D&D 5E What are the highlights of D&D 5th edition for you?

[Jolly Ruby]

With 5th edition reaching its 10th anniversary and the last two adventures before the 2024's revision soon to be released, I invite you to revisit the last decade of D&D and think about this question: what were the highlights of 5th edition? The best adventures, the best sourcebooks, the innovations it brought to the table you want think really made an impact?

I'll start with the obvious: Lost Mine of Phandelver is already a classic and will be remembered in the same lines as adventures like Keep in the Borderlands and Ravenloft.

 

[overgeeked]

It was really popular, and thanks to Critical Role and Stranger Things, D&D had a second pop culture breakthrough.

 

[Argyle King]

I liked the concept of backgrounds. I wish they would have been explored more.

Sorry to see them being cut from time game.

 

[Stormonu]

I have fond memories of Phandelver because not only did my wife and sons to play it, but I got my mom & dad (who were in their 60's, and now passed away, and hadn't played since they bought me the Holmes set for Christmas in '79) to play as well - as well as my younger brother and his wife. Three generations, all in one game - and everyone enjoyed it greatly.

And there was the Castle Ravenloft one-shot I ran for my son and his friends (who he'd just introduced to D&D because of our Phandelver game) using Curse of Strahd (Start of game: "Ain't 'fraid of nothing, it's just a game.", about one hour later "I AM NOT LEAVING THIS ROOM UNTIL DAWN!!!!!").

Many other adventures over the years, including a very enjoyable one with Falkovian zombies using the much maligned Van Richten's book. I got to play with a multitude of people (many much younger than me) in these campaigns and it helped to keep me feel connected to world and not feeling quite so old and dinosaur-like.

Also, since the longest time, I've done a lot of gaming from the player side of the screen and got to play some really interesting characters, hoping that I encouraged others in delving into giving life to their own characters beyond the stats on the sheet. I think my favorite has been my boisterous centaur sage-priest (Enourmuus) in my co-worker's game of Theros. Seeing what players want out of the game has really relaxed my years of frustration as a DM to fret over keeping a game balanced (and challenging) and being more permissive about what they can accomplish.

So, beyond happy memories, what would I say are the standout products? Well, put me down for Mines of Phandelver, Curse of Strahd and Ghosts of Saltmarsh for adventures. Xanathar's Guide to Everything is, in my opinion, the best supplement and fills in a lot of needed gaps from the core rulebook. My all-time favorite monster book is Monster Manual Expanded II, though I like the entire Expanded series and Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Universe. As far as campaign settings go, put me down for Planescape and Mythic Odysseys of Theros.

As far as innovations go, I really like the Class/Subclass structure - it comes in at just the right time in character advancement as a sort of promotion from the "beginner" levels. I also greatly enjoy Ideals/Bonds/Flaws and don't want them to go away - they're such wonderful roleplaying tools (since Alignment seems to be dying on the vine). I also greatly appreciate Bounded Accuracy as the constant chase for bigger/stronger numbers I've long tired of.

 

[Clint_L]

For me, it's the best version of D&D yet, keeping the essence of the game I loved as 1e while making it much more balanced and logical. But my number 1 highlight is the immense popularity of the game, which has brought TTRPGs to way more people than I ever thought possible. In particular, it enabled me to run a D&D club at my small school and get tons of kids playing.

It brought D&D into the mainstream.

And yeah, Phandelver is pretty great.

 

[MNblockhead]

First time I looked at the Players Handbook at one of my nearby FLGS. When I moved back to the US, I got back into board games and was running board-game nights with some old friends from high school and new friends I met at a weekly board gaming group event at another FLGS. I started talking about how I was interested in trying to play D&D again, but that what I was seeing seemed so different than I remember playing (4e--I know realized it was a wrong impression, but my brief reading on it didn't interest me at the time). An old high-school friend suggested I check out Pathfinder. When I looked at the Pathfinder books at my FLGS, I was overwhelmed with the number of books and complexity of the rules. I basically wrote of the idea, thinking I didn't have time and didn't want to deal with the learning curve of getting back into TTRPGs.

Then 5e came out. Out of curiosity, I checked out the PHB the week it first became available in my FLGS. I immediately fell in love. The art, aesthetics, accessible system with enough crunch to keep it interesting. And it hit me with a wave of nostalgia that paging through the 4e and Pathfinder books did not. I bought it the same day I looked at it and after playing a few sessions at a convention and some local AL games, I dived right into running my first campaign in over two decades. It was like being a kid again but with a lot more disposable income. That lead me to branching out into a number of other TTRPGs.

It truly was the gateway drug that caused me to relapse into an addiction I thought I got over a long time ago.

Whatever its imperfections, whatever WotC does, and even if it turns out I don't like like the revised rules, 5e will also hold a special place in my memories.

 

[Clint_L]

It was like being a kid again but with a lot more disposable income.

Same - I was a sporadic TTRPGer through the 90s and 200s, and it was mostly games like Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun and Rolemaster. 5e brought me back into D&D hardcore, and I've since built out a miniatures and terrain collection that 13 year old me would have killed for. I mean...Dwarven Forge.

I have painted literally thousands of miniatures and pieces of terrain for 5e.

 

[Clint_L]

Actually, new #1 highlight: playing with my spouse and kid.

 

[Distracted DM]

I like how easily it inspires house rules, and the ease with which it handles said house rules.
I like the flat math.
I like the 3pp products its existence has resulted in.

 

[MNblockhead]

Same - I was a sporadic TTRPGer through the 90s and 200s, and it was mostly games like Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun and Loremaster. 5e brought me back into D&D hardcore, and I've since built out a miniatures and terrain collection that 13 year old me would have killed for. I mean...Dwarven Forge.

I have painted literally thousands of miniatures and pieces of terrain for 5e.

This 52 year-old would kill for your Dwarven Forge collection. But don't worry, my wife would kill me if I take up even more storage space with terrain I never use because I'm not running in-person games these days.

And as for your followup post, yeah, sharing D&D with my sons has been a wonderful experience. My eldest grew out of it and just isn't interested in the hobby, but my younger son has a large group of friends he plays with and plays in three campaigns.