D&D General What do you actually like about D&D?

[Dragonhelm]

A cone of searing flame shoots from your fingertips.
jets of searing flame shoot from his or her fingertips
A gout of flame erupts from your hands
a thin sheet of flames shoots forth from your outstretched fingertips
A thin sheet of flame shoots from the character's outspread fingertips.

Those are excerpts. Burning hands originally had you putting your thumbs together and fanning your fingertips apart. It's a small detail, but for me, it was good flavor text. That little bit of flavor text was dropped in 3rd and 4th editions. Not only did 5e bring that flavor back, they put in some cool art to show what it's all about.

 

[Ancalagon]

Those are excerpts. Burning hands originally had you putting your thumbs together and fanning your fingertips apart. It's a small detail, but for me, it was good flavor text. That little bit of flavor text was dropped in 3rd and 4th editions. Not only did 5e bring that flavor back, they put in some cool art to show what it's all about.

there are little details like that, details that mattered more than I expected. I was, for one, delighted to see healing potions doing 2d4+2...

 

[Corinnguard]

What do I like about D&D?

1. Carefully crafting your character as they advance from one level to the next by thinking about what spells you want to equip your spellcaster with. Deciding if you are going to pick up an ASI or a feat at a particular level. Finding the right archetype that meets the concept of how you see your character.
2. Joining ENworld and meeting a number of like-minded individuals on the forums. ENworld is a virtual RPG convention that you can attend all year round.
3. Backing a Kickstarter for a 5e or 5e-like project (Level Up! ) and seeing it achieve it's goals. Currently I am one of thousands of backers backing Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms. The 6th Kickstarter I've backed.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I have more to add!

I so enjoy physical components. I am not against theater of the mind at times like the old days but the extra hobbies and collecting have been fun. Crafting terrain etc. has been a big part of things for me too.

Last night I finished painting a pack of worgs. I glued them to clear bases after cutting them off of their pre molded ones. It’s a big project.

They came with riders that I was not big on so I sawed them in half and sawed some D&D goblins and or modified other miniature goblins…painting and flying them on is phase two!

While a lot of people have a lot of adjacent hobbies I have enjoyed most of mine being wrapped up in various aspects of D&D: playing, DMiing, collecting, crafting and painting.

I love the shared language and stories. Remembering games from years past is fun in a way that recounting wargame scenarios cannot match. (They’re fun but not as evocative for me.

Now sharing with my kids I get to participate with their imagination. We have only played a little so far by both daughters have been drawing their characters just like I did back then….with no prompting!

Decades of fun…from many different angles. And the history! We played and bought becmi last year which was fun. I am into 5e but it would be a hoot to do a 1e campaign again…

Of all the nonessential things in life this one has been most essential for me. Take movies and vide games and wargames if you must but leave me with D&D!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Those are excerpts. Burning hands originally had you putting your thumbs together and fanning your fingertips apart.

It did. I'd class that as rules text, tho, at least in 1e, because it was a restriction on how the spell could be cast.
If that bit had been left out, there'd've been players wanting to cast the spell with their fingers in specific positions so as to send 10 jets of flame at a single target for 10x damage.

 

[SteveC]

This is a really interesting question. There's a huge part of it that comes from it being the first game I ever played (with 0E back when I was very young in the 70s). But there's also more than that, since I was soon playing other games of that era: Runequest, T&T, Traveller, Tunnels and Trolls... you name it.
I think it's the genre of action fantasy that has enough detail to make the different parts of the game mechanically interesting to me. I like how different characters can use their abilities to solve problems in mechanically interesting and challenging ways. It has enough detail, but not too much. And it has detail but it can also be "kick in the door" fun.
I've always enjoyed the story/roleplaying part of the game, and that's been something of a weakness with D&D (in my opinion, of course). It's honestly why I've played a lot of different games that do that sort of thing better. But at the same time, that feeling of "rolling for initiative" brings me back to D&D because very few games do that in the way D&D can.

 

[GuyBoy]

Back in the late 1970s, I painted some Minifigs “pig-faced” orcs, and stored them in an old cigar box, each wrapped in a piece of toilet roll.
The orcs adapted an aroma redolent of both Havana, Hemingway and Hummel. That smell is the most wonderfully evocative smell of all time, and I would not have experienced it without D&D.
That’s why I love D&D.

 

[pemerton]

What I actually like about D&D in general is its core tropes, which combine JRRT-esque and REH-esque elements.

I also enjoy the gameplay of 4e D&D.

 

[TwoSix]

Hmm. What I like about D&D, specifically, as opposed to just TTRPGs in general.

1) The d20 for confirmation checks and polyhedral die for damage just feels viscerally right, in a way that other systems just don't.

2) The spell list. With the possible exceptions of Mage: The Awakening and Shadow of the Demon Lord, D&D has had the best defined lists of bespoke magic.

3) The complexity of character building, and the number of variants that have existed over D&D's long history. AD&D multiclassing, 2e's Skills and Powers, the 3.5 Prestige Class system, the 4e Class/Paragon Path/Epic Destiny progression, 4e's hybrid multiclassing, and PF's alternative class features are particular favorites.

4) The network effects of D&D's huge player share means that there's always been a steady stream of new material to enjoy, both official and (since 3e and the OGL) unofficial sources. It also makes D&D the easiest system to find discussion and games for.

 

[Divine2021]

I like all the different races in the game, and the different class combinations I can make with them. As a Black man, if I wanna be a skinny golden skinned elven lady, I can! And no shame in doing so!