher level, the game's break a bit but not to the point of being unplayable.
3) The classic spells.
4) The base races.
5) Multiclassing in a better incarnation. But still a wee bit too easy for my tastes...
From 3e we got:
1) Additionnal classes such as warlock and sorcerers.
2) A logic progression system where, finally, a high score is always a good thing.
3) Stat related save.
4) We also go rid of strange stats such as 18.75 strength and uneven stat progression.
5) Feats.
6) Prestige classes. Yep, the subclasses can be viewed as a system of prestige classes (more or less I agree, but the basics are there. You start a rogue and you get to choose which path you will take, assassin, thief, arcane trickster, swashbuckler etc...) Some do it from the start others are at level 2 and others are at level 3... I would have prefer something more unified but I am fine with it anyway so...
From 4ed we got:
1) Effective cantrips. Before that, cantrips were largely useless and almost always forgotten. Now a caster is never out of magic to contribute, but there was a big cost in the number of high level spells they can cast.
2) More balanced martial classes in comparison to magic weilders. Previously, at high level, almost all damage was from the casters. Especially in 3ed where the Codzilla was a real thing. Now, martial classes can contribute a lot.
3) Monster stat blocks. It can be argued that this date back from 1ed but it is not really so. IF you check 1ed humanoids, you can see that if you encounter such and such number you will add such and such types of additionnal humanoid with equivalent fighter level (or any other class). Third edition also had something like this with but it was even more tedious. You could add subtype, enhanced the monster and you would add monsters feat to complete. In 4ed, all monsters have their stat block. It was way faster to make a high level encounter in 4ed than it was in previous editions. The same can be applied to 5ed.
4) Tiefling and Dragonborn. Though it can be argued that they come from earlier edition product, they were not in the corebooks before that. If your DM did not have the particuliar book in which they were, you could not do one of them.
So for me, 5ed did almost everything that was promised. The only thing missing, Psionics. I am not a lover of psionics and I'd rather not see them. But to be fair with all those that loved Darksun, we should get psionic one day (I hope for them). Psionics, were part of every edition of D&D so far. 5ed should not be an exception on this.
