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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6852208" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Here's my list off the top of my head:(1) % Magic Resistance. 5E magic resistance is weak and mostly pointless.(2) Monsters with actual social organizations, motivations, non-combat stats, and ecologies. 5E won't even tell you what a given monster eats. I can cannibalize my 2nd edition books for that info, but why should I have to?(3) The rate and incentives of the XP system. (5E advancement is too fast and combat-oriented. Fixable, though, via houserules.)(4) Spell research and magic item creation rules. (This is partly nostalgia though since the official system was less well-fleshed out than the house rules I'm probably remembering. The 5E skill system is a pretty decent mechanic to build spell research around though.)(5) Priestly spell spheres (waaaay better than 5E specialty priests). I miss the esoteric spheres of Numbers and Mind particularly. I don't think you can get the same flavor out of 5E clerics with their measly two spells per spell level of customization, plus some random powers. For example, in 5E it's impossible to have a cleric of Ptah who can't cast Raise Dead or Spirit Guardians but can create wormholes or instantly estimate the number of gold coins in a pile.(6) Reaction rolls. You can have noncombat encounters in 5E, but the DMG encounter building system (and associated Internet rhetoric) pushes you toward a certain amount of inflexibility: bypassing a "combat encounter" via negotiation throws off "class balance" and the resting cadence. Again, that's fixable just by ignoring bad advice and inventing your own system of reaction rolls, but the fact that I'm re-inventing 2nd edition reaction rolls is telling.(7) Flying maneuverability classes. 5E flight is simultaneously too slow and too acrobatic to feel right to me.(8) I miss the power of 2nd edition spells like Teleport, Magic Jar, Dominate, Stoneskin, etc. 5E magic is weak by design, and while I respect that as a design decision, I mourn it at the same time.(9) I miss 2nd edition fighters and the things they could do with weapons and called shots. 5E has some pretty decent substitutes though via Shove, Grapple, and DMG option Disarm, but I still miss them.(10) Ability scores. Encumbrance rules are the big one (the way carrying capacity scales in 5E just doesn't fit any plausible interpretation of what Str is supposed to mean) but I also miss the way Int affected your ability to pick the best spells and the way Charisma interacted with your henchmen and followers. Speaking of which:(11) Resurrection survival rolls and system shock and spheres of annihilation and permanent death. My perspective on this one is probably different now because I'm a DM--as a player I hate spheres of annihilation and permanent death--but as a DM, a gameworld is easier to build and more interesting when a 9th level spell like Power Word Kill isn't reversible by a simple 3rd level Revivify.#2, #3, and #6 are basically "5E is too combat-oriented", while #4 and #5 are basically "spellcasting is too simplistic."Oh, and one more thing: I would miss AD&D-style initiative if I weren't using it in 5E already. I can't stand cyclic initiative and the way it segments combat and noncombat actions into completely different modes of play. With AD&D-style initiative, being the first person to snatch the last piece of cake and being able to stab the orc before he shakes his buddy awake obey the exact same rules.</blockquote>

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