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

[Older Beholder]

The elegant rules, like adv/dis
The amount of new people that have been introduced to the game and how easy 5E makes introducing new people to the game. The inclusivity in general.

Just how damn fun the game is and how much I’ve gotten to play.

Books like Xanathars which really expanded on character creation, and Tasha’s that introduced floating ASI’s and the sidekick system, to name just a few things.

The update to settings like Ravenloft, the mixing of Spelljammer and Dark Sun as well as the way they’ve really fleshed out the Forgotten Realms in playable adventure paths that can be built together like Lego to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

 

[Ancalagon]

I liked the decent class balance (nothing is perfect, but it's better than it used to be) leading to better intra-party balance, I liked advantage/disadvantage, bound accuracy, the 2e feel, the "medium" level of complexity. Some of the 3rd party stuff has been excellent. The various forms of familiars. Backgrounds and subclasses making a "soft" multiclass possible. Attunement and concentration are good rules to keep the magic slightly under control.

I also liked the relative ease of adapting older material to 5e. I've run a number of 2e adventures with it.

 

[Tonguez]

Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Phandelver stuff, DnDBeyond, DMsGuild, Backgrounds bonds and traits, Advantage mechanics, Lair Actions

 

[Greg K]

backgrounds, disadvantage, inspiration, bounded accuracy, and third party content

 

[teitan]

I loved the pre-Tasha period and even the following but up to Tasha's D&D5 was an oxymoron, it was a thoroughly modern throw back game. Early on when it was just the PHB and then SCAG it felt very much like a best of previous editions suped up like a hot rod. Then Xanathar came and that still continued that vibe. Once they started pushing settings though it lost some of its touch as every class became magical, they were constantly revising some races and representing them iteratively. I loved Theros, Wildemount and Ravenloft but it felt like everything was a playtest going into Monsters of the Multiverse... the most unnecessary book in D&D history that I also like at the same time... so weird.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

The OGL fiasco. Because now, as a result of their damage-control efforts, 4e might actually get to exist again.

And the Warlock, I guess. It's pretty neat, for a 5e class. The playtest version was more interesting though. And the playtest Sorcerer was phenomenal.

 

[Quickleaf]

I enjoyed teaching my nephew and his friends D&D last year – getting to see his brain explode with the possibilities and the crazy ideas he came up with was wonderful.

 

[payn]

Bounded accuracy, and simplicity leading to fast play. No assumed magic items.

 

[Oofta]

I've been playing D&D pretty much since it was a thing, yet after playing 4E for a couple years I was ready to call it quits. It just wasn't for me. Fortunately 5E's release coincided with wrapping up 4E campaign that went to 30th and I fell in love with the game all over.

Once again, I enjoyed the freedom of old school TSR D&D. As a DM I made rulings and we moved on, as a player PC build was still important but optimization wasn't the end all be all. Gone was the wacky math of the TSR editions and the rule for everything attitude of 3.x. Things like bounded accuracy and advantage/disadvantage got us off the treadmill of "I need +X equipment by level Y", and I was able to ditch my old enhancement tracking sheet.

But what really worked for me was that it feels like the rules are no longer trying to control the style of play. The previous couple of editions had felt like they were trying to lock things down to one style of play, trying to make everyone adopt a tournament style of play. It was easy to once again throw in a handful of house rules while still being able to understand the impact I would have on other aspects of the game.

I guess the best way I can explain it is that for me it feels like 5E supports the game I want to play but doesn't try to enforce it's vision on me. After a decade I haven't burned out on the game yet. While high level play gets a bit wacky it doesn't fall apart or grind to a virtual halt like previous editions. The game still has things I disagree with, but nothing's perfect and many are fixed with minor house rules.

All of that makes it the best version of D&D I've played, and I've played them all.

 

[Reynard]