What is your Favorite Version of D&D?

[Bedrockgames]

2nd edition, but with an asterisk. I cut my teeth on 2E and so all the material from that period resonates with me. I am particularly fond of the flavor from the era. However I think I do prefer some aspects of 1E and 3E to 2E as well. For instance the ease of multi classing in 3E and its customizability I quite like. I really love the DMG from 1E and I like that it is written for a hobby still in its early years. I also like that the 1E DMG gives a more concrete presentation of certain aspects of GMing (I think the 2E DMG actually fails to mention anything about how one constructs the setting and it doesn't get too into the concept of a campaign).

 

[Ron]

It would be BECMI as compiled in the Rules Cyclopedia. I read most of the 5th edition PHB and I liked a lot of the mechanics although I am not so sure about some of the design choices in the classes. Nevertheless, as I haven't played it yet I'll refrain to give my opinion on 5th edition until later.


P.S.: of the available options and excluding 5th, I voted for 2nd.

 

[Mercurius]

I don't see an option for "whichever one I'm playing."

That aside, I voted 5E even though I've only played a couple playtest sessions and not the real thing. But from that, and from looking at the PHB and MM, it is my favorite edition thus far - it hits a lot of sweet-spots and combines the best of old and new.

 

[Jesauce]

Started out with AD&D a bit before moving onto 3.5/Pathfinder. Dabbled a bit with 4e for a few months. I'm a huge fan of 3.5, and the majority of my games use it, or more recently pathfinder.

That said, I put my vote in for 5e. I converted over a fairly new Pathfinder game to 5e when the basic ruleset was released. It only took a few sessions before I had decided to buy the PHB. It's been a little over two months now, and I'm very much in love with the system. I've had a few weeks with the MM and it hasn't let me down. The way movement and attacks are handled in combat now make it feel much more fluid, allowing for a lot more diversity of action within just the basic combat without having to stack a ton of feats is great. The short/long rest system works well, and character creation is wonderful. I have a couple players in another game that have a hard time coming up with new character concepts. They both ended up picking the same background so I had them roll on the tables. It provided them just enough to go off of that it really sparked their creativity and they ended up with vastly different personalities. They're having a lot of fun with the characters and are much more involved than in previous games.

 

[Mercurius]

3E as it is still the edition which has the most options for gameplay besides dungeon hack&slash thanks to its skill system.

Hmm. See, I disagree with this as I would say you are equating "options" with "defined rules." There are just as many options in, say, 5E - they're just less defined, and thus more open-ended. So what I hear you saying here is not that 3E had more options, but that you prefer defined rules for skill use to a more open-ended approach.

 

[ranger69]

I have played all editions except 4th, and 5th. I have enjoyed all the versions I have played. BECMI as per the Rules Cyclopaedia was great fun, and I would vote the Rules Cyclopaedia as the best book of D&D Rules ever. It was the complete game. It was my favourite version to DM. My favourite version to play though is 3.5, due to how you can make a character very different to another character of the same race and class. From what I have seen of 5E it has the potential to be the best for both DM's and players.

 

[Stormonu]

In order of preference:

5E
3.5E
2E
BECMI

2E is a bit of an odd bird. When 3E came out, I swore off that edition, but now after so many years away I kinda miss it, and after having run it using I6 - Ravenloft, I wouldn't mind playing some more of it.

 

[Li Shenron]

My favourite used to be 3.0 and is becoming 5e.

I am quite surprised by the poll results showing that combined 1e/2e fans are 25%, more than 3e fans 20%, more than 15% fans... I would have expected the other way around, with most 3e fans to be switching to 5e and 4e fans becoming the larger group.

BTW perhaps a more accurate split would be to have an OD&D/BD&D option in the poll, and group 1e/2e together?

 

[Random Bystander]

I like 3.5e. It's bloated, contradictory, quirky, and hard to make sense of, oddly charming, and character customization is highest out of all the games. I have ended up liking half in spite of its flaws, and half because of its flaws.

And I'm good at math.

 

[Quickleaf]

The older I get and the more I play (still more infrequently than I'd like), the more edition agnostic I become. For me, who I play with is totally more important than what edition/version I play.

I like BECMI as in the Rules Cyclopedia for having *everything* in one book, which I still reference for ideas.

I like 1e for the adventures. Chipped my teeth on the Slavers series (A1-4).

I like 2e for the settings. DMed lots of Planescape and Al-Qadim.

I appreciate 3e/Pathfinder for the character customization, and appreciate the heck out of Paizo as a company.

I like 4e for its rugged flexibility and exciting combats. Ran two really fun campaigns - one political intrigue, one dungeon crawl.

I like 5e for its balancing act between different poles of play.